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CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE SHAW SCHOOL, OF BOTANY. 

 No. 3. 



Description of Lycoiierdon Missouriense. 



By William Trelease. 



One of the first plants to attract my attention on coming to St. 

 Louis, in the fall of 1SS5, was a large puff-ball, quite abundant in 

 the arboretum of the Botanic Garden, especially in the shade of 

 low evergreens. The development of a large number of specimens 

 was watched, and as they reached maturity it became evident 

 that they belonged to a form quite different from any of the 

 described species with which I was familiar. In the following- 

 autumn, the same species was found in large numbers in the 

 grove just beyond the western terminus of the Papin ave. exten- 

 sion of the Franklin ave. car-line. It has also been observed in 

 Forest Park, and was collected by Mr. Pammel at Old Orchard, 

 Mo. ; and since this description was written has been sent me 

 from Concordia, by Rev. C. H. Demetrlo. In view of its strik- 

 ing appearance and distinct characters, I have prepared the fol- 

 lowing description for the Academy. This species, like other 

 large puff-balls, is doubtless edible, but I have not tested its culi- 

 nary merits. 



Lycoperdon MissouRiENSK, n. sp. — Young plants smooth, 

 cylindrical or commonly somewhat constricted at the middle, the 

 summit dilating with age ; dull, creamy white, drying into some 

 shade of flesh color, then frequently areolated with paler approx- 

 imated lines. Mature plants 3 to 4 inches high, 2 to 4 inches in 

 diameter; brown with a slight admixture of purple, somewhat 

 glossy : sterile base soft, cellular, very stout, comprising half or 

 two-thirds of the height of the plant : peridium thin, very fragile, 

 fiaking away from the dilated fertile apex, exposing the clear buff 

 sporiferous mass : capillitivmi attached to the sterile base, some- 

 what olivaceous when old, much of it persisting through the win- 

 ter in sheltered places ; its threads long, bulbous-septate, remotely 

 branched, the branches forming obtuse angles: twigs 2.5 to 3.8 

 u. in diameter, gradually attenuated and somewhat tlexuous 

 toward the end, the dilatati )ns at the septa 3.8 to 5 j^jt. in diam- 

 eter : spores gIoi)ose, very thin-walled, smooth, stalkless, yellow, 

 paler than the capillitium, 3.5 to 3 75 fj.. in diameter. — In sod, 

 under trees — St. Louis, Old Orchard, and Concordia, Mo. 



