Massee. — The Fiingus Flora of New Zealand. 3 



36. Polyporus, Mich. 



Stem central, lateral, or absent ; pil^ius fleshy, flesh soft and 

 tough at first, becoming firmer, externally more or less 

 glabrous, not sulcate nor zoned ; tubes not separable from 

 flesh of pileus, never stratose ; pores rounded or angular, 

 often more or less torn at the margin. Annual. 



Polyporus, Micheli, Gen. PL, p. 129 (in part). 



Certain central-stemmed fleshy species of Polyporus closely 

 resemble Boletus, but are at once distinguished by the tubes 

 not being readily separable from the flesh of the pileus. Fomes 

 differs in the woody consistency of the entire fungus, concen- 

 trically ridged pileus, and stratose pores. Pohjstictus is separated 

 by the thin flesh and silky or hirsute, usually zoned, pileus. 



The great majority of species grow on wood. A few central- 

 stemmed species, leading up to the genus Boletus, grow on the 

 ground. 



I. Stipitate ; .stein central, or ttearly so. 



Polyporus arcularius, Fries, Hvm. Eur., 526 ; Hdbk. N.Z. 

 Flora, p. 607 ; Sacc, Syll. vi,'no. 4903 ; Austr. Fung., p. 113. 



Stipitate ; pileus 2-4 cm. across, almost flat, or slightly de- 

 pressed, at the centre, margin more or less incurved, yellowish- 

 brown, squamulose with small darker scales which are most 

 persistent at the margin but eventually entirely disappear, 

 flesh very thin ; tubes very shallow^ ; pores large elongato- 

 hexagonal, elongated radially, pale - wood colour, entire, 

 l"5-2 mm. long by 0*5-1 mm. wide ; stem central, 2-3 cm. long, 

 slender, coloured like the pileus, squamulose, becoming bald. 



On trunks, (fee. New Zealand. Australia, Tasmania, Mau- 

 ritius, Cape of Good Hope, Natal, India. Java, China, Formosa, 

 Madagascar, Ce3"lon, central and southern Europe, United 

 States, Brazil. 



A ver\' beautiful fungus ; when in full vigour the margin is 

 beautifidly fringed, and the pileus dotted with minute squamules, 

 as is also the stem ; eventually, however, every part becomes 

 bald. Distinguished by the large, entire, radially elongated pores. 



Polyporus melanopus. Fries, Hym. Eur., p. 534 ; Sacc, Syll. vi, 

 no. 4958 ; Austr. Fung., p. 115. Syn., Polyporus leprodes, 

 Rost. 



Pileus 5-10 cm. across, flattish at first, then becoming 

 depressed or even irregularly funnel-shaped, rather thin, pliant 

 when growing, delicately flocculose when young, whitish, then 

 dingy yellowish-brown, margin often wavy or lobed ; stem 

 varying in position from lateral to being almost central, rather 

 slender, short but variable in length, tapering upwards, blackish- 



