26 Clavarias of the United States and Canada 



Spores white, smooth, subspherical with one side usually flat- 

 tened, and with a distinct apical mucro, 6.5-8.5 x 7.5-10[x. Basidia 

 ^1-spored, considerably enlarged at the end, 7-9 x 25-30[x. 



The plant reaches a considerably larger size than shown in our 

 collection. Cotton says (Trans. Brit. Myc. Soc. 3: 31. 1908) 

 "3-7 cm. high, slender, 2-3 mm. thick." Cotton says further: 



"The frequent occurrence of C. acuta in greenhouses has been 

 noted by several writers. Schroeter, for instance, states 

 (Kryptogamen Flora von Schlesien, vol. iii: p. 444) that in Bres- 

 lau Botanical Gardens it regularly occurs in certain large pots, pro- 

 ducing crops which continue for several weeks. At Kew the 

 plant behaves in a similar manner. Presumably, the mycelium 

 is introduced with the turfy-loam employed in potting. It is 

 quite possible that the plant described by Persoon (1797) as C. 

 falcata (a name kept up in Continental works) is the same species 

 as C. acuta. Persoon's description is, however, hardly sufficient 

 to justify the adoption of his name." 



We have found but one plant in American herbaria that seems 

 to be what is referred to this species or to C. falcata by European 

 botanists. It is a collection under the name of C. falcata by 

 Schweinitz from Salem, N. C, now in the Curtis Herbarium at 

 Cambridge. There are two plants on clay soil, 1.5-2 cm. high, the 

 stalks apparently distinct and a little darker than the clubs, about 

 5-6 mm. long; clubs tapering towards the stalk, one pointed, one 

 sub-acute at tip, rugose-wrinkled, ochraceous, about 1 mm. thick. 

 The spores are subspherical, 7-8a in diameter and exactly like 

 the spores of our C. acuta and of the European C. acuta from 

 Cotton (Wales). The latter are, according to our measurements, 

 6.5-8[x thick. Another collection in the Curtis Herbarium under 

 the same name from Alabama (Pieters) appears to be different, 

 and is probably not C. falcata. Plants in the Cornell Herbarium 

 labelled C. acuta (No. 9659) look like C. vermiculata and from 

 the full notes attached are almost certainly that species. 



In the Curtis Herbarium are also three collections labelled C. 

 acuta — Society Hill, S. C. (Curtis), Santee Canal, S. C. (Rave- 

 nel), and Massachusetts (Sprague). All are very small clubs 

 growing on earth. No spores could be found on any of them 

 and it is more than likely that none of them is C. acuta. 



