1915] 



OVERHOLTS — STUDIES IN THE POLYPORACEAE 



719 



43627* (Vermont), 42958 (Florida).— Burt Herb, (collections 

 from Vermont and Canada).— Overholts Herb. 378* (Indi- 

 ana), 423 (Ohio), 2460* (Vermont), 2256 (New York), 450 

 (Missouri). 



FOMES SCUTELLATUS SCHW. EX COOKE AND F. OHIENSIS BERK. 



EX MURRILL 



These two species are closely related and have on more 

 than one occasion been treated as a single species. Fomes 

 scutellatus was first collected by Schweinitz on dead Syringa 

 in Pennsylvania. It has since been reported 

 on a few other hosts, namely, alder, witch- 

 hazel, and sweet-gum. F. ohiensis was origin- 

 ally described from Ohio by Berkeley and is 



very common species in that 



It 



especially abundant on dead limbs on the 

 ground in woods in September and October. 

 Quite frequently 



picket 

 timbei 



and 



ltly it grows on fence posts, 

 a variety of other structural 



•ly fre- 

 referred to the genus Trametes. but 



Both species were forme 



Fig. 7. Hyphae 

 of F. ohiensis. 



it seems best to restrict that genus to annual 

 forms only. 



Besides the host distinction, other char- 

 acters may be used to distinguish between the 

 two species. In typical specimens of F. 

 scutellatus the pileus is entirely black and attached dor- 

 sally to the under side of branches. F. ohiensis is rarely 

 found so attached, and the whole plant is at first white, the 

 upper or basal part of the pileus becoming blackish with age, 

 as in many species of Fomes, but the margin remaining white, 

 even in perennial forms. F. scutellatus is rarely ungulate in 

 form, while old specimens of F. ohiensis become steep in front, 

 much as in F. fomentarius. 



The spores of F. scutellatus have never been recorded and 

 Lloyd has recently stated 1 that he has failed to find them even 

 in freshly collected material. Murrill records them as 



1 Syn. Fome3, p. 218. 1915. 



