Bonsoir tous
today I collected a few scattered apothecia of a discomycete which was difficult to see as it had the same pale brown colour as the surrounding stem of Typha latifolia.

Under the microscope it was clear that it was an Orbilia (with the characteristic knob-topped paraphyses). Inside the asci the spores were clearly long-cylindric and curved with short spore bodies at one end (half the spores reversed). Unusually for an Orbilia, in my limited experience, in a water mount there were many free spores. These were very much curved, some almost into a semicircle - I wonder whether the tension to form this shape contributed to the ease in which so many were ejected in the water mount.

Here are some preliminary images - I can post more in due course, but these are typical. The spore measurements were made from spore tip to spore tip, so they are like the string on a bow, rather than an attempt to measure them along the curve. Measurements made so far are in the range 8.1-10.9 x 1.2-1.3(1.4)µm.

I note there is an Orbilia arundinacea listed as occurring on monocot's like Typha; but looking at the protologue in Velenovsky (1934) he says of the spores 'Sp. . . . rectae' and no spores seen could be described as anything near straight. I cannot find O. arundinacea in Zotto's images - maybe I have missed something.

As ever, help very much appreciated.

Cordialement
Chris