1902J Webster, — A form of the Bitter Boletus 187 



Aster undulatus x Novi-Belgii. Stem tall, 7 to 9 dm. high, 

 closely cinerious-puberulent especially above, bearing toward the 

 summit many loosely ascending very leafy branches : leaves oblong 

 or elliptic-oblong, dull and more or less puberulent on both faces ; 

 those of the main stem 3 to 6 cm. long, 1 to 2 cm. broad, acuminate 

 at the tip, narrowed to a slightly clasping base ; coarsely appressed- 

 serrate near the middle : those of the branches numerous, much 

 reduced, 0.7 to 1.5 cm. long, oblong to ovate, obtuse or acutish, sub- 

 entire: heads few or solitary at the tips of the branches; the invo- 

 lucre 6 or 7 mm. high, the bracts in 2 or 3 series, either linear-lanceo- 

 late and firmly appressed-ascending, or with the outer recurved, or 

 linear-attenuate, herbaceous, and mostly recurved-spreading : rays 

 blue-purple. — Damp sandy thicket, Carlisle, Massachusetts, Octo- 

 ber, 1900 (Miss E. L. Shaw). 



Gray Herbarium. 



A Form of the Bitter Boletus. — The form of the Bitter Bole- 

 tus (B.felleus Bull.) that grows on hemlock stumps is sufficiently 

 familiar. In its small cap, comparatively slender, and markedly 

 reticulated stem this form of the hemlock stumps departs from the 

 usually generous and frequently huge dimensions of the species as it 

 grows in rich woods. That the larger form may sometimes appear 

 on stumps was shown at Alstead, New Hampshire, early in July and 

 doubtless others have observed it. A specimen was found with a 

 very stout stem that was swollen at the base and half covered with 

 coarse reticulations, the walls of which have an imperfect hymenium. 

 This answered to Peck's variety obestts, which is usually terrestrial. 

 Its appearance during a very wet season in place of the smaller form 

 suggests that the stout-footed form is not a variety in the strictly 

 systematic sense — an observation applicable to numerous similar so- 

 called varieties of fleshy fungi. In this specimen the angular and in 

 some places compound pores were larger than in those of a neighbor- 

 ing small but mature specimen. In spite of a heavy rain the night 

 before no viscidity, such as Professor Peck speaks of, was noted. 

 Both stem and pore surface on being bruised assumed permanently a 

 brown tint — the brown of dead leaves — which was strongest on the 

 flesh colored spore surface. The flesh showed a slight tendency to 

 turn pinkish — not always noticeable in dry weather, and the tubes 

 became strongly flesh-color when the air and moisture were squeezed 

 out of them. 



