a cii Se ee 
AN ENCYCLOPADIA OF HORTICULTURE. ~ ‘as 
Torreya—continued. 
FIG. 64. BRANCH, WITH MALE FLOWERS, AND DETACHED CLUSTER 
OF MALE FLOWERS, OF TORREYA NUCIFERA. 
stiff, leathery, on very short footstalks, twisted and decurrent at 
base, re at apex, lin. to 1jin. long, glossy and convex 
above, beneath pale glaucous-grey, and marked on éach side the 
Fig. 65. BRANCHLET AND FRUIT OF TORREYA TAXIFOLIA. 
idrib wi eddish, sunken bands. Branches 
poe veo etek Kar horizontal. R. 40ft. to 
50ft. Florida, 1840. See Fig. 65. (G. C. n. s., iv. 291.) 
TORRUBIA (named by Leveille, in honour of a 
Spanish writer on “ Vegetable Wasps,” as wasps attacked 
by the plants of this genus [see below] were formerly 
called), A genus of Fungi, of which by far the larger 
number are parasitic in insects, spiders, and their allies; 
while a small number live on other Fungi. Torrubia is 
the name by which the genus is generally known; but it 
must give place to the name Cordyceps, previously con- 
ferred by the eminent Swedish mycologist, Elias Fries. 
The genus belongs to the group of compound Pyre- 
nomycetes (which see); but is peculiar in the sub- 
stances on which the various species live, and also in the 
erect, clubbed, fleshy mass of mycelium (called a stroma), 
the appearance of which is shown in Fig. 66. : On, or 
embedded in, it are the flask-shaped perithecia, inclosing 
the asci. In each of the latter are eight thread-like 
Spores, which usually soon break into joints. These joints 
are capable of giving origin to the cycle again, if they 
fall on a suitable stratum, e.g., the body of an insect. 
But they produce not the Pyrenomycetous fungus, but 
a smaller vertical stroma, branched or simple, composed 
of a bundle of mycelium threads, which bear numerous 
round or elliptical, pale, minute conidia, or spores. This 
Stage of these Fungi wai formerly regarded as belonging 
Torrubia—continued. 
to a distinct group (Hyphomycetes), without asci, and 
the various forms were grouped together under a new 
generic name—Isaria. This genus resembles Cordyceps 
in having an erect, club-shaped stroma; but, instead of 
inclosing perithecia with asci, the filaments of the 
mycelium end in free tips, each of which bears small, 
oval or globular, pale conidia, capable of reproducing 
either Isaria or Cordyceps. For convenience, the genus 
Isaria is still kept up, as the perfect or mature forms 
of a large number of the Fungi placed in it have not 
yet been recognised, and to attempt to dispense with 
the group would, at present, only cause confusion and 
;. 66. CORDYCEPS SINENSIS, GROWING ON THE LARVA OF A 
M cota a Stroma of the Fungus, divided at the tip into three 
branches ; b, the Larva, from which the Fungus has grown out. 
certainty. Moreover, there is reason to believe that 
poise of the forms referred to Isaria do not belong to — 
Cordyceps, but should be referred to other genera; in- 
asmuch as they live on a wider range of materials, and 
some injure living plants also (eg., Isaria fuciformis 
destroys grasses in Australia and in the South of 
England), while Cordyceps is not known as a parasite on 
living plants. Most of the species in the latter genus 
abound in tropical countries; but several have been 
found in Britain, in all their stages of development, on 
dead insects. Among the best-known of these are 
C. entomorrhiza and C. militaris: these form slender 
stalks lin. to 2in. in. height, the clubbed heads on which 
are ovoid or globose. On tracing the stalks downwards, _ 
they are found to rise from the bodies of larve or pupæ, — 
buried in the soil or among dead leaves. These Fungi 
may be regarded as beneficial to gardeners, inasmuch 
as they destroy insects, many of which feed on garden 
produce. They are not often met with, however, and can 
