202 



STUDIES OF AMERICAN FUNGI. 



terminating into numerous tips. The entire plant is very brittle, 

 and great care is necessary to prevent its breaking, both before dry- 

 ing and afterward. When the plant is young and is just pushing out 

 of the ground, the branches, especially the tips, are bright colored, 

 red, pink, or orange, the color usually brighter when young in the 



younger plants. As the 

 plant becomes older the 

 color fades out, until at 

 maturity the pink or red 

 color has in many cases 

 disappeared, and then the 

 entire plant is of a light 

 yellowish, or of a cream 

 buff color. The spores are 

 in mass light yellow, and 

 the spores on the surface 

 of the plant probably give 

 the color to the plant at 

 this stage. The spores 

 are long, oval or oblong, 

 10-15 -^ 2.5-3//, and are 

 minutely spiny. Figure 

 190 is from a plant (No. 

 4343, C. U. herbarium) 

 collected at Blowing Rock, 

 N. C, in September, 1899. 

 The plant is very common 

 in the mountain woods of 

 North Carolina. 



Specimens of this Cla- 

 varia were several times 

 prepared for table use dur- 

 ing my stay in the mount- 

 ains, but the flavor was 

 not an agreeable one, pos- 

 sibly due to the fact that 

 it needs some special 

 preparation and season- 

 ing. 



Clavaria botrytes Pers. Edible. — This plant is much smaller than C. 

 formosa, but has much the same general habit and color, especially 

 when C. formosa is young. The plant has a stout stem which soon 



FiGURK 192. — Clavaria pistillaris. Dull whitish, 

 reddish (natural size). 



tan or 



