Some Florida Fungi 



By F. S. Earle 



I have recently had the pleasure of examining two small lots of 



The larger one was collected by P. H. Rolfs, and 

 S. M. Tracy. The following seem to be either new 



Florida fungi. 



or noteworthy : 



Asterina sabalicola sp. nov. 



Mycelium widely effused, consisting of branching and anasto- 

 mosing, septate, somewhat nodular and irregular, brownish hyphae 

 from 3-5 11 in diameter : pseudo-perithecia 100-150//, formed by 

 radiating septate hyphae about 3 p. in diameter, the free ends of 

 which form a sterile fringe or subiculum, cells of these perithecial 

 hyphae about 6 p long : asci ovate, thin-walled, rather persistent, 

 about 60 x 25 /i : ascospores sub-biseriate, oval, hyaline or faintly 

 olivaceous, about equally uniseptate, 20 x 8 fi. 



On living leaves of Sabal sp. Florida. P. H. Rolfs, no. 4. 



The genus Asterella was proposed by Saccardo for the species 

 of Asterina with hyaline spores, and it is recognized by Lindau 

 (Engler & Prantl, I 1 : 340). It is possible that this species should be 

 referred to the latter genus. The ascospores are, however, unmis- 

 takably tinted, and in older specimens it is probable that the color 

 would be darker. This character at best is a very slender one for 

 generic distinction when taken alone, and in this case the name 

 Asterella \s preoccupied by a genus of the Hepaticae, and is, there- 

 fore, untenable. 



This is very different from the so-called Asterina inqninans 

 E..& E. (N. A. F., no. 1785). The latter has no visible my- 

 celium, and the naked sub-carbonaceous black perithecia are 

 thickly scattered over the surface of the' leaf. The ascospores 

 seem to be uniformly continuous (Ellis says " faintly uniseptate ?") 

 and hyaline or very faintly tinted. These characters would place 

 it in the genus Myiocopron not in Asterina in which as now under- 

 stood there is a superficial mycelium. 



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