New records of earth tongue Leucoglossum leucosporum in Central Europe

The earth tongue Leucoglossum leucosporum represents a small genus of the family Geoglossaceae (Ascomycota). The genus Leucoglossum includes only two species, which have been studied poorly due to its uncommon occurence and very scanty herbarium material. Both species have limited distribution, namely L. leucosporum in Europe and L. durandii in Asia. During research in geoglossoid fungi of Central Europe we recorded L. leucosporum in Germany, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia with reports from the Czech Republic and Slovakia representing the first record of this fungus from those countries. Most of the collections (four) were obtained from Slovakia, with only one occurence each in the Czech Republic and Germany. A map of species distribution includes the recent findings. Leucoglossum leucosporum is characterised by setae both in hymenium and on the stipe in combination with relatively short hyaline ascospores. Macroscopic and microscopic characteristics of studied collections are described and compared with previous reports to analyze morphological variability of the species. Unusual occurrence of long brown ascospores mentioned in previous study is discussed and supposed as probably accidental. The cave as a new habitat type for L. leucosporum in addition to meadow, pasture and forest road border is revealed. Affinity to substrates evolved on basic bedrock is considered. A phylogenetic reconstruction based on a combined data set of nrITS1–5.8 S–ITS2 and nrLSU confirmed separate position of the genus. Despite the presence of setae, the genus Leucoglossum is more closely related to Geoglossum rather than Trichoglossum.