;.'26 



Alvcuioiiical BiiUctiii Xcs. .J7 and £S 



[Vol. IV 



THE GENUS PEZIZA AND PEZIZA COCCINEA. 



By Sitpf. M. E. Hard. CliiUicoth:. Ohio. 



This is a very large genus, and will be met by the mushroom hunter 

 frequently. JMary are so small that they will easily escape detection unless 

 special pains are taken to find them. They are found on leaves, on' par- 

 tially buried sticks, on decayed logs, en dung, in cellars, about barns and 

 outhouses, on the stems of herbaceous plants, especially on the nettle. 



There are about 150 species found in this country, and many reported 

 in Europe not as yet found here. They belong to the true cup fungi. 

 Many are sessile, while others have stems. They are usually fleshy and 

 soft and of a variety of colors. 



They have a peculiar explosive apparptus for hurling out the spores 

 so that the wind can better scatter them abroad. 



['l-Zl'-ZA COC-CIN'■-E-.^. 



Scarkt with 



llar( 



O. 



The fruiting surface is usually saucer or cup-shaped and the bowl o( 

 the saucer, which is the fruiting surface, is completely filled with a palisade 

 of cylindrical sacs and in each sac there arc eight spores, 'i'hcse sncs have 

 lids at the apex and when the plant is mature they spurt out their spores. 

 If the observer will lie down on the ground and watch a matured cup for 

 a few minutes he will see very distinctly a small cloud of s])ores thrown 

 off at intervals without his disturbing the plant in the least. I)ut should he 

 disturb the plant just a little he will plainly see a large cloud of spores 

 from the jar. I have taken them into schoolrooms after having been kept 

 for tw(j or three days and by a slight iar the cloud of spores would be 

 visible to the entire room. A r.umbcr of the cup fungi has this explosive 

 apparatus. 



Those in Fi;;urc 177 are called Pi-.ziz.\ corciNEA Jacq, It is found in 

 damp i)laces in the si)ring of tlie } ear from April to Juno. However, I 



