Cordanaceae Nann., Repert. mic. uomo: 498 (1934)

Index Fungorum number: IF 80640; MycoBank number: MB 80640; Facesoffungi number: FoF 01673; 23 species.

Saprobic or pathogenic on the wood of branches, twigs and leaves of various shrubs and trees, bamboo, grasses and in the soil of terrestrial habitats, occasionally in freshwater habitats. Sexual morph: Ascomata perithecial, superficial, solitary or gregarious, globose to ovoid, setose or glabrous, with basal stroma, papillate. Ostiole periphysate. Peridium comprising 3–5 layers of cells of textura prismatica. Paraphyses septate, unbranched. Asci 8-spored, unitunicate, cylindrical, with short pedicel, with or without a J-, apical ring. Ascospores uniseriate, pale brown to brown, ellipsoid to fusiform, sometimes with pores at both ends, 1-septate. Asexual morph: Hyphomycetous. Colonies effuse, dark brown to black. Conidiophores mononematous, macronematous, brown, septate, erect, branched or unbranched. Conidiogenous cells terminal or intercalary, polyblastic, denticulate. Conidia pale brown to brown, obovoid to ellipsoidal, smooth, sometimes with germ pores at the ends, 1-septate or aseptate (adapted from Hughes 1955, Müller & Samuels 1982b, Hernández-Restrepo et al. 2014).

Type genus – Cordana Preuss

Notes – Cordanaceae was introduced by Nannfeldt (1934) based on the type genus Cordana. Initially, Hernández-Restrepo et al. (2015b) introduced Cordanales to accommodate Cordanaceae, which was recognized as a monotypic, monophyletic sister group to Coniochaetales (Maharachchikumbura et al. 2016b). However, in a study backed by molecular clock evidence, Cordanaceae was found to share a common ancestor with Coniochaetaceae in Coniochaetales 77 MYA (Hongsanan et al. 2017). While the family lineage had good statistical support, Cordanales did not have enough support and was therefore combined under Coniochaetales (Hongsanan et al. 2017), of which the stem age was 176 MYA and had higher support as an order. Cordanaceae differs from the closely related Coniochaetaceae by the morphology of their basally stromatic ascomata, septate ascospores and holoblastic-denticulate conidiogenesis. (Hernández-Restrepo et al. 2015b).

Genera