Stemonitis is from a Greek word which means stamen, one of the essential organs of a flower. This is a genus of myxomycetous fungi, giving name to the family Stemonitaceæ, which has a single sporangium or æthalium; without the peculiar deposits of lime carbonate which characterize the fructification of other orders, and the spores, capillitium, and columella are usually uniformly black, or brownish.
Stemonitis fusca. Roth.
Figure 497.—Stemonitis fusca. Natural size.
Fusca means dark-brown, smoky. The sporangia are cylindrical and pointed at the apex, peridia fugacious, exposing the beautiful net-work of the capillitium. The reticulate capillitium springs from the dark, penetrating stem.
This is a very beautiful plant when studied with an ordinary hand-glass. I have frequently seen an entire log covered with this plant.
Stemonitis ferruginea. Ehrb.
Ferruginea means rust color. The sporangia is very similar to that of S. fusca, cylindrical, peridium fugacious, exposing the reticulate capillitium, but instead of being dark-brown it is a yellowish or rusty-brown color.