50 Clavarias of the United States and Canada 



Clavaria fumosa Pers. Obs. Myc. 1:31. 1796. 



Plates 7 and 82 



Plants densely cespitose and fused at the very base, about 4-10 

 cm. long and 1.7-5 mm. thick, tapering at the base, sometimes com- 

 pressed and furrowed, and rarely branched or antlered, no dis- 

 tinctly marked stem, color pale creamy or smoky flesh, the base 

 nearly white and the blunt or rather pointed apex soon becoming 

 brownish and shrunken; texture very tender and moderately 

 brittle, usually snapping with a clean break when bent at about 

 45°, at times more brittle and snapping very easily, inside solid 

 or in large plants often a little hollowed by the separation of the 

 fibers, and sometimes decidedly hollow in age ; no distinct central 

 cylinder. Practically tasteless and odorless. In drying the plants 

 become a soaked brownish ochraceous, beginning at the tip, and 

 develop a large hollow which is surrounded by scarcely more than 

 a shell. 



Spores white, elliptic, smooth, 3-4 x 4.8-7.5{jl. Basidia 4- 

 spored, 5.5-9[x thick; hymenium about 37 y. thick; threads of flesh 

 very densely packed. 



This species is closely related to C. vermiculata and resembles 

 it in habit and texture. It may be distinguished by the average 

 larger size, the smoky tint, the tips becoming blackish in wither- 

 ing and by the plant not regaining its shape when placed in water 

 after drying. This last is a very convenient test for distinguish- 

 ing the two species without notes on the fresh state. The spores 

 are very much alike, but those of C. fumosa average somewhat 

 longer. They are slightly smaller than European specimens of C. 

 fumosa from Italy (Bresadola) and Germany that we have 

 examined, but the shape is the same. The German plants ( Sydow, 

 Mycotheca germanica, No. 454, Kew Herb.) have spores 3.4-4 x 

 5.5-8[j. ( rarely 10(a). Plants from America (Lloyd) in Bresadola's 

 herbarium are exactly like ours. According to Fries (Hymen. 

 Europ., p. 675), C. striata Pers. ( Comm., p. 78) is probably the 

 same as C. fumosa. 



Illustrations: Britzelmayr. Hymen. Siklb., Clavariei, figs. 34 and 76. 

 Krombholz. Abbild., pi. 53, fig. 18. 1841. 



North Carolina: Chapel Hill. No. 708. On ground in woods, June 20, 

 1913. The plants only 2.5-3 cm. high. No. 924. On ground in woods, 



