126 Clavarias of the United States and Canada 



Clavaria divaricata Pk. Bull. N. Y. St. Mus. 2:11. 1887. 



(Not C. divaricata Karsten. Symbolae Myc. Fenn. 32: 10. 

 1893). 



Plates 40 and 85 



Plants about 5-7.5 cm. high and broad (up to 10 cm. high in 

 the type), branched at the ground from a pointed base, with a 

 rather open and spreading habit, tips minute, numerous, very 

 sharp and tending to divaricate ; color pale yellowish flesh below, 

 shading upwards to fleshy yellow, the very tips abruptly very pale 

 when young, but becoming concolorous at maturity. Flesh very 

 fragile and brittle, colored like the surface; taste pleasant and 

 nutty ; odor slight. 



Spores ochraceous buff, minutely rough, 3.7-4.4x9.7-11.5^. 

 Basidia (of No. 3063) 6.2-9. 3\l thick; hymenium 50-60jx thick; 

 hyphae much intertwined just under the hymenium, clamp con- 

 nections possibly present but difficult to make out. 



The above description, except where noted, is drawn from our 

 collection No. 15 from Lake George, New York. The Chapel 

 Hill collections listed are very similar and the spores alike, but the 

 color of the plants is not identical. 



We are referring these to C. divaricata which, on account of 

 the form and certain other discrepancies (as the length of the 

 spores), is being retained as a species although it is probably only 

 a form of C. flava. The type at Albany is a light, brittle plant 

 with a strong tendency to be hollow when dry ; the tips cartilagin- 

 ous-looking, the remainder buffy ochraceous; spores slightlv 

 rough, 4-4.7 xll.7-12.5fj..* 



Illustration: Burt. Ann. Mo. Bot. Gard. 9: pi. 7, fig. 53. 1922. 



North Carolina: Chapel Hill. No. 1250. By path in woods, September 

 23, 1914. Plants short, thick, very coral-like, about 4.5 cm. high and 

 6-7 cm. wide, two or three short main branches from a common base ; 

 secondary branches short, spreading, numerous, ending in several small 

 cusps ; color a clear light yellow all over, nearly citron yellow. Flesh 

 white, rigid, but exceedingly brittle and fragile, taste nutty and pleasant, 

 exactly as in C. flava. No. 3037. Woods in lowgrounds, pines and 

 oaks predominating, May 18, 1918. Spores 4-4.5x9-11/*. No. 3063. 

 Strowd's lowgrounds, deciduous woods, May 22, 1918. 



* To this species Peck has referred a little plant on wood from Floodwood, N. Y. 

 (Rept. N. Y. St. Mus. 54: 171. 1901). It is evident from the dried plant that this is 

 entirely different, and is probably C. byssiseda. No spores could be obtained from it. 



