PHYSARACE.E 19 



Family PHYSARACE^E 



Capillitium more or less calcareous, the lime typically in the form 

 of nodules connected by tubular hyaline threads, sometimes calcareous 

 throughout; peridium usually more or less incrusted, and often the 

 stipe. Spores violaceous black in mass; purple or lilaceous brown by 

 transmitted light. 



KEY TO THE GENERA OF THE PHYSARACEjE 



a. Fructification aethalioid 1. Fuligo 



a. Fructification plasmodiocarpous or of separate sporangia b 



b. Capillitium composed of a network of tubules, calcareous 



throughout 2. Badhamia 



b. Capillitium of hyaline threads connecting nodules of lime c 



c. Peridium obviously calcareous d 



c. Peridium appearing nearly limeless h 



d. Fructification long-cylindrical, branching, pendent 3. Erionema 



d. Fructification plasmodiocarpous and appressed to sub- 

 stratum, or of sessile or stalked sporangia e 



e. Dehiscence circumscissile or by a definite lid 5. Craterium 



e. Dehiscence irregular ■ / 



/. Fructification plasmodiocarpous or of distinct sporangia, 

 the latter subglobose, laterally appressed or gyrose, but 



the peridium not introverted 4. Physarum 



f. Fructification rarely plasmodiocarpous, usually of stalked 



sporangia, with the peridium more or less introverted g 



g. Sporangia saucer-shaped, fragile; dehiscence irregular 6. Trichamphora 



g. Sporangia thimble-shaped, rarely plasmodiocarpous; dehis- 

 cence by petal-like lobes 7. Physarella 



h. Plasmodiocarpous; capillitium with free, hooked branches 8. Cienkowskia 

 h. Sporangia distinct, ovoid; peridium shining 9. Leocarpus 



1. Fuligo Holier emend. Pers. 



Syn. Meth. Fung. 159. 1801. 



1768. Fuligo Haller, Hist. Stirp. Helv. 3 : 110, in part. 

 1809. Mhalium Link, Mag. Ges. Nat. Fr. Berl. 3 : 42. 



Fructification aethalioid, occasionally subplasmodiocarpous, forming 

 a pulvinate or less commonly a subglobose mass composed of inter- 

 woven and poorly defined tubes, each with a calcareous crust; the 

 outer layer sterile, usually calcareous, forming a fragile crust or cortex, 

 sometimes nearly or quite wanting; the basal layer a membranous 

 hypothallus, the intermediate portion containing the spores and cap- 

 illitium and the limy tube walls; capillitium of hyaline, thread-like 

 tubules connecting lime-knots, as in Physarum, often rather scanty. 



