Of this genus there are but two or three species, all so far occurring in our territory.
Key to the Species of Enteridium
| A. Fructification umber brown | 1. E. splendens |
| B. Fructification olivaceous | 2. E. olivaceum |
| C. Fructification minute, 1–2 mm. | 3. E. minutum |
1. Enteridium splendens Morg.
[Plate I.], Figs. 1, 1 a, 1 b; [Plate XII.], Figs. 4, 5.
- 1876. Reticularia (?) rozeanum Rost., Mon. App., p. 33.
- 1889. Enteridium rozeanum (Rost.) Wing., Proc. Phil. Acad., p. 156.
- 1892. Enteridium rozeanum Wingate, Macbr., Bull. Lab. Nat. Hist. Iowa, II., p. 117.
- 1893. Reticularia splendens Morg., Jour. Cin. Soc., p. 11.
- 1899. Enteridium splendens Morg., Morg. in litt.
Æthalium pulvinate, even, or somewhat irregular, unevenly swollen or inflated, lobate or compound, covered by an exceedingly thin, generally smooth, shining, but never white, pellicle or cortex, brown, from 1–6 cm. in diameter; hypothallus white, often wide extending; capillitium none; the sporangial walls thin and brown forming a network as above described; spore-mass umber, spores by transmitted light pale, about two-thirds of the surface reticulate, the rest nearly smooth, 7–9 µ.
Very common, especially west, on decaying logs and stumps of every description. Easily distinguished by its brown color and smooth, shining, though uneven surface. The plasmodium as it emerges to form fruit is pale pink or flesh color, slowly deepening to brown as maturity advances. The first emergence is a watery white.
New England, Canada, to Minnesota and Nebraska, South Dakota.
In 1876 Rostafinski provisionally referred to the genus Reticularia certain specimens received from M. Roze of Paris. Thirteen years later in correspondence with M. Roze, Mr. Wingate satisfied himself that the specimens discovered by Roze were the same as our common enteridium. He therefore, l. c., applied to our American forms the name they have widely borne, E. rozeanum. Mr. Lister, Jour. of Botany, Sept. '91, applied the Rostafinskian name to certain English specimens. Thereafter to be known as Reticularia lobata Rost. and so fixed the status of that species. From all the literature before us it appears that Mr. Lister was right. R. lobata List. (now Liceopsis lobata List.) Torr., occurs in various parts of Europe, while our American species of Enteridium is yet to be discovered on that side of the sea!