New England to Washington and Oregon; Vancouver Island.
2. Lepidoderma carestianum (Rabenh.) Rost.
- 1862. Reticularia carestiana Rabenh., MS. Fung. Eur. exsic., No. 436.
- 1875. Lepidoderma carestianum (Rabenh.) Rost., Mon., p. 188.
- 1891. Amaurochaete minor Sacc. & Ell., Mich., II., p. 566.
Fructification in the form of flat, pulvinate plasmodiocarps, or, anon, sporangiate, the sporangia sessile, sub-globose, ellipsoidal, elongate, irregular, confluent, yellowish-grey, the peridium covered more or less completely with dull white, crystals or crystal-like scales; columella, where visible, yellowish-brown, calcareous; capillitium, coarse, rigid, more or less branched and united, or colorless, delicate, forming a definite net; spores distinctly warted, purple 10–12 µ.
This is a most remarkable species. The sporangiate forms little resemble those distinctly plasmodiocarpal. In the former the calcic scales and crystals are distinct and quite as in L. tigrinum; in the latter they are cuboid, irregular. The wall of the peridium in the plasmodiocarps at hand is black, and the covering accordingly shows white; in the sporangial forms the wall is brown, and the scales have a yellow tinge as if tinged with iron. In the sporangial presentation the capillitium is intricate delicate; in the plasmodiocarp, rigid, dark-colored, etc. This looks like a didymium and in so far justifies the opinion of earlier students. Fries, of course, includes all these things with the didymiums, and D. squamulosum probably often sheltered them under extended wing.
Didymium granuliferum Phill., Grev., V., p. 114, from California is by European authors referred here. The capillitium carries calcareous crystalline deposits in special vesicles and the spores show remarkable variation in unusual size—15–30 µ.[1]
Should probably be entered Lepidoderma granuliferum (Phill.) Fr., spores 15–18 µ.[34]
Utah,—Harkness.
3. Lepidoderma chailletii Rost.