121 



FURTHER NOTES ON COLUS GARDNERI 



(BERK.) FISCHER. 



With Plate V. 



By T.Petch,B.A.,B.Sc. 



Coins Gardneri was described by Berkeley under the name of 

 Lysunis Gardneri in Hooker's London Journal of Botany, v. 

 p. 535. In "Versuch einer systematischen Uebersicht iiber 

 die bisher bekannten Phalloidecn" (1886), Ed. Fischer trans- 

 ferred it to Coins. The description, as given in Saccardo, is : 

 " Receptaculo elongato, stipitiformi 17-18 cm. alto; stipite 

 longo (15 cm. alto) superne dilatato in partem clathratam 

 apicem conicum receptaculi efformantem transeunte ; partis 

 clathratae interstitiis 5, verticalibus, linearibus ; ramis superne 

 attenuatis, apice junctis, extus medio structura stipiti aequali- 

 bus, latere rugosis." 



In Grevillea, xix. p. 94, Massee wrote, "Berkeley, in 

 describing the present species [Lysurus Gardneri], says that 

 the vertical lobes bearing the hymenium are united at the tips, 

 and on this account the species has been removed to the genus 

 Coins by Fischer ; but in reality the segments are not organically 

 united at the tips, but during the young stage are closely pressed 

 together, and having been dried in this condition appear to be 

 united ; however, when the mucilage is moistened the tips are 

 found to be quite free, and are normally so in several out of 

 the twenty-three specimens from Gardiner [sic) in the Kew 

 Herbarium. The above is an average illustration as to how 

 synonyms originate, i.e., by manipulating descriptions and 

 not specimens, which, however, answers the desired object, 

 that of enabling the manipulator to bracket the founder's 

 name and bring his own to the front." 



Whatever may be the condition of the Kew specimens now, 

 there can be no doubt that Massee's statement is incorrect. 

 The fungus is not common at Peradeniya, but I have gathered 

 and examined over thirty specimens and in all of them the 

 arms are "organically united" at the apex. They are not 

 glued together by mucilage, nor united by a membrane, but 

 each arm is continued as a tube up to the apex where it is 

 continuous with the others. 



