88 Clavarias of the United States and Canada 



Spores white, smooth, oblong to pip-shaped, size (in a plant 

 from Ithaca, N. Y.) 5-7 x 10-14jji; in a plant from Sweden ( Rom- 

 ell) 5-6 x 12-14[a; and in another from Saxony (Wagner) 5-5.5 x 

 12-14[j.. 



Growing on ground from rotting twigs and other detritus in 

 coniferous (and deciduous?) woods in northern regions. Not re- 

 ported from the southern states but should be looked for in the 

 balsam and spruce forests of our high mountains. 



In the Curtis Herbarium are collections from Virginia, 

 Massachusetts, and Maine, all of which seem true. In the same 

 herbarium is a collection received through Schweinitz from Massa- 

 chusetts (Torrey), which is a Mitnila as shown by asci and spores. 

 This is the collection on which Schweinitz based his report of C. 

 contort a from Massachusetts, which is therefore an error (Trans. 

 Am. Phil. Soc. II, 4: 182). 



Von Hohnel (Oesterr. Bot. Zeit. 54: 425. 1904) regards C. 

 contorta as a morbid form of this (an opinion shared by others), 

 but for this he is criticised by Lind (Ann. Myc. 5: 272. 1907), 

 who says that they are quite distinct and that C. fistulosa is found 

 on beech and C. contorta on alder and that the spores of the former 

 are much smaller than those of the latter. Harper, however, finds 

 the spores of two typical plants of C. contorta practically the 

 same as those of C. fistulosa, 6-9 x 14-18[i, and other characters the 

 same also, the plants very hollow after the early stages. Spores 

 of a European plant of C. contorta from Bresadola at the New 

 York Botanical Garden are said to be 7-9 x 14-20[/.. We find them 

 to be 5.5-7.4 x 12-15p. Two other collections in his herbarium 

 have spores in one case 6.5-8x15-18^, in the other about 

 8xl8.5[x. Another collection from America on dead birch 

 (Ithaca, Atkinson), labelled C. Ardenia, has spores 6-7.4 x 13-16jx. 

 From the looks of things in Bresadola's herbarium it would seem 

 certain that C. contorta, C. brachiata, and C. alnea are the same, 

 and also that C. fistulosa, C. Ardenia, and C. macrorhisa are the 

 same, but that the two groups are possibly different. 



The usual description of C. contorta is as follows: "Simple, 

 erumpent, stuffed, spongy-fleshy, soft to the touch, somewhat 

 twisted, rugose, obtuse, pruinose, watery-yellow. On dead 

 branches of alder, hazel, etc., 2.5-3 cm. high, 6-9 mm. thick." 



