THE SPORE-SAC FUNGI 



497 



Gyromitra brunnea. Underwood. 



The Brown Gyromitra. Edible. 



Brunnea is from brunnens, brown. A stout, fleshy plant, stipitate, three to 

 five inches high, bearing- a broad, much contorted, brown ascoma. Stem is Y^ 

 to 1.5 inch thick, more or less enlarged and spongy, solid at the base, hollow 

 below, rarely slightly fluted, clear white; receptacle two to four inches across 

 in the widest direction, the two diameters usually more or less unequal, irregu- 

 larly lobed and plicate ; in places faintly marked into areas by indistinct anasto- 

 mosing ridges ; closely cohering with the stem in the various parts ; color a rich 

 chocolate-brown or somewhat lighter if much covered with the leaves among 

 which it grows ; whitish underneath ; asci 8-spored. Spores oval. This plant is 

 found quite frequently about Bowling Green. The land is very rich there and 

 produced both G. esculenta and G. brunnea in greater abundance than I have 

 found elsewhere in the state. It is quite tender and fragile. The specimen in 

 Figure 419 was found near Cincinnati and photographed by Mr. C. G. Lloyd. 



Helvetia elastica. Bull. 



The Peziza-uke Helvelea. 

 EdibeE. 



Elastica means elastic, re- 

 ferring to its stem. The pileus 

 is free from the stem, droop- 

 ing, two to three lobed, cen- 

 ter depressed, even, whitish, 

 brownish, or sooty, almost 

 smooth underneath, about 2 

 cm. broad. 



The stem is two to three 

 and a half inches high, and 

 three to five lines thick at the 

 inflated base ; tapering upward, 

 elastic, smooth, or often more 

 or less pitted ; colored like the 

 pileus, minutely velvety or fur- 

 furaceous ; at first solid, then 

 hollow. Spores hyaline, con- 

 tinuous, elliptical, ends obtuse, 

 often i-guttulate, 18-20x10-11; 

 1 -serrate ; paraphyses septate, 

 clavate. Massee. 



Photo by C. G. Lloyd. 

 Figure 420. Helvella elastica. 



