LYCOPERDACEAE 95 



Literature 



Cunningham. The Genera Bm'sta and Borisklla. Proc. Linn. Soc. New. South Wales 50: 367, pi. 



37. IMS. 

 Lloyd. As cited above. 



Morgan. Joum. On. Soc. Nat. Bust 14: 141. 1892. 

 Petri. I"IoraItalicaCryptogama(Gastcrales),Fasc. 5: 58. 1909. 



Key to the Species 



Plants of moderate size; sterile base obvious B. radhata 



Tlants small; sterile base none 



Plants epigeal; capillitium units very slender, the main branches only about 6-7 'ji thick. . B. echir.clla 

 Plants subterranean until maturity; main threads of the capillitium up to 18.5m thick 



See Bovista minor 



Bovistella radicata (Mont.) Pat. 



Bovistella ohiensis Ell. & Morg. 



Plates 59 and 114 



Plants globose or broadly top-shaped, up to 7 cm. broad usually, but rarely as large 

 as 14.5 cm., often plicate below; attached by a firm, thick, tapering root; cortex com- 

 posed over the upper half or more of soft, pyramidal warts which are often fused at 

 their tips into fascicles as in species of Lycoperdon, these fading towards the base to a 

 dense soft scurf; white at first, then dull ochraceous when dry and wearing away ir- 

 regularly and incompletely to expose the thin, papery, inner peridium which is metallic 

 buff or silvery buff or ochraceous in color, rupturing at maturity by an apical pore or 

 slit which extends by fission on exposure and finally by collapsing and incurling leaves 

 the entire subgleba exposed in age. Subgleba large, broad, occupying about one- third to 

 one-half the plant, the edges extending up the sides of the peridium to form a cup- 

 shaped base which is long persistent. Gleba at first white and cheesy, then passing 

 through yellowish to brown (about Brussels brown of Ridgway) ; chambers of the young 

 gleba 25-250^ wide, hollow. Before ripening begins, a section of the peridium shows 

 that the scurfy and warty superficial coat is an extension of a thick, compact, pulpy, 

 tender layer about 450,u thick of bladdery cells beneath which lies the thin, very tough 

 inner peridium about 130m thick, composed of densely woven, slender filaments about 

 3.7/i thick. 



Spores oval, smooth, 3.5-4.5 x 4.3-5. 2ju, with one large oil drop and long, hyaline, 

 persistent pedicels which average about 11m long. Basidia short, 6.6/u thick, with 4 long 

 sterigmata which break off with the spores. Capillitium threads free, short, 3-5 times 

 branched, the main stem 7-12/x thick, the branches tapering to about 3.5/x thick near 

 the ends. 



At Hartsville, S. C. (see below), we have collected a very robust form reaching 

 14.5 cm. broad, which is considerably larger than the form figured by Lloyd (cited 

 below). The species is common in Chapel Hill and prefers cultivated soil and open 

 places. When quite fresh and white the taste is sweetish and pleasant and the odor 

 slight, but as the color begins to change the odor becomes rather strong and nitrous. 



As represented in Torrend's Fungi Selecti Exs. No. 77, Bovista radicata is the same 

 as our plant and confirms Patouillard's conclusion (accepted by Hollos) that our Ameri- 

 can plant is B. radicata. The type was described from northern Africa (Syll. Crypt., 

 etc., Paris, 1856). Plants from California distributed by McClatchie as B. ammophila 

 Lev., a European species, now included in Bovistella, are considered by Lloyd as B. 

 plumbea (Myc. Notes, p. 88). 



