British Clavariae. A. D. Cotton & E. M. Wakefield. 187 



Plants simple, isolated or in small groups, small, pale grey 

 to drab in colour; smell none; taste "mushroom-like." Clubs 

 3-6 cm. high, 2-10 mm. wide, clavate or cylindrical, often 

 compressed, smooth or slightly rugulose, hollow when old, 

 apex blunt. Stem more or less distinct, slender, 1-2 cm. long, 

 2-3 mm. wide. Flesh uniform in colour. Internal structure of 

 loosely packed, unbranchcd hyphae, 8-iO/Lt (rarely 15-20/u,) 

 in diameter, cells 50-150JU- long. Basidia rather small, 30-40 

 X 7-9 /x, contents granular; sterigmata 4, erect. Spores 

 smooth, hyaline, ovoid, with a minute oblique basal apiculus, 

 7-9 X 4-5 )u, (average 8 x 4/u.), contents guttulate, then 

 granular. 



Habitat. Amongst short grass, especially in heathy places. 



The plant is readily recognised by its greyish or drab colour, 

 and by the more or less thickened, fleshy club and slender stem. 

 The name has been formerly often wrongly applied to C. acuta, 

 which differs in its slender, very fragile, snow-white sporo- 

 phores. The stem in some specimens is sharply separated 

 from the spore-bearing surface; in others the transition is 

 not so abrupt. On account of the somewhat tough texture 

 and distinct stem the plant has been placed in Pistillaria, a 

 genus of minute, epiphytic plants. It is however a genuine 

 Clavaria. 



24. C. Crosslandii Cotton, in Naturalist, 1912, p. 86. 



Illustrations: None published. 



Plants small, unbranched, isolated or fasciculate, greyish- 

 white or grey, becoming darker with age; smell and taste 

 slight, pleasant. Chibs very slender, brittle, 2-3 cm. high, 

 1-3 mm. thick, pruinose, cylindrical, apex usually pointed. 

 Stem hardly distinct. FlesJi somewhat darker than the 

 hymenium. Internal structure pseudoparenchymatous in trans- 

 verse section, cells 5-8 /i in diameter. Basidia 20-25 x 4-5 ju, 

 contents granular; sterigmata- 4, erect. Spores hyaline, 

 smooth, pip-shaped, 4-5 x 2-5-3 /^. 



Habitat. In short grass. Known only from the type locality, 

 Mulgrave Woods, Yorks. (C. Crossland and W. N. Cheesman, 

 1910-1911). 



The grey colour and small size are good field characters by 

 which to recognise the present species. From the drab- 

 coloured C. tenuipes it is distinguished by its slender, brittle 

 clubs, and from C. fumosa by its fasciculate instead of densely 

 tufted habit. C. acuta, which is similar in size, habit, and 

 texture, differs in the complete absence of the grey tinge. 

 Furthermore the small basidia and spores mark off C. Cross- 

 landii from allied species. It approaches C. affvnis Pat. et 



