490 FOMES APPLAN.iTUS (PERS.) W'ALLR. IX SOUTH Al'KlCA. 



minute. 3-4 to mm., circular, white to dark umber, darken when 

 ■bruised. Spores { i'late 16 c) elhpsoid, truncate, yellowish- 

 brown, with thick walls, which are either smooth or punctate 

 and roughly echinulate, 6.6-8.25 X 8.25-9.9 /x diameter. The 

 sixjre is surrounded by a hyaline membrane, and it is the col- 

 lapse of this membrane at the base which gives the spore its 

 truncate appearance. 



Plate 17 a, illustrates some young sporophores. They first 

 appear as white, corky nodules, which under favourable con- 

 ditions develop into the horizontal bracket-shaped s])orophore. 

 and under unfavourable conditions turn hard and brown. For 

 how long it is capable of remaining in this condition, and yet 

 retain its power of further de\el())>ment on the return of favour- 

 able conditions, I do not know. 



Plate 17 h, is a photograph of a fungus in Mr. Pole Evan's 

 herbarium (No. 1703), and which 1 named Poly poms (jibbosiis 

 Nees. Jn surface, pores, context, colour, and s])ores it agrees 

 with Fomcs appla)iatiis. and differs only in the lateral stipe. 

 Lloyd* recognizing this resemblance, writes: "It (Polyporus 

 f/ibbosits Nees) could be considered, of course, an annual stipi- 

 tate form of Fonics Iciicophwits. but in the United States, where 

 /^07//es leucophccits is the most common species we have; it 

 never takes a normal stijiitate form. Sometimes Pomes leuco- 

 phcciis takes a false stipe when growing under abnormal condi- 

 tions, l)Ut I believe that the stipe of Polyponis f/ibbosiis is a 

 normal feature of the ])lant." 



Plates 15 c, and 17 r are stiiiitate forms of Pontes appla- 

 natits. and these forms I have thus far observed in South Africa 

 only growing at about soil level, and usually in the rotten 

 cavities, and i)artly covered by debris, etc. Al! stipitate forms 

 I have thus far seen have been annual. 



It is of necessity difficult to ccime to any conclusion as to 

 the real position of Polyponis cjibbosiis Nees, but its relation- 

 ships are evidently so close to Pomes applanaius that I am in- 

 clined to think that when the original specimen of Nees is 

 examined, it will turn out to be but a form of the latter fungus. 



In the Mycological Herbarium of Mr. I. B. Pole Evans 

 there is a specimen (No. 2338) with amber yellow ]:)ore mouths, 

 and this I named Pomes oro flams (Lloyd, " Syn. Fomes," p. 

 265). Except in the colour of the pore mouths, and that the 

 spores are slightly larger, it further agrees with Pomes appla- 

 natits. Lloydf regards this fungus as a tropical form ')f 

 Pomes applaiiafus, and writes further : " A quite frequent plant 

 in the tropics, otherwise the same (as P. applanafiis). has deep 

 yellow pore mouths. We have never seen but one specimen 

 ifrom Europe that approximates this tropical form. We have 

 several collections from the United States (particularly Cali- 

 fornia), which we refer to Pomes applancttus (and rarely to 

 Pomes leucoplueits) , that have yellow pore mouths, but they 



*I.lovd, C. G., Letter Xo. ^^. p. 3. 

 t Lloyd, C. G.. op. cif.. 265. 



