136 THE MYXOMYCETES 



21. Diderma radiatum (L.) Morgan 



Jour. Cin. Soc. Nat. Hist. 16 : 151. 1894. 

 PI. IX, Figs. 204, 205. 



1763. Lycoperdon radiatum L., Sp. Plant, ed. 2. 1654. 



1797. Didymium stellar e Schrad., Nov. Gen. PI. 21. 



1801. Diderma stellare (Schrad.) Pers., Syn. Meth. Fung. 164. 



1801. Diderma umbilicatum Pers., Syn. Meth. Fung. 165. 



1803. Diderma crassipes Schum., Enum. PI. Saell. 2 : 196. 



1804. Reticularia umbilicata (Pers.) Poiret, in Lam. Encycl. 183. 



1809. Leangium stellare (Schrad.) Link, Mag. Ges. Nat. Fr. Berl. 3 : 26. 



1815. Didymium geaster Link, Mag. Ges. Nat. Fr. Berl. 7 : 42. 



1827. Cionium stellare (Schrad.) Spreng., Syst. Orb. Veg. 4 : 529. 



1827. Cionium umbilicatum (Pers.) Spreng., Syst. Orb. Veg. 4 : 529. 



1836. Diderma carmichaelianum Berk., in Sm., Engl. Fl. 5 (2) : 311. 



1869. Didymium complanatum Fuckel, Symb. Myc. 341. 



1873. Diderma concinnum Berk. & Curt., Grev. 2 : 52. 



1875. Chondrioderma radiatum (L.) Rost, Mon. 182. 



1877. Chondrioderma carmichaelianum (Berk.) Cooke, Myx. Gt. Brit. 42. 



Sporangia scattered, depressed-globose, sometimes also flattened 

 below, stipitate, smooth or slightly corrugate, ashen or brownish drab, 

 rarely reddish or white, about 1 mm. in diameter, the peridium dehisc- 

 ing irregularly or somewhat radiately from above downwards, the 

 segments reflexed, the inner layer not distinguishable or inseparable; 

 stipe short, stout, brownish, sometimes almost lacking; hypothallus 

 not conspicuous, but sometimes sufficient to connect the bases of 

 adjacent stipes; columella large, hemispherical or globose, pallid or 

 yellowish; capillitium abundant, of slender, generally simple, colored 

 threads, paler at the furcate tips; spores dark violaceous, minutely 

 roughened, 8-1 1 /z. 



Rare on rotten logs in the forests; September. Easily recognized 

 by the short-stiped, ashen sporangia which before dehiscence indicate 

 by delicate tracings the lines which subsequent cleavage is to follow. 

 In texture the peridium resembles that of D. floriforme. 



The Linnaean description on which to base the specific name D. radi- 

 atum is wholly inadequate. It appears also by the testimony of Linne 

 fits, that Lycoperdon radiatum L. is a lichen and the name is so applied 

 by Persoon. But in the Linnaean herbarium preserved at London, 

 teste Lister, the original type of Lycoperdon radiatum L. may yet be 

 seen to the confusion of fits, Persoon and other followers of Schrader. 



The var. umbilicatum Meylan (Ann. Cons. Bot. Gen. 1913 : 312) 

 with pale, flattened, umbilicate sporangia, has often been given specific 

 distinction as D. umbilicatum Pers. ; the var. rubrum Ronn (Schr. Nat. 

 Ver. Schles.-Holst. 15 : 59, 1911) is said to have grayish pink spo- 



