Scanning Electron Microscopy of the Contact Site of Conidia and Trichogynes in Cladonia Furcata

The contact sites of pycnidia and the terminal cells of trichogynes in Cladonia furcata were investigated using either freshly fixed material, or ascomatal primordia and pycnidia from which the gelatinous material either on the primordial surface, or in the pycnidial cavity, had been removed. The sickle-shaped conidia fused, tip first, with the cell wall of trichogynes. Circular holes of about the diameter of the conidia found in the cell walls of trichogynes arise from enzymatic degradation of the wall material by fusing conidia. As the conidia appear to stick on any gelatinous surface material of the thallus the adhesion process is presumed to be unspecific.