Pucciniastrum goodyerae
A rust on leaves of the orchid Goodyera repens (“creeping lady's-tresses”), visible as orange pustules on both sides of leaves.
Uredosori amphigenous, scattered or crowded in small groups, subepidermal, minute, round, 0.1-0.3 mm. across, orange-yellow, then pale yellow, long-covered by the epidermis, peridia hemispherical, delicate, firm, dehiscent by an apical pore, peridial cells small, isodiametrically to irregularly polygonal, 7.5-15 µm across, lateral ones radially elongate, walls of the peridial cells thin, smooth, colourless or subhyaline, ostiolar cells rather large, 32-43 µm high, finely echinulate above; uredospores ovoid, 23-34 x 16-20 µm, wall finely echinulate, uniformly thick, 1.5-2 µm thick, colourless, contents pale yellow. Spermogonia, aecidia and teliosori unknown.
Description adapted from Wilson, M., & Henderson, D. M. (1966). British rust fungi.
Not formally assessed. Considered Vulnerable in Great Britain and the Isle of Man in the current but unofficial Red Data List of Threatened British Fungi (Evans et al., 2006). Very infrequently recorded and known from only a small number of sites in GB, but successful recent targeted surveys suggest the species may have long been overlooked.
None known on this host in Great Britain.
Pucciniastrum goodyerae is an obligate biotrophic pathogen of the orchid Goodyerae repens.
In GB, recorded only from Scotland.
Historically known mostly from sites within 50 km of Inverness, in Banffshire VC94 (Ballendallich, 1936); Moray VC95 (Darnaway, 1955, Forres, 1912); East Inverness-shire VC96 (Beauly, 1923; Nairn, 1938); East Ross & Cromarty VC106 (Black Isle); and East Sutherland VC107 (Loch Fleet, 1925). Also known from Angus VC90 (Edzell, 1958), and from the Stirlingshire VC86/Lanarkshire VC77 border (Black Loch near Limerigg, 1963, 1977).
Recently recorded from Fife VC85 (Tentsmuir Forest, 2014); East Inverness-shire VC96 (Abernethy Forest RSPB, two sites, 2014); and East Sutherland VC107 (Loch Fleet, 1990).