Lycoperdon Curtisii.
(After Morgan.)
L. Cur´tisii Berk.—in honor of Rev. M.A. Curtis. Peridium globose, with a very short rooting base and a slender fibrous mycelium. Cortex consisting of a pale yellowish farinaceous layer, covered by a coat of soft, fragile white spines, curved and convergent at the apex; after maturity it soon disappears, leaving a pale smooth surface to the inner peridium. Subgleba small, but distinct, convex above and definitely limited; mass of spores and capillitium greenish-yellow, then pale olivaceous; the threads long, simple, hyaline, two to three times as thick as the spores. Spores globose, even, 3.5–4µ in diameter.
Peridium ⅜-¾ of an inch in diameter. This is L. Wrightii, var. typicum, of Peck’s U.S. species of Lycoperdon. The peculiar characteristic of the species is the hyaline threads of the capillitium; although they are of large diameter, yet the walls are very thin and the threads collapse in drying. Morgan.
General. Growing gregariously and sometimes cespitosely on the ground, in meadows, pastures and even in cultivated fields.
This being L. Wrightii, var. typicum Pk., and being edible, it is hardly necessary to repeat the old axiom: Things which are equal to the same thing are equal to one another.
(i) Cortex of minute spinules, granules, etc.
L. molle Pers.—mollis, soft. (L. muscorum Morg.) Peridium 6–16 lines broad, globose or depressed-globose, narrowed below into a stem-like base, furfuraceous with nearly uniform persistent minute weak spinules or granular warts, sometimes with a few larger papilliform ones toward the apex, whitish, sometimes tinged with yellow, when mature brownish or olive-brown, nearly smooth, subshining; capillitium and spores dingy-olive; columella present. Spores minutely rough, 4–4.5µ in diameter.
Among mosses, especially Polytrichum, in old meadows and pastures. Albany, Summit and South Corinth. Autumn.
Peck, 32d Rep. N.Y. State Bot.