Plate 84, Figure 213.—Dictyophora ravenelii. Mature plants showing volva at base; elongated receptacle, cap at the top, and veil surrounding the receptacle under the cap (natural size). Copyright.
Figure 214.—Dictyophora ravenelii. Egg stage, caps just bursting through the volva (natural size). Copyright.
Figure 215.—Dictyophora ravenelii. Sections of eggs, and showing cords of mycelium (natural size). Copyright.
Dictyophora ravenelii (B. & C.) Burt.—This plant also has a wide distribution in the Eastern United States. The stem is more slender than in the other species, D. duplicata, the pileus more nearly conic, and the surface of the pileus is merely granular or minutely wrinkled after the disappearance of the gleba, and does not present the strong reticulating ridges and crests which that species shows. The plants are from 10 to 18 cm. high. It grows in woods and fields about rotting wood, and in sawdust. The veil is very thin and delicate, forming simply a membrane, and does not possess the coarse meshes present in the veil of D. duplicata. The Figs. [214], [215] represent the different stages in the elongation of the receptacle of this plant, and the rupture of the volva. This elongation takes place quite rapidly. While photographing the plant as it was bursting through the volva, I had considerable difficulty in getting a picture, since the stem elongated so rapidly that the plant would show that it had moved perceptibly, and the picture would be blurred.
In a woods near Ithaca a large number of these plants have appeared from year to year in a pile of sawdust. One of the most vile smelling plants of this family is the Ithyphallus impudicus.