- 1874. Perichaena flavida Peck, Rep. N. Y. Mus., p. 76.
- 1892. Oligonema flavidum (Peck) Mass., Mon., p. 171.
Sporangia crowded and superimposed, sessile in small masses or clusters 1 cm. or less, bright yellow, shining, the peridium thin but opaque, yellow; capillitium of long, slender tubules usually simple, anon branched, even, or with an occasional inflation, the sculpture confined to warts or small, distinct spinules, roughening more or less conspicuously the entire surface, the apices generally obtuse, anon apiculate; spore-mass yellow, spores under the lens pale yellow, irregularly globose, beautifully reticulate, the meshes large and few, as in Trichia favoginea, 12–14 µ.
This species is marked by its capillitium, which is abundant for the present genus. The threads are longer than in any other species, and not infrequently branched, smooth, or more commonly, very distinctly minutely spinulose throughout, no trace of rings or relief sculpture of any sort, the spirals, that are to be expected, very imperfect, if discernible at all. In habit the species resembles O. nitens, but the colonies are much larger, and the sporangia higher and larger, attaining 1 mm.
New England to Iowa and Nebraska; south to Alabama and Louisiana. Toronto; Miss Currie.
2. Oligonema brevifilum Peck.
[Plate XX]., Figs. 5, 5 a.
- 1878. Oligonema brevifila Peck, Rep. N. Y, Mus., p. 42.
Sporangia small, cylindric, dull ochraceous-yellow, sessile closely crowded, sometimes superimposed, forming large, effused patches several centimetres in extent; capillitium exceedingly scant, consisting of nothing more than a few minute threads, very short, only three or four times the diameter of the spore, smooth, or without any definable sculpture, ochraceous; spore-mass dark ochraceous, under the lens the spores are brighter, marked with reticulations much as in other species of the genus, 10–12 µ.
Probably a variety of our No. 1, but constantly collected.
Separate, however, from the following also in color and habit. To the naked eye the fructification suggests Trichia persimilis; the color much the same, and the sporangia similarly congested. The peculiarly rudimentary condition of the capillitium is apparently also constant. Iowa specimens accord perfectly with those from New York.