332 



POLYPORACE.E 



Strobilomyces 



1516. S. strobilaeeus Berk, (from the top of the pileus, clad with 

 pine-cone-like scales ; Gr. strobilos, a pine cone) a b c. 

 P. globose to pulvinate, broken into large thick scales ; sc. dark 

 umber on a pale greyish ground. St. clavate, sulcato-reticulate 

 above, coarsely fibrillose, white above, vinous-brown below. 

 T. adnate, with transverse dissepiments, white, shaded dull 

 brownish. Flesh sienna-brown. 

 Woods, under fir, oak, lime, amongst bracken, open grassy places. Aug.- 



Oct. 6 x 7| X I: 



in. 



LXI. FISTULINA Bull. 

 (From the pipe-like character of the tubes; fistula, a pipe.) 



Veil obsolete. Pileiis fleshy, juicy. Stem obsolete. Tubes 

 cylindrical, free from each other as are the spines in Byd?iacece, 

 but adnate with the substance of the pileus. (Fig. 75.) 



1 Growing on wood. Intermediate between Polyporacece and 

 Hydnacece. 



Fig. 75. — Fistulina hepatica Fr. One-third natural size. 

 a, tubes. X 3. B, orifices of ditto. X 6. 



1517. F. hepatica Fr. (from the liver-like appearance ; Gr. hepatikos, 

 of the liver) a b c. Imbricate. 

 P. roundish, dimidiate or subspathulate, rough with minute 

 points, dull pale purplish-red, red, blood-red, liver-colour or 

 chocolate, becoming blackish. T. ochre-whitish, then yellowish- 

 red. Po. distinct. Flesh thick, juicy, red-streaked like beet- 

 root, distilling a red juice. 



Edible when quite ripe. Taste somewhat acid. Trunks, oak, ash, walnut, 

 willow, beech, chestnut, hornbeam, elm. Aug.- Oct. Diam. I ft. 4 in. 

 Sometimes attaining a great size with a weight as much as 19 lbs. ; unlike 

 many Polyporacecz it perishes in about three weeks after its first appear- 

 ance. The "liver "or "beef-steak" fungus. Said by Hartig to be the 

 cause of a deep red-brown decomposition in oak. Ceriomyces {Ptychogaster) 

 hepaticus is said by Saccardo to be an imperfect state of this. 



