Rare. Found on rotten coniferous wood in deep forests. Easily recognized by its large size and uniform purple color. To the next species it offers a general resemblance, but has larger sporangia and an entirely different net. The plasmodium just before the formation of the fruit is scarlet.
Maine, New York, Pennsylvania, Ontario, Oregon, Colorado.
14. Cribraria elegans Berk. & C.
- 1873. Cribraria elegans Berk. & Curt., Grev., II., p. 67.
Sporangia gregarious, erect or nodding, small, .4–.5 mm., bright purple, stipitate; stipe long, slender, tapering upward, almost black, arising from a scanty hypothallus; calyculus about half the sporangium, finely ribbed, covered especially above with small purple granules, the margin toothed or perforate; net well developed, the meshes small, polygonal, the threads delicate, colorless, with many free ends, the nodules dark-colored, numerous and somewhat prominent; spore-mass pale purple; spores by transmitted light pale violaceous, smooth, 6–6.5 µ.
To be compared with the preceding. The small-meshed net with well-defined, dark-colored nodules is distinctive, aside from the fact of the much smaller sporangia. The stipe is also different, more slender, smooth, and dark-colored. The habitat of the two species appears to be the same. The present species is much more common, ranges farther west, and is to be looked for on the Pacific coast.
New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Missouri, Iowa; Black Hills, South Dakota.
15. Cribraria languescens Rex.
- 1891. Cribraria languescens Rex, Proc. Phil. Acad., p. 394.
Sporangia scattered, very minute, .25–.35 mm., spherical, long-stipitate, drooping; stipe 2.5–3 mm., slender, flexuous, subulate, rugulose; calyculus about one-third the sporangium, reddish brown, shining, minutely striate with granular lines, the margin more or less regularly serrate; net reddish brown, the meshes triangular and the threads simple, the nodes large, polygonal, flat, but well differentiated; the spores when fresh dull red in mass, paling with age; by transmitted light colorless, 6 µ, smooth.