FAMILY IV. POLYANGIACEAE 



877 



Genus II. Synangium Jahn, 1924- 

 (Beitrage zur bot. Protistologie. I, Die Polj^angiden. Geb. Borntraeger, Leipzig, 1924, 79.) 



Syn.an'gi.um. Gr. pref. syn together; Or. noun ancjium vessel; M.L. neut.n. Synangium 

 vessels together (clustered). 



Cysts united at the base to form a large disc or rosette which is usually elevated above 

 the substrate on a stalk. The individual cj'^st is equipped with an apical tuft of hairs. 



The type species is Synangium sessile (Thaxter) Jahn. 



1. Synangium sessile (Thaxter, 1904) 

 Jahn, 1924. {Chrondromyces sessilis Thaxter, 

 Bot. Gaz., 37, 1904, 411; Chrondromyces 

 lanuginosus Kofler, Sitzber. d. kais. Akad. 

 wiss. Wien, math.-nat. Klasse, Abt. I, 122, 

 1913, 861; Chondromyces thaxteri Faull, Bot. 

 Gaz., 62, 1916, 226; Jahn, Beitrage zur bot. 

 Protistologie. I, Die Polyangiden. Geb. 

 Borntraeger, Leipzig, 1924, 79; Synangium 

 lanuginosum Jahn, loc. cit.; Synangium thax- 

 teri Jahn, loc. cit.) 



ses'si.le. L. adj. sessilis sessile, stalkless. 



Vegetative cells: Cylindrical rods with 

 blunt ends, 0.9 to 1.0 by 3.0 to 8.0 microns. 



Fruiting body: The cysts are joined to- 

 gether at their bases to form discoid or 

 spherical clusters containing up to 30 indi- 

 vidual cj'sts, the whole being elevated on a 

 stalk of variable height (up to 1 mm), which 

 is usually unbranched and bears one or two 

 clusters at its tip. Each cyst bears an apical 

 tuft of hairs. The diameter of the cyst clus- 

 ter is highly variable (40 to 250 microns), as 

 is the length of the hairs in the apical tuft 

 (7 to 30 microns). The individual resting 

 cells within the cysts are 2.5 to 6.0 by 0.6 to 

 1.0 microns. The color of developing fruit- 

 ing bodies is initially white, changing to 

 j'ellow, light pink and eventually orange; 

 the shade is greatly affected by environ- 

 mental factors, notably humidity and tem- 

 perature. Sometimes the cyst clusters give 



rise to secondary stalks which are much 

 thinner and shorter than the primary ones 

 and which are tipped with smaller clusters. 



Varieties: Three varieties of this species 

 have been named on the basis of the pres- 

 ence or absence of cyst-bearing stalks: one 

 variety is described as sessile, and another 

 as bearing a stalk of variable height (up to 

 1 mm) which is usually unbranched; the 

 third variety is intermediate between these 

 two. This differentiation in stalks is highly 

 dependent upon environmental conditions. 



Cultivation : Grown in laboratory culture 

 on hay (Krzemieniewska and Krzemie- 

 niewski,Bull. Intern. Acad. Pol. Sci.Lettres, 

 No. 1-10, Serie B (I), 1946, 37). Pure cultures 

 not obtained. 



Source: Originally isolated from decaying 

 wood from Florida (Thaxter, op. cit., 1904, 

 411). Also found in the dung of herbivores 

 from Canada (Faull, op. cit., 1916, 226) and 

 from Austria (Kofler, op. cit., 1913, 861); 

 from soil in Poland (Krzemieniewska and 

 Krzemieniewski, op. cit., 1946, 37). 



Habitat : Found on the dung of herbivores 

 and on decaying organic matter in soil. 



Illustrations: Thaxter {op. cit., 1904, PI. 

 27, Figs. 14-15), Kofler {op. cit., 1913, PI. I, 

 Figs. 1-3), Faull {op. cit., 1916, Pis. 5 and 6), 

 Jahn {op. cit., 1924, Fig. X, page 80) and 

 Krzemieniewska and Krzemieniewski {op. 

 cit.. Pi. 1, Figs. 1-3). 



Genus III. Podangium Jahn, 1924. 



{Cystobacter Schroeter, in Cohn, Kryptogamenfiora v. Schlesien, 3, 1, 1886, 170; Jahn, 



Beitrage zur bot. Protistologie. I, Die Polyangiden. 



Geb. Borntraeger, Leipzig, 1924, 80.) 



Po.dan'gi.um. Gr. noun pus, pedis a foot; Gr. noun angium a vessel; M.L. neut.n. 

 Podangium footed vessel. 

 Cysts chestnut-brown or red-brown, single on a more or less definite, white stalk. 

 The type species is Podangium erectum (Schroeter) Jahn. 



