58 IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



birch the genus is apt to seem lenzitoid, i. e., with distinct lamellae; 

 on willow, deedalioid, trametoid, or even polyporoid characters appear. 



At any rate the species is the commonest of lignicolous saprophytes 

 in Iowa, easy of collection and preservation, and well worthy examina- 

 tion and study. 



Another familiar sporocarp throughout the state is the common 

 bracket fungus, ^'Polyporus applanatus Pers." so-called. This is a big 

 shelf-like fructification sometimes a foot or two in diameter, seen at 

 the base of senescent cottonwoods, on old stumps and the like. 



In 1885 Morgan (Myc. Flo. Miami Vail.) separated as a new species 

 P. reniforms smaller, ferruginous in color, and inclined to be of one 

 year's duration only. Both species with hard woody crust are now 

 written Fomes and not Polyporus. 



The descriptions of F. applanatus afforded by European authors are 

 uncertain. Persoon says: "Dilate, quite flat on both sides; pileus, 

 tuberculose — rugose, rusty or rusty ashen; pores white at first, then of 

 same color as the pileus." Fries adds: "Obsoletely zonate, pulveru- 

 lent or glabrous, from cinnamon becoming ashen, the cuticle crus- 

 taceous, rigid but at length fragile; pores brown when rubbed." 



^lorgan's P. reniformis is evidently P. applanatus of Persoon and 

 Fr. Mr. C. G. Lloyd, who has compared specimens in the herbaria of 

 Europe, is certain this is the case. 



In 1885, Montagne described specimens sent him by Sullivant from 

 Ohio: '' P. leucophaeus : dimidiate pileus very large, corky woody, 

 convexo-plane, tuberculate-nodose, smooth, at length concentrically 

 furrowed, crustaceous, shiny, from milky white becoming ashen, with 

 obscure tracings of clustered lines: pores first white then brown, the 

 mouth and inside of the tubules white. ' ' 



Montague's descriptions have been long ignored, but it is becoming 

 more and more evident that they must be taken into account. We have 

 here in Iowa, and probably throughout the Mississippi valley both 

 phases of this remarkable plant. Old and weathered specimens are 

 sometimes hard to distinguish but the forming individuals are well 

 marked. F. applanatus is, on the whole smaller, more frequent on oak, 

 cinnamon brown above, white or anon pale yellow below, with the edge 

 to correspond. The upper surface seems to be covered during develop- 

 ment with abundant free cells, (conidia?),^ brown and dry, dispersed 

 in all directions even to some distance as the sporocarp matures. F. 

 leucophaeus is larger every way, up to 40 cm., of rapid growth and 

 commonest on cottonwood; marked by comparatively few concentric 

 furrows, with a white tumid edge. Both species become brown below 



