Fig. 164.—Clavaria coralloides (nat. size).
Genera: Clavaria, generally large Fungi with thick, round branches. C. botrytis has a very thick, tubercular stem with numerous short, flesh-coloured branches: it has an agreeable taste. C. coralloides has a brittle, richly-branched fruit-body (Fig. [164]); basidia with two large spores. C. pistillaris consists of a single, undivided club of a yellowish-white colour.—Sparassis has compressed, leaf-like, curled branches; S. crispa has fruit-bodies as large as a white cabbage-head, with an agreeable taste.—Typhula and Pistillaria are small Fungi with filamentous stalks, terminating in a small club. The fruit-bodies of the former often arise from a small, spheroid sclerotium; the latter is distinguished by the basidia bearing only two spores.
Order 3. Thelephoraceæ. The hymenium is placed on a stroma and covers the smooth surface of the leathery hemiangiocarpic fruit-body, generally on its under side. The edge of the stroma, which bounds the hymenium, is sometimes especially developed (Stereum). Saprophytes.
Genera: Thelephora. The fruit-bodies in this genus are brown, very irregularly shaped, and often lobed. The spores too are brown, but in the other genera colourless. The species are found growing on barren soil. T. laciniata (Fig. [165]) has imbricate, semicircular, dark-brown pileus, which is jagged at the edge and upper surface. The fruit-bodies are very often raised above the ground, and although this species is not a parasite, yet it destroys young seedlings by growing above and smothering them.—Stereum has a stiffer fruit-body, with a distinct, fibrous, intermediate layer. It grows on bark and wood, projecting like a series of imbricate brackets. S. hirsutum is yellow; its free edge is provided with a number of stiff hairs, the upper surface being divided into a number of zones. S. purpureum has a red-violet hymenium which distinguishes it from the previous species.—Cyphella has a membranous cup- or bell-shaped fruit-body, often borne on a stalk, the concave surface being covered with the hymenium. They are small, white Fungi, growing on Moss and dead stems.—Solenia is closely related to Cyphella; its fruit-bodies are smaller and hairy; they are found clustered together forming a crust-like covering on dead wood.—Craterellus has a large, funnel-shaped fruit-body, the hymenium covering the external surface. C. cornucopioides is shaped like a trumpet or a “horn of plenty.” It is dark-grey, several inches in height, and grows gregariously on the ground in forests. It is distinguished by the basidia bearing only two sterigmata.
Fig. 165.—Thelephora laciniata (nat. size).
Order 4. Hydnaceæ. The fruit-body is most frequently fleshy, and varies considerably in shape, the simplest forms being resupinate,[14] the higher ones umbrella-like. The hymenophore is found on the free or downward-turned surface, and always takes the form of soft emergences hanging vertically downwards. The emergencies may be thorn-, awl-, or wart-like. The species are found growing on the soil and on dead wood.
Genera: Hydnum has subulate, distinct emergences. H. repandum is yellow, the stalk being placed in the centre of the pileus. It is an edible species, and often forms “fairy rings” in woods. H. auriscalpium (Fig. [166]) is dark-brown, with stalk placed at the edge of the pileus. It grows on old Fir-cones. H. erinaceus grows on old tree-trunks. The fruit-body is yellow and very large—as big as a human head—with emergences as much as an inch in length.—Irpex has a leathery fruit-body, partly resupinate, partly with free, projecting edge; the under side bears tooth-like emergences which are arranged in rows, and Irpex thus forms a transition to the Agaricaceæ.—Phlebia is entirely resupinate, with radially-arranged folds on the free side, and pectinate border.
Fig. 166.—Hydnum auriscalpium, upon a Fir-cone, in different stages of development.