ABSTRACT
Spore germination was induced in 29 of 30 collections from different basidiocarps of Lacearia laccata by placing the spores on a charcoal-dusted agar medium containing 0.2% peptone, on the surface of which a mycelium of L. laccata was growing. Preserved at 4 C the spores maintained their viability for 2 to 3 months; at - 18 C they were viable for about 4 months. Growing hyphae of L. laccata showed a typical homing response towards germinating spores, the eventual conjunction between the hyphal tip cell and the spore leading either to a lethal or to a non-lethal reaction. Mating tests with single-spore mycelia from different stocks, i.e., from spores derived from different basidiocarps, showed that the 14 tested stocks represented four intersterile groups.