Growing on sticks, leaves, etc. Sporangium .5-.7 mm. in diameter, the stipe usually shorter or sometimes wanting. This species has been found only in the mountains of North Carolina. I am indebted to Dr. George A. Rex for my example. In its structure the species is essentially a Lamproderma, but the stipe and columella are stuffed with granules of lime.
- Fig. 25.—Sectional view of the capillitium and stipe of Clastoderma De Baryanum, Blytt.
- Fig. 26.—Section through the capillitium, columella and stipe of Lamproderma arcyrionema, Rost.
- Fig. 27.—Perpendicular section through Lamproderma violaceum, Fr.
- Fig. 28.—Perpendicular section through Lamproderma scintillans, Berk.
- Fig. 29.—Section through the capillitium, columella and stipe of Comatricha Ellisii, Morgan.
- Fig. 30.—Sectional view through the capillitium and columella of a portion of Comatricha crypta, Schw.
- Fig. 31.—Sectional view through the columella and capillitium of a portion of Comatricha longa, Peck.
- Fig. 32.—A portion of the capillitium of Stemonitis tenerrima, B. & C.—A sectional view through the columella above and below a view of the superficial network.
- Fig. 33.—A portion of the capillitium of Stemonitis splendens, Rost.—A sectional view through the columella above and below a view of the superficial network.
- Fig. 34.—The capillitium of a very short sporangium of Stemonitis Webberi, Rex; the breadth, however, somewhat exaggerated.
- Fig. 35.—Showing the stipe, columella, apical disk and pendent capillitium of Enerthenema papillatum, Pers.
- Fig. 36.—Perpendicular section through the capillitium, columella, and stipe of Diachæa Thomasii, Rex.
Note.—The figures of the objects are drawn as they appear under a magnifying power of about 100 diameters.
The Journal of the Cin. Soc. Natural History
Vol. XVI. Plate XI.
Order VII.—DIDYMIACEÆ.
Sporangia simple and subglobose, or plasmodiocarp, rarely combined into an æthalium. Wall of the sporangium a thin membrane with an outer layer composed of minute stellate crystals, or of minute roundish granules of lime; these either lie singly upon the surface, or are compacted into a crustaceous coat. Stipe present or often wanting; the columella usually conspicuous and well-developed. Capillitium consisting of very slender, often sinuous threads, which extend from the base of the sporangium or from the columella to the walls, either simple or outwardly branching a few times at a sharp angle, combined into a loose irregular net by a few transverse branchlets, which are situated chiefly at the extremities. Spores globose, violaceous.
This order is readily distinguished from the Physaraceæ by the absence of lime from the threads of the capillitium.