134 THE GASTEROMYCETES OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA 



Geaster Schmidelii Vitt. 

 G. Rabenhorstii Kunze 



Plates 75 and 115 



Like G. pectinatus, except smaller and with a short stalk and less separable mycelial 

 layer and smaller spores. A typical lot of this form is No. 5020 of E. Bartholomew's 

 Fungi Columbiana (Calloway, Nebraska; J. M. Bates, coll.). These have 5-6 reflexed 

 rays with trashy mycelial layer attached, the thin brown fleshy layer also present; 

 spore sac suboval, very short-stalked, smooth, dark brown, mouth elevated, strongly 

 sulcate. Spores medium dark, minutely warted, spherical, 3.7-4.4u, with a visible oil 

 drop. 



Another lot of Bates' plants from Nebraska are in the New York Botanical Garden 

 (from Lloyd Herb.). The outer surface is covered with sand, the spore sac blackish 

 with a whitish or brown powder. A less typical lot is from New Jersey (Newfield; 

 Earle, coll., at N. Y. Bot. Gard. Herb.) . This lot has the rays slightly hygroscopic and 

 in one of the plants the spore sac is yellowish buff color. Another plant of this lot is 

 the one shown by Lloyd in his Geastrae, fig. 27 a. The spores of this particular plant 

 are like those noted above, minutely warted, 3.7-4.5;*. A plant about intermediate 

 between pectinatus and Schmidelii is at the New York Botanical Garden Herbarium 

 (Underwood, coll.; Kirkville, N. Y.). The spore sac is buffy and the stalk very short. 

 European G. Schmidelii as distributed by Torrend (Mycotheca Lusitanica, in Path, 

 and Myc. Herb., Washington) is like our American plant and like the types of G. 

 Rabenhorstii. Three plants sent us for examination by Patouillard (Herb. Mus. 

 Paris; Barla, coll.) as G. Schmidelii are somewhat worn specimens of the minimus form 

 of G. coronatus. The spores are spherical, warted, 3.7-4.6^. 



In freshly opened plants collected by us in Warrenton, Va., the fleshy layer was 

 nearly white; spore sac drab. On drying the fleshy layer turned brown and cracked 

 considerably. 



. Spores of the type material of G. Rabenhorstii (Fungi selecti exs., No. 10, in Path. 

 and Myc. Herb., Washington) are spherical, distinctly warted, 3.8-5^, a few up to 

 5.5^. Geaster elegans Vitt. is very near G. Schmidelii, the only obvious difference being 

 the entirely sessile spore sac and larger spores of the former. These characters are 

 shown by plants in Torrend's Mycotheca Lusitanica, No. 78 (Univ. Wis. Herb, and 

 U. N. C. Herb., as G. elegans), and in his Fungi selecti exs., No. 79 (in the same her- 

 barium, as G. minimus) ; also in the Herbarium of the University of Paris (from Tu- 

 lasne Herb.). The spores of the last mentioned are minutely but distinctly rough, 

 4.2-5.5^ thick (pi. 116, fig. 2). The plant is not known from America. 



This would seem to run into a saccate form, apparently quite sessile as shown by a 

 distribution of 11 good plants by J. Kunze, Fungi selecti exs., as G. striatus DC, from 

 the same place as his G. Rabenhorstii and also like that in growing in Picea excelsa 

 needles; mouth, peridium and all else same except that the outer peridium is saccate 

 or flat and inner peridium with no obvious stalk. 



Illustrations: Destree. 1. c, pi. 7, fig. B. 

 Lloyd. As cited above. 

 Petri. 1. c, fig. 37, 3. 



Trelease. 1. c, pi. 7, fig. 3 (as G. Rabenhorstii). 

 Vittadini. Monog. Lycoperd., pi. 1, fig. 7. 





