1920] 



BURT — THELEPHORACEAE OF NORTH AMERICA. XII 137 



Fructifications coriaceous, effuso-reflexed or somewhat dimid- 

 iate, usually cespitose-imbricated, confluent, varying from vil- 

 lose to hirsute, buckthorn-brown, more 

 or less radially plicate ; hymenium bleed- 

 ing when fresh if cut or bruised, drying 

 snuff-brown and more or less darker dis- 

 colored; in structure 600-700 m thick ^~ 

 exclusive of the hairy covering, com- Fig. 18. S. gausapatum. 



if.j 1 11 -j-j-n Section of hymenial region 



posed of densely and longitudinally ar- ^ gg^ ^^^^.^^ distribution 



ranged hyphae, with flexuous, colored of conducting organs. 



conducting organs 75-120X5 /x, very 



numerous in the hymenium; no cystidia; spores hyaline, even, 



5-8X2i-3|/x. 



Singly or covering areas up to 10 cm. and more in diameter; 

 reflexed portion about 1 cm. broad, 1-2| cm. long or more, or 

 with small pilei or lobes 1-1| cm. in diameter. 



On stumps of Quercus usually. Canada to Alabama and 

 westward to Washington and California. August to March. 

 Common. 



S. gausapatum is usually recognizable at sight by its clustered 

 fructifications tobacco-colored above and clothed with a heavy 

 villose or strigose coat, by the rather dark hymenium which 

 bleeds when cut and becomes somewhat darker discolored in 

 drying, and by the occurrence on oak. Sectional preparations 

 show very numerous, colored conducting organs in the hyme- 

 nium. S. australe of the Gulf states bleeds and has colored 

 conducting organs, although fewer, but its fructifications do not 

 form dense clusters and are not radially plicate. S. sanguino- 

 lentum has the same geographical distribution as S. gausapatum 

 and bleeds when fresh and has colored conducting organs, 

 but has small fructifications occurring on conifers only. The 

 hairy covering of the pileus is greedily devoured by herbarium 

 insects, leaving the pilei bare of their normal covering if speci- 

 mens are not protected against their depredations, but, except 

 for insect depredation, this covering is a persistent character. 



Fries described the effuso-reflexed stage of S. gausapatum 

 under the name T. spadicea, confusing this stage with the more 

 southern and specifically different Thelephora spadicea of Per- 

 soon, which does not occur in America. It seems preferable 



