Ganoderma Microscopy

[KeenTeen17]

hello people. Just thought I would try and do some gandoderma sopre analysis with my microscope to solve the mystery of a ganoderma in my woods whether it is G. adspersum, applanatum or australe. So how do I find the answer through microscopy. because they are brackets and not like mushrooms

[KeenTeen17]

sorry just saw that G. adspersum is syn. G. australe in a past thread -sorry for any confusion

[flaxton]

KT
With Ganoderma size really does matter

As well as the size the spores have a hyaline germ pore which differs in the two species.
To get a spore sample either look below the specimen for any wood or debris that will often be covered with spores or take a small scrape from the top of the fruit-body spores collect there as well.
Good luck

Mal

[KeenTeen17]

so don't rub along the bottom where its the artisty bit? on the brown bit at top?

[KeenTeen17]

also, how would I be able to transport the spores home? should I take a jar or something because ganodermas in question are in the woods a bit of a walk from my house.

[CapAndBracket]

Your are after the spores KT, and with Ganoderma.sp the airflow around them
often means the top of the fruit body gets covered in spores (that emerged
from the underside), possibly the easiest way for you to collect some is take
as sheet of paper with you, if it is damp just press the centre of the paper
sheet against the top of your Ganoderma, there should be a cocoa stain on
paper (this will be millions of spores), fold the paper like an envelope (spores
on the inside) and place in your wallet amongst those fifty pound notes, this
way you are less likely to loose it. When you get home you can tranfer some
of the spores to a glass slide for microscopy. enjoy.

Cheers J.P.

[flaxton]

KT
You can usually find twigs or bits of wood under the fruitbody which are covered in spores so just pop that in a container. Failing that cut a corner of the bracket and you will find enough spores on the top surface to get an ID

Mal

[KeenTeen17]

I did the ganoderma under the microscope and got these images.




The spores were quite small so I would guess G. applanatum

Sorry about the low quality images . they were really hard to get. my camera lens is too big for the eyepiece.

I got the spores by using a cotton wool swab

[NickCantle]

How do you assess how small the spores are when you've no graticule? They're all microns in size, so appearance by eye is very inaccurate when measuring for ID's

[KeenTeen17]

I measured the image - it is 8mm long (one spore) and the magnification was x100.

so 8mm is equal to 8000µm

so 8000/100

=80µm