Shiraia Henn., Bot. Jb. 28(3): 274 (1900).
MycoBank number: MB 5025; Index Fungorum number: IF 5025; Facesoffungi number: FoF 06203, 1 morphological species (Species Fungorum 2020), 1 species with molecular data.
Type species – Shiraia bambusicola Henn.
Notes – This genus is distributed in China, Japan and Korea and prefers to live on bamboo (Liu et al. 2013, Farr & Rossman 2019). The genus is economically important as a Chinese traditional medicine (Hyde et al. 2013, Liu et al. 2013). Shiraia is characterized by superficial, pinkish, fleshy, multi-loculate ascostromata forming near ends of host branches or near petiole bases, 6-spored, bitunicate, fissitunicate, cylindrical asci with a long pedicel and a distinct ocular chamber, and hyaline to light brown, fusiform, muriform, symmetrical ascospores for its sexual morph. Asexual morph is coelomycetous and is characterized by holoblastic conidiogenous cells bearing asymmetrical, hyaline to light brown, fusiform, muriform conidia with acute basal, obtuse apex, or both obtuse ends (Hyde et al. 2013, Liu et al. 2013).
Species