The Polyporaceae of North America. I. The Genus 

 Ganoderma-'' 



By William Am'Honso Murrill 



It is evident, even to the beginner in mycology, that the present 

 classification of the higher fungi is not satisfactory. This is par- 

 ticularly true of the group containing Polyponts and its allies, 

 which is at present very imperfectly divided into genera, and con- 

 tains many species which are confused and uncertain, because of 

 the incompleteness of the original descriptions. Before the group 

 can be reduced to order, full descriptions must be had of all its 

 species, the type specimens in Sweden, England, Germany, and 

 elsewhere must be examined, and sufficient knowledge gained of 

 the life and habits of each plant to determine its natural position 

 in the group. In this paper an attempt is made to present in 

 order the members of the " Incidiis " group of Polyponis occurring 

 in North America. A large number of the specimens examined 

 have been collected during several years past by Professor Lucien 

 M. Underwood, and by various contributors to his private herba- 

 rium. The extensive literature and large collections of the New 

 York Botanical Garden and Columbia University have also been 

 most generously placed at the writer's disposal. 



I desire also to express my appreciation of the many courtesies 

 extended me by Professor Paul Magnus, Mr. P. Hennings, Pro- 

 fessor Kjellman, Professor T. M. Fries, Professor H. Von Post, 

 Mr. Lars Romell, Mr. W. B. Hemsley, Mr. George Massee and 

 others, while studying forms of this group in Germany, Sweden, 

 and England. 



History of the Genus 



The species upon which this genus was founded was first 

 described in its immature form as an agaric, but when perfect 

 specimens were obtained it was placed in Boletus, a genus es- 

 tablished by Dillenius in 17 19 to include all pore-bearing fungi, 

 and later adopted by Linnaeus, although Micheli had erected 



* Read by invitation before the Botanical Society of America, Pittsburg, Tune, 

 1902. 



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