DiACHEA 109 



mm. high, black, furrowed. Columella clavate, about half the 

 height of the sporangium, rugose, chalky or yellowish white. 

 Capillitium consisting of slender, colorless or purplish threads, 

 anastomosing and branching towards the tips. Spores violet or 

 purplish brown, minutely warted, 8-12 n diam. 



Type locality: Cranberry, North Carolina. 



Habitat: On dead leaves and mosses. 



Distribution: Florida, *Iowa, North Carolina, Tennessee, 

 *West Indies. 



Illustration: Lister, Mycetozoa ed. 3. pi. 86. 



The black stalks, the wrinkled sporangia, and the clavate, 

 white columellae distinguish the species from immature phases 

 of Didymium xanthopus which it sometimes resembles. 



Genus 10. DIACHEA Fries, Syst. Orb. Veg. 1: 143. 1825. 



Sporangia stalked or sessile. Sporangial wall hyaline, iri- 

 descent, without deposits of lime. Walls of stalk and columella 

 membranous, charged with lime in the form of granules or crys- 

 talline nodules, sometimes without lime. Capillitium a profuse 

 network of purplish threads without lime-knots. 



This genus is a connecting link between the Calcarineae and 

 the Stemonitaceae. The limeless forms, D. cylindrica and D. 

 caespitosa, although showing affinities to Lamproderma, are re- 

 tained in Diachea because of the tubular character of the stalks. 



Type species: Stemonitis elegans Trent. 



Sporangia globose. 



Lime in stalk white, sometimes absent. 



Spores with scattered warts or spines. 2. D. bulbillosa 



Spores with coarse scattered protuberances and 



ridges. 3. D. splendens 



Spores reticulate with spines. 4. D. subsessilis 



Sporangia usually sessile; spores minutely warted. 5. D. radiata 



Lime in stalk orange. 6. D. Thomasii 



Sporangia cylindrical (globose in D. leiicopodia var. globosd). 

 Sporangia distinct; lime in stalk white; spores minutely 



spinulose. 1. D. leucopodia 



Sporangia clustered; lime absent; spores reticulated. 7. D. cylindrica 



Sporangia clustered; lime absent; spores warted. 8. D. caespitosa 



1. Diachea leucopodia (Bull.) Rost. Mon. 190. 1874. 



Trichia leucopodia Bull. Herb. Fr. pi. 502, fig. 2. 1790; Bull. Champ. 121. 1791. 

 Stemoyiitis elegans Trent, in Roth, Cat. Bot. 1: 220. 1797. 

 Diachea elegans (Trent.) Fries, Syst. Orb. Veg. 1: 143. 1825. 



