II. 



NOTES FROM THE BOTANICAL LABORATORY. 



W. G. Tight. 

 I. Phallus Daemonum. 



The genus Phallus of the group of Gasteromycetes is a 

 very interesting one on account of its peculiar life history 

 which it shares with all the Phalloideae. What is usually 

 seen of the plant is only the fruit which arises from a fila- 

 mentous or compound mycelium resembling roots. This fruit 

 is at first a closed sac of globose form and is called the peridium. 

 It incloses a structure, the gleba, which bears in chambers on 

 its surface the mass of spores. The peridium is composed of 

 two coats, an inner and an outer, with a mass of hyphae which 

 become transformed into a thick gelatinous layer between. 

 Within the peridium and bearing the gleba is the stipe, a cen- 

 tral column of parenchyma tissue. The stipe is hollow and is 

 composed of 'several layers of round celled tissue, and it bears 

 at its apex the pileus which acts as a support to the gleba. At 

 maturity the gleba deliqueses with a very offensive odor. Be- 

 tween the pileus and stipe is borne the indusium or veil. 



There are five American species in the genus Phallus. 

 The following description taken from a specimen found at Spring 

 Valley is of one of the rarer species. The accompanying illus- 

 tration, plate A, is reproduced from a photograph. 



Phallus Daemonum Rumph. 



Valva globose pinkish, outer wall of indusium i mm. thick, 

 volva 5-7 cm. in diameter. 



Stipe 3.5 cm. in diameter. Plant 15 cm. high. 



Stipe fusiform-cylindrical cellulose. Veil reticulate, hang- 

 ing straight down from under the pileus to the volva, attached 

 only to the apex of stipe. 



