FULIGO 23 



ish ochraceous, tawny, brown or deep violet; cortex fragile, calcareous, 

 thick or almost lacking; capillitium of white, yellow or reddish lime- 

 knots, connected by hyaline, thread-like tubules, usually well de- 

 veloped but not infrequently scanty; spore-mass dull black, sooty; 

 spores purplish brown by transmitted light, mostly spherical, spinu- 

 lose to nearly smooth, 6-9 n in diameter. The Plasmodium is usually 

 yellow, but may be white or cream colored. 



An extremely variable species, as the extensive synonymy suggests, 

 and because of its large size and frequent occurrence on spent tan 

 bark, the typical form has long been familiar and popularly known as 

 "flowers of tan." It was described under this name in 1727 by Mar- 

 chant, and again described and illustrated by Micheli in 1729. The 

 classical studies of de Bary (1859, 1864) give much attention to the 

 development of this species. World-wide in its distribution, it appears 

 in its various manifestations in all sorts of exposed situations — logs, 

 posts, stumps, the bark of living trees, even clods of earth and stones. 

 The typical form (var. ovata of N. A. Slime-Moulds, ed. 2) is common 

 on stumps and fallen logs, with us on oak, cotton wood, linden and 

 maple particularly, but may occur on a variety of substrata, including 

 bare earth. The fructification is large, yellow, ochraceous or tawny, 

 with an extremely friable, foamy cortex. The calcareous internal 

 structure is white. The spores are spherical, nearly smooth and 6-8 n 

 in diameter. Bulliard figures this phase well on pi. 424, fig. 2, as Reticu- 

 laria (Fuligo) hortensis. Schaeffer's pi. 132 probably represents the 

 same thing, as does Bolton's pi. 134. Sowerby's fig. 2 on pi. 399, and 

 figs. 1 and 2 on Greville's pi. 272 possibly also depict this form. Per- 

 soon calls this F. vaporaria because it frequents hotbeds and the like, 

 and believes it to represent the "untuosusflavus" of Linnaeus, although 

 he thinks Schaeffer's specimens do not. 



The following phases seem to be sufficiently constant to warrant 

 varietal recognition: 



Var. Candida Pers. (as F. Candida Pers., Obs. Myc. 1 : 92, 1796). 

 Plasmodium, sethalium and lime-knots white, giving the whole struc- 

 ture a grayish white appearance when mature. Plasmodiocarpous 

 forms of this are likely to be confused with F. cinerea, from which they 

 may be distinguished by the small, spherical spores. Common. 



Var. rufa Pers. (as F. rufa Pers., Roemer N. Mag. Bot. 1 : 88, 

 1794, = F. carnea Schum., Enum. Plant. Ssell. 2 : 194, 1803; Reticu- 

 laria carnea (Schum.) Fr., Syst. Myc. 3:91, 1829; Reticularia rufa 

 (Pers.) Schw., Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. II. 4 : 261, 1832; Mthalium ferrin- 

 cola Schw., Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. II. 4 : 261, 1832; Mthalium rufum 

 (Pers.) Wallr., Fl. Crypt. Germ. 11 : 341, 1833; Licea lindheimeri 



