Ohio Mycological Bulletin No. g. 



35 



Now other ge-ner-ic names are coming into use as Gan-o-der'-ma. Py- 

 ro-po-ly'-po-rus, Scu'-ti-ger, Po-ro-dis'-cus and goodness knows how 

 many others. However, we will leave all these to the refined botanist, 

 and vise Po-ly'-po-rus as a common name for the whole lot. 



Fig. 40. Beech and Birch Poly'-porus. Fc'-mes fo-men-ta'-ri-us. A woody 

 species very abundant on old trunks of Birch and Beech trees — sometimes on other 

 hosts. The plant is perennial — the annual layers showing very plainly in the large 

 specimen. The cut was made from photographs of specimens collected in the moun- 

 tains of West \Mrginia. where it is one of the commonest species on the Yellow Birch. 

 Being a hardy, woody species, it is of course not edible. It is a conspicuous and 

 easily recognizable saprophi/tv (i. e. living on dead organic matter). It is not known 

 to grow on living trees — in other words, it is never a parasite as a few of the 

 Polypori are now known to be. 



