IOWA DISCOMYCETES 59 



On burnt ground, Iowa City. 



The plants of this species were found to be abundant on burnt 

 places during the autumn of 1904 in woods near Iowa City. 

 The plants from which the above description was drawn were 

 collected in woods in which large numbers of trees had been cut 

 and the brush burned in various places. The plants when scat- 

 tered are nearly plane but when crowded, as they often are they 

 become very irregular with age and the brown mass, often sev- 

 eral cm. in diameter, becomes very attractive on account of the 

 peculiar forms which the cups assume. The spores are very 

 rough and close examination shows the roughenings to be in the 

 form of interrupted ridges rather than rounded wart-like eleva- 

 tions. 



BARL^EA Sacc, Syll. Fung. 8 : 111. 1889. 



Plants small, concave or depressed, often becoming convex, 

 not exceeding 1 cm. broad and usually much less, mostly bright 

 colored; asci cylindrical, 8-spored; spores perfectly globose, 

 smooth, reticulate, spinulose or verrucose. 



Several species have been collected four of which are de- 

 scribed here. The plants of this genus and the genus Humaria 

 which differ only in the form of the spores are most beautiful 

 objects for study and the forms which occur in Iowa are num- 

 erous but unfortunately on account of the small size of the 

 plants they are often overlooked. The plants of these two gen- 

 era occur on moist ground often among moss or on entirely naked 

 soil. Mossy banks in, often small, sheltered places by the road- 

 sides furnish a most favorable habitat for these minute plants 

 and scarcely such a place can be found which in the proper 

 season does not furnish some one or many of these delicate forms. 



On account of the small size and delicate structure of the 

 plants of this genus they are not easy to preserve in the usual 

 way and for this reason material for comparison is difficult to 

 obtain. Several smooth-spored forms were collected which could 

 not be determined with any degree of certainty and for that 

 reason are not included in this list. 



