204 



STUDIES OF AMERICAN FUNGI. 



the year. It is usually simple and clavate, but sometimes branched. 

 The plant is white, or yellowish, or sometimes rose color, and meas- 

 ures from 0.5 to 2 cm. in height, though I have usually found it from 

 0.5-1 cm. in height. It is soft and watery. Figure 204 is from 

 plants (No. 4998, C. U. herbarium) collected at Ithaca in October, 

 1899. 



CHAPTER XII. 



THE TREMBLING FUNGI: TREMELLINEAE. 



These fungi are called the trembling fungi because of their gelat- 

 inous consistency. The colors vary from white, yellow, orange, 

 reddish, brownish, etc., and the form is various, often very irregu- 

 lar, leaf-like, or strongly folded and uneven. They are when fresh 

 usually very soft, clammy to the touch, and yielding like a mass of 

 gelatine. They usually grow on wood, but some species grow on 

 the ground, and some are parasitic. The fruit surface usually covers 

 the entire outer surface of the plant, but in some it is confined to one 

 side of the plant. The basidia are peculiar to the order, are deeply 

 seated in the substance of the plant, rounded or globose, and divided 

 into four cells in a cruciate manner. From each one of these cells of 

 the basidium a long, slender process (sterigma) grows out to the 



surface of the plant and 

 bears the spore. A few 

 species only are treated 

 of here. 



l\ 



FIGURE 205. Tremella mycetophila, on Collybia 

 dryophila (natural size). 



TREMELLA Dill. 



In this genus the 

 plants are gelatinous or 

 cartilaginous. The 

 form of the plant is usu- 

 ally very much con- 

 torted, fold-like or leaf- 

 like, and very much 

 branched. The fruit- 

 ing surface extends over 

 the entire upper surface 

 of the plant. 



