Hello AscoFrance,

I wish to apply responsible names to the observations of Stictis over at MushroomObserver.  The ascomycete references consulted in working up this observation:

http://mushroomobserver.org/156118

only contain 2-4 species, whereas Sherwood's research treats dozens.  I have read Hans' laments of the difficulties of this genus on other forum posts.  My impression is that no Stictis species is identifiable without microscopy, and that variables present in preservation and analysis (ie: vital vs. non-vital taxonomy) often make species determinations difficult to impossible even with microscopy.  That being said, I question whether any of the following observations:

http://mushroomobserver.org/observer/observation_search?pattern=stictis

can be confidently identified to species.

As a side note, I'm curious to know if PDF copies of Sherwood's Ostropalean articles in Mycotaxon are available.

Any and all help, as always, is greatly appreciated.

Happy Holidays,

-Danny