[Vol. 5 

 344 ANNALS OF THE MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN 



Venezuela: Margarita, A. F. Blakeslee, comm. by W . G. 



Farlow. 

 Brazil: Blumenau, A. Moller, comm. by J. Bresadola, under 



the name Hymenochaete fuliginosa, as listed in Hedwigia 



35 : 289. 1896. 



20. H. agglutinans Ellis, Torr. Bot. Club Bui. 5 : 46. 1874; 

 Sacc. Syll. Fung. 6 : 602. 1888 ; Massee, Linn. Soc. Bot. Jour. 

 27 : 106. 1890; Graves, Mycologia 6 : 279. pi. 145. 1914. 



Hymenochaete amhiens Berk. & Curtis in Cooke, Grevillea 

 8:147. 1880; Sacc. Syll. Fung. 6:596. 1888; Massee, Linn. 

 Soc. Bot. Jour. 27 : 106. 1890. 



Type: probably in N. Y. Bot. Gard. Herb. 



Fructifications resupinate, effused, adnate, orbicular, at 

 first of loose texture and cream-buff, then thick, very com- 

 pact, concentrically sulcate, and antique brown, with the 

 margin thick, determinate, and cream-buff, finally becoming 

 black during the winter, infecting living limbs where they rub 

 together and finally uniting them firmly; in structure 1-2 

 mm. thick, composed of a single homogeneous hyphal layer 

 of densely interwoven, thick-walled hyphae concolorous with 

 the fructification and bearing at the outer surface of this layer 

 an opaque subhymenium upon which the setae stand; setae 

 70-90x9 n, protruding 60 n, few, scattered, starting from the 

 subhymenium; basidia and spores not found. 



Fructifications 3-7 cm. in diameter, 1-2 mm. thick. 



Infecting living branches of Alnus, Benzoin, Acer, etc., 

 where they rub together. August to April. New Hampshire 

 to Florida, westward to Idaho, and in Cuba. Frequent. 



This species is easily recognized by its remarkable habit 

 of joining together branches which have rubbed together and 

 formed areas for infection. From these areas the fructifica- 

 tion spreads so as to often encircle one or both limbs, at the 

 same time killing the portions of the limbs beyond the fructi- 

 fication, as described by Graves in his article cited above. 



Specimens examined: 

 Exsiccati: Ellis, N. Am. Fungi, 939; Ell. & Ev., Fungi Col., 



807; de Thumen, Myc. Univ., 309. 



