1918] 



BURT THELEPHORACEAE OP NORTH AMERICA. X 307 



chaete formosa Leveille, Ann. Sci. Nat. Bot. III. 5 : 151. 1846. 

 — An Thelephora speciosa Fries, Linnaea 5 : 525. 1830? 



Fructifications with several to many pilei borne on very 

 short branches of a common central stem at or near its apex ; 

 stem cylindric, velutinous with setae, hazel to Brussels-brown; 

 pilei coriaceous, thin, expanded, drying strongly inrolled, even 

 or sometimes rugose, silky and antique brown when young, 

 finally glabrous except for setae which are scattered over the 

 upper surface and more abundant towards the stem, bister, 

 and sometimes concentrically zonate with narrow dark zones 

 near the margin; hymenium a little darker than the upper 

 surface, Front's brown to Mars brown, abundantly and con- 

 spicuously setulose; in structure 200-500 ^ thick, composed 

 of a setigerous layer up to 150 ii thick and of a hyphal 

 layer constituting the remainder and not bordered on either 

 side by a dense, dark zone; setae 90-150x9-15 /x, emerging 

 up to 60 n, tapering upward from the base, starting from all 

 parts of the setigerous layer; spores hyaline, even, 5-5^ X 



Fructifications 3-15 cm. high, l|-3 cm. broad; individual 

 pilei 1-1^ cm. long, 1-3 cm. broad; stem 2-14 cm. long, 2-3 

 mm. in diameter in dried specimens not cited under H. formosa 

 on a following page. 



On roots of trees and among leaves in thick woods. West 

 Indies and Mexico to Brazil. October to March. 



H. damaecornis exhibits wide variation in the dimensions 

 of its fructifications and in the number of pilei which are 

 borne on the central stem; the short branches of the latter 

 are somewhat flattened in radial planes with respect to the 

 central stem if so many pilei are present that some are borne 

 along the sides of the stem below the terminal cluster. Where 

 only four pilei are present in a symmetrical terminal cluster, 

 there is bifurcation of the main stem into two flattened 

 branches, and of these again into the more broadly flattened 

 bases of the individual pilei. There is often a curious twist- 

 ing of the end of the branch and base of the pileus through 

 an angle of 90 degrees to bring the plane of the pileus dorsi- 

 ventral, if we may compare it with a leaf. In this connection, 



