48 THE GASTEROMYCETES OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA 



For cytology of spore formation in Hydnangium carneum see Rhuland (Bot. 

 Zeit. 59: 187. 1901). In this plant Rhuland finds basidia in a single fruit body to 

 have 2, 3 or 4 spores. There are 4 nuclei in each basidium. In the two-spored cases 

 each spore may contain two nuclei or one may contain one and the other three. In the 

 four-spored cases each one contains a single nucleus. In the spores further division 

 of the nuclei may take place producing nuclei up to six. Bausch (Bot. Zeit. 18: 352. 

 1926) states that this behavior of nuclei, that is more than one entering a single spore 

 from the basidium is the only case proven. For Hydnangium carneum also see further 

 Bambeke, Mem. Acad. Roy. Sci. Belgique 54: 1903 and Klika, Mykologia 2: 

 143, 3 text figs. 1925. See also Patouillard, Note sur trois especes d 'Hydnanghim de 

 la flore du Jura, Bull. Soc. Myc. France 26: 199, figs 1-3. 1910. 



Key to the Species 



Plants bay or red-brown O. Ravenelii (p. 48) 



Plants purplish on exposure O. purpurea (p. 50) 



Plants gray to bluish green 0. asterosperma (p. 51) 



Octaviania Ravenelii (Berk.) Lloyd 



Hydnangium Ravenelii (Berk.) Curtis 

 Hydnangium Stepkensii var. Ravenelii Berk. 

 Octaviania Stephensii var. Ravenelii (Berk.) De Toni 



Plates 29 and 110 



Plants superficial or partly underground, gregarious and often crowded, subglobose 

 to oblong-lobed, usually flattened when large, 1-3 cm. wide, 0.6-1.5 cm. high; bay red 

 to chestnut or Sanford's brown when fresh, paler and more or less plicate underneath; 

 surface quite smooth, dull (not flocculent) ; rooting by a small white myceloid base, 

 no fibrils present; peridium wall simple, 130-150/j thick, its context reddish brown under 

 microscope, consisting of much tangled, closely packed hyphae. Gleba creamy white, 

 becoming pale rose when cut, exuding a white, tasteless milk which also becomes faintly 

 rose colored and more watery upon exposure to air; cavities of the gleba large, about 

 0.3-1.5 mm. long or wide, labyrinthiform, quite hollow until deliquescence and easily 

 visible without a lens; septa 110-190/* thick, consisting of (a) closely packed, irregular 

 hyphae, 3.7-6.2/* thick, (b) elongated, laticiferous sacs, and (c) the two conspicuous 

 hymenial layers which are 40-50/i thick and without cystidia. Odor when fresh rather 

 faintly aromatic and very like that of a certain group of Lactarias, e. g., L. theiogalus, 

 as also noted by Berkeley for H. Stephensii. When rotting the odor is mildly fetid and 

 moderately strong, not at all like the pleasant odor of Rhizopogon rubescens. 



Spores spherical, 11.8-16/* thick, with a short mucro and large oil drop, the surface 

 set with irregular, imperfectly reticulated warts and ridges almost exactly as in certain 

 species of Russnla and Lactarius. Basidia clavate or spindle-shaped, 8-13 x 45-65/1 

 counting the sterigmata, which are 7.5-14/* long and only two in number. 



Not rare in Chapel Hill on sandy soil mixed with moss and grass in low open woods 

 among pines. The plants are seated on the surface and never more than about one- 

 third submerged. After maturity the plants do not deliquesce as in Rhizopogon, but 

 begin slowly to decay, the gleba and peridium becoming water-logged, the former getting 

 much darker and usually spotted or covered with a blackish brown mold, the gleba not 

 changing color, slowly the tramal plates break down and the gleba becomes a tough and 

 elastic jelly, the disorganization proceeding gradually from the top and sides. Fissures 



