REPORT OF THE STATE BOTANIST I9I7 67 



THE SPECIES OF PORIA DESCRIBED BY PECK 



BY L. O. OVERHOLTS 



The genus Poria of the Polyporaceae has long presented to 

 mycologists an unsolved problem. In the broadest sense it includes 

 all resupinate pore fungi, without regard to the color of the fruiting 

 body or spores, the hymenial configuration, or whether annual or 

 perennial. We are more accustomed to think of it, however, as 

 including only those entirely resupinate species which otherwise 

 would be referred either to Polyporus or Fomes as those genera 

 have been limited by the writer within the last few years. 



Dr W. A. Murrill of the New York Botanical Garden in 1908 

 brought together in the North American Flora, descriptions of a 

 considerable number of those Porias with brown context, including 

 a number of species described as new. Unfortunately in several 

 cases the spore characters there recorded have proved to be errone- 

 ous. Aside from this publication no attempt has been made in this 

 country^ at anything approximating a revision or a monograph of 

 the genus in question. It is a problem, moreover, that will require 

 several years of close and patient study before it can be adequately 

 solved. For several years past the writer has paid special attention 

 to this group of fungi, and consequently has accumulated a large 

 assortment of collections, both through his own endeavors and 

 through the sendings of others. Of late, a large amount of time 

 has been spent in painstaking study to determine those characters 

 which in this group of fungi should be regarded as of specific 

 importance. As the work has progressed it has become more and 

 more evident that the number of described species must be materi- 

 ally increased before the end is in sight. Scarcely a single consign- 

 ment is received from correspondents in which there is not found 

 one or more collections that are apparently sufficiently different 

 from those previously studied to constitute distinct species. From 

 no locality has this been so true as from the far northwest, where 

 extensive collections have been made by Dr J. R. Weir. 



In view of these facts it has seemed advisable that the problem 

 be attacked from a slightly dift'erent angle. As a consequence, the 

 present paper is offered as a contribution to a better knowdedge of 

 the taxonomy of this group of fungi. During his services as State 

 Botanist of New York, Dr C. H. Peck described about twenty 

 species of resupinate pore fungi, now referred, for the most part. 



