Murrill: Polyporaceae of North America 655 



Polyporus xalapensis Berk. Hook. Jour. Bot. I : 103. 1849. 

 Polyporus balsameus Peck, Rep. N. Y. State Mus. Nat. Hist. 30 : 



46. 1878. 

 Polyporus pseudopargamenus Thiim. Myc. Univ. no. 1102. 

 Polystictus Pusio Sacc. & Cub. in Sacc. Sylloge Fung. 6: 265. 



1888. 

 Coriolus pargamenus Pat. Tax. Hymen. 94. 1 900. 



Originally described under the name in current use from spe- 

 cimens collected by the Franklin expedition on trunks of pine in 

 arctic North America. A year or two later Berkeley described 

 it from New Orleans, Louisiana, under the name of Polyporus 

 laceratus ; then Montagne found it among Menand's New York 

 collections and gave it the name of the collector. If the form on 

 conifers is specifically distinct from that on deciduous wood, then 

 Polyporus balsameus Peck is a synonym of P. parvulus Schw. and 

 P. pargamenus Fr., while P. laceratus holds for the form on oak, 

 chestnut, etc. After examining growing specimens of both forms, 

 however, I think it best to consider them specifically the same. 



The above list does not complete the synonyms of this varia- 

 ble plant. According to Bresadola, Polyporus dispar Kalchbr. 

 and Polyporus simulans Blonski should be added for the European 

 forms ; while there are probably half a dozen more from other 

 regions. Specimens from North America have been variously de- 

 termined as P. elongatus Berk., described from Manila, P. nilgheri- 

 ensis Mont., described from India, and Daedalea fcrruginea 

 Schum., described from Denmark. 



This species occurs in great abundance in North America on 

 dead wood of oak, cherry, birch, chestnut, maple and other de- 

 ciduous trees, often covering the sides of dead standing or fallen 

 trunks, especially those of white oak, for almost their entire 

 length. It is also found on pine, hemlock, fir, etc., especially in 

 the northern forests where these trees abound, the typical host of 

 both the Schweinitzian and Friesian plants having been a pine 

 trunk. 



It also occurs in Europe, where it appears to have been recog- 

 nized only recently under its Friesian name. Bresadola reports it 

 common in Hungary on poplar, oak and basswood and consid- 

 ers it cosmoplitan in one or more of its multiplied forms. 



