1921] The Thelephoraceae of North Carolina 193 



pale or whitish, soon ferruginous brown, drying Rood's brown; hy- 

 menium even, pruinose-pubescent; spores umbrinous, tuberculate, 

 7-11 X 6-9tx. 



"Incrusting and ascending upward 1-3 cm.; free branches 5-10 

 mm. long, 1 mm. thick, sweep of fascicle about 5-10 mm. 



"In moist places. New York to South Carohna, and west to 

 Illinois. July and August. 



"The type is an incrusting specimen, covering as its main axis 

 a small twig in one specimen and a moss in the other, and sending 

 out a few lateral branches which are flattened towards the free ends 

 and 'subfimbriate; main trunk is cyhndric, latericius (of 'Chromo- 

 taxia'), ends of branches paler; spores umbrinous under the micro- 

 scope, tuberculate, 7-8 X 6[jl. Schweinitz described the species as 

 becoming hard and cartilaginous, but this is an error probably due 

 to the foreign matter surrounded by the main trunk. Several other 

 specimens are present in his herbarium under various names." 

 Salem. Schweinitz. 



SPARASSIS 



Tough and elastic but fleshy, repeatedly branched into a semi- 

 globose mass of flat, contorted, anastomosing branches, the hy- 

 menium covering only the outer (morphologically under) surfaces, 

 except at times on the innermost vertical branches (see Cotton, 

 Trans. Brit. Myc. Soc. 5: 333. 1911). This fact requires the re- 

 moval of Sparassis from the Clavariaceae, where it has usually been 

 referred. 



We have found only one species in Chapel Hill, which we refer 

 to S. Herhstii Pk., without conviction that it is different from S. 

 spathulata Schw. Spm-assis crispa is found in our mountains. 



All species are edible, and are credited with being dehcious. For 

 parasitism of Sparassis see Hedwigia 54: 328. 1914; and Journ. 

 Royal Myc. Soc. for 1914, page 386. 



Key to the Species 



( S. Herhstii (1) 

 Branches thick, blunt, not crisped j ^ spathulata (2) 



Branches thin, much crisped S. crispa (3) 



