476 



CLASS BASIDIOMYCETEAE 



Fig. 154. Polyporales, Family Thelephoraceae. (A, B) Thelephora terrestris (Ehrh.) 

 Fr. (A) Lower jview of lobe. (B) Section through hymenium. (C) Hymenochaete 

 cacao Berk. Portion of hymenium showing basidia and setae. (D) Solenia Candida 

 (Hoffm.) Fr., habit sketch. (A-D, after Killermann, in Engler und Prantl: Die 

 Naturlichen Pflanzenfamilien, Zweite Auflage, vol. 6, pp. 124-288, Leipzig, W. Engel- 

 mann.) 



the protection of the hymenium from snails and other harmful animals. 

 In Thelephora (called by the name Phylacteria Pat. by Patouillard, 1887, 

 1900; Rea, 1922, and others) the more or less leathery fruit body is 

 upright, stalked, pileate or fan-shaped or much lobed or in an overlapping 

 series, the hymenium being on the under side and smooth or slightly 

 warty. In Cyphella and Solenia (united into one genus by some authors) 

 the spore fruit is cup-like or tubular, with the opening usually directed 

 downward, and lined internally by the hymenium. In some species of 

 Solenia many spore fruits arise close together, but separate from one 

 another, from a common mycelial mass, the subiculum. Some mycologists 

 place these two genera in Family Fistulinaceae (see p. 484). (Fig. 154, 

 A, D.) 



Sparassis (often included in the Clavariaceae, but see Cotton, 1912) 

 is fleshy, much branched, with the terminal portions flattened and bearing 

 the hymenium on the under side only. The edible S. ramosa (Schaef.) 

 Schroet. occurs in Europe and North America, often attaining the size 

 and shape of a small, loose-leafed cabbage. 



Family Cantharellaceae. Perhaps intermediate between the 

 Thelephoraceae and Clavariaceae is the genus Craterellus. This is fleshy, 

 club- or funnel- or trumpet-shaped with the hymenium on the outer side 

 which is smooth or more or loss longitudinally ribbed or reticulate. Several 

 species are edible. The genus is stichobasidial as is the genus Cantharellus 

 which is undoubtedly closely related but differs in having the longitudinal 

 ribs further developed so as to be low, thick lamellae. Perhaps, as Singer 

 suggests, the correct name is Gomphus. Cantharellus was formerly included 

 in the Agaricaceae but probably belongs here. Perhaps these two genera 

 should be united into a distinct family, the Cantharellaceae (as was done 



