no The North American Cup-Fungi 



cm. in diameter; apothecial masses circular or irregular, often 

 interrupted, pale-orange, surrounded by a dense superficial 

 white mycelial growth ; hymenium usually convex, the color vary- 

 ing greatly with conditions, sometimes only slightly yellowish, 

 to bright-orange, occasionally with a purplish tinge; asci cylindric 

 or subcylindric, 150 /x long and 10-14 ^t in diameter; spores 1- 

 seriate, ellipsoid, smooth, hyaline, 5-8 X 10-13 /x; paraphyses 

 rather stout, very slightly enlarged above, reaching a diameter 

 of 6-7 M at their apices, filled with orange granules. 



Occurring in nature on burned places; in greenhouses on 

 steamed soil or soil which has been sterilized by dry heat. 



Type locality: Europe. 



Distribution: Throughout North America, Europe and 

 Australia; probably world-wide. 



Illustrations: Bull. Herb. Fr. pi. 485, f. 1; Bond. Ic. Myc. 

 pi. 419; Bull. Lab. Nat. Hist. State Univ. Iowa 6: pi. 7, /. 1; 

 Cooke, Mycographia pi. 17, f. 65; Gill. Champ. Er. Discom. 

 pi. 51; E. & P. Nat. Pfl. 1^: 177,/. 145; Mycologia 1: pi. 9-12; 

 Mycologia 2: pi. 26; Tul. Fung. Carp. 3: pi. 17, f. 11, 12; Pat. 

 Tab. Fung. /. 287; Cooke, Austr. Fung. pi. 19, f. 149; Rab. 

 Krypt.-Fl. P: 919, /. 1-5; Phill. Brit. Discom. pi. 5, f. 22; Ann. 

 Sci. Nat. V. 6: pi. 11, f. 10-13 and pi. 12; Heidler, Pfl. Marienbad, 

 pi. 2. 



ExsiCCATi: F"ungi Columb. 1308. 



Pyronema confiuens inigneum W. H. Brown, Am. Jour. Bot. 2: 297. 1915. 



This variety according to Brown seems to differ from the 

 species described above through the fact that the plants will 

 develop on soil or pots which have not been sterilized or heated, 

 a condition which has been shown to be absolutely essential to 

 the development of the species. The variety is also said to 

 differ from the species in the entire absence of fusion between 

 the antheridium and trichogyne. 



Excluded Species 



Pyronema leucobasis (Peck) Sacc. Syll. Fung. 8: 110. 1889. The only 

 character about this plant which suggests Pyronema is the superficial mycelium 

 which surrounds the apothecia, and it was doubtless due to this resemblance 

 that Saccardo placed the species in that genus. The species is a true Psilopezia. 

 The superficial resemblance of the apothecia in Psilopezia to those of Pyronema 

 was mentioned by Berkeley when he proposed the genus Psilopezia. 



