Figure [207] is from a plant collected in a woods near Ithaca, in August, 1897.
GYROCEPHALUS Pers.
The genus Gyrocephalus differs from the other Tremellineæ in having the fruiting surface on the lower side of the fruit body, while the upper side is sterile.
Figure 208.—Gyrocephalus rufus. Reddish or reddish yellow (natural size). Copyright.
Gyrocephalus rufus (Jacq.) Bref.—This species is sometimes very abundant. It grows on the ground, generally from buried wood, or from dead roots. It is erect, stout at the base, and the upper end flattened and thinner. It is more or less spatulate, the upper side somewhat concave, and the lower somewhat convex. In some plants the pileus is more regular and there is then a tendency to the funnel form. It is reddish, or reddish yellow in color, smooth, clammy, watery, and quite gelatinous. When dry it is very hard. Figure 208 represents the form of the plant well, from plants collected at Ithaca. The plant is quite common in the damp glens and woods at Ithaca during the autumn.
CHAPTER XIII.
THELEPHORACEAE.
Many of the species of the Thelephoraceæ to which the following two species belong are too tough for food. A large number of these grow on wood. They are known by their hard or membranaceous character and by the fruiting surface (under surface when in the position in which they grew) being smooth, or only slightly uneven, or cracked.