Yet another instance of conidial growth is given by Steiner[695]. He
had observed that the apothecia on plants of _Caloplaca aurantia_
var. _callopisma_ Stein. differed from those of normal appearance in
the warted unevenness of the disc and also in being more swollen and
convex, the thalline margin being almost obliterated. He found, on
microscopical examination, that the hymenium was occupied by paraphyses
and by occasional asci, the latter seldom containing spores, and being
usually more or less collapsed. The component parts of the apothecium
were entirely normal and healthy, but the paraphyses and the few asci
were crushed aside by the intrusion of numerous slender unbranched
septate conidiophores. Several of these might spring from one base and
the hypha from which they originated could be traced some distance into
the ascogenous layer, though a connection with that cell-system could not
be demonstrated. While still embedded in the hymenium, an ellipsoid or
obovate swelling began to form at the apex of the conidiophore; it became
separated from the stalk by a septum and later divided into a two-celled
conidium. The conidiophore increased in length by intercalary growth and
finally emerged above the disc; the mature conidium was pyriform and
measured 15-20 µ × 9-11 µ.
Steiner regarded these conidia as entirely abnormal; pycnidia with
stylospores are unknown in the genus and they were not, he alleges, the
product of any parasitic growth.
_b._ COMPARISON WITH HYPHOMYCETES. The conidial form of fructification
in fungi, known as a Hyphomycete, is generally a stage in the life-cycle
of some Ascomycete; it represents the rapid summer form of asexual
reproduction. The ascospore of the resting fruit-form in many species
germinates on any suitable matrix and may at once produce conidiophores
and conidia, which in turn germinate, and either continue the conidial
generation or proceed to the formation of the perfect fruiting form with
asci and ascospores.
Such a form of transient reproduction is almost impossible in lichens,
as the hypha produced by the germinating lichen ascospore has little
vitality without the algal symbiont. In natural conditions development
practically ceases in the absence of symbiosis. When union between the
symbionts takes place, and growth becomes active, thallus construction at
once commences. But in certain conditions of shade and moisture, only the
rudiments of a lichen thallus are formed, known as a leprose or sorediose
condition. Soredia also arise in the normal life of many lichens. As
the individual granules or soredia may each give rise to a complete
lichen plant, they may well be considered as replacing the lost conidial
fructification.
C. CAMPYLIDIUM AND ORTHIDIUM
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