THE SECTION OVINUS OF POLYPORUS. 



Pileus borne on a stem which is central or more or less excentric. 

 Fleshy, usually obese, plants growing in the ground, rarely on wood. 



In dividing the Polyporei into sections we think the best and simplest plan 

 is to follow the lines laid out by Fries, and the section Ovinus is the first 

 division in the Friesian system. We would modify it slightly by including also 

 the fleshy plants with black stems, which Fries kept out as a separate section 

 As applied only to the plants of Europe the "black stems" are quite a natural 

 group in the mam for the most of them are really forms of two species (Poly- 

 porus vanus and squamosus). In foreign species however it would remove from 

 Ovinus such plants as Polyporus radicatus and Hartmanni, which so evidently 

 belong to Ovinus in their leading characters that we think should be so included. 



The presence or absence of a stipe is of as much value as a character in 

 dividing Polyporei as any other one character, and we would make it the basis 

 of the first division of the subject. Most species that have stipes have them 

 always except in some abnormal cases, and species devoid of stipes do not develop 

 them excepting rarely when growing in abnormal positions. 1 Fries used the stipe 

 character as a leading idea in the division of the Polypores and we believe it is 

 a wise arrangement. 



The advantages of the Friesian system are that it is probably as natural and 

 as convenient an arrangement as can be devised; that it has been generally ac- 

 cepted and used for many years and that most of our text-books have employed 

 it, and most of the species have been named in accordance with it. The dis- 

 advantages of the system are that genera are large and unwieldy, but I believe 

 the proper plan would be to break the genera up into a few natural sections 

 and they may in time come into use, just as the old sections of the old genus 

 Agaricus have come into general use as genera. 



All of the species of Polyporus which we include in the section Ovinus 

 have pale flesh and white spores. There is one Indian species, Polyporus indicus. 

 with colored flesh and spores that might be placed here. However, the flesh is 

 more tough and dry and we would include it in another section. 



History of the juggling. Karsten (1881) discovered that the section 

 Ovinus of Fries was a "new genus" which he called Polyporus, and would have 

 us believe that this was all the Polyporus that exists. Quelet (1886) discovered 

 the same species to be a "new genus" which he called Caloporus and two years 

 later he added other plants that he also called Caloporus. 2 Patouillard (1900) 

 united the sections Ovinus and Merismus of Fries which he called Polyporus 

 and would call all others by different names. And last but not least our own Mr. 

 Murrill made the remarkable discovery that the section Ovinus of Fries was 

 the same as Scutiger in the sense of Paulet, and on the strength of this won- 

 derful discovery wrote the name "MurriH" after each of the dozen (alleged) 

 species that he considered.* 



1 There are cases that violate the rule, thus Polyporus Schweimtzii when growing from the 

 earth or a buried stick will normally have a central stipe, often an excentric or even a lateral stipe, 

 and when growing on the side of a tree it is usually dimidiate, attached by a broad, sessile base. 

 These exceptions, while embarrassing to the general arrangement of species on the character of a 

 stipe, do not necessarily make void the character, for the species should be classed on its normal 

 characters. 



2 Quelet juggled names so freely that the names were largely changed in every work he wrote. 

 He gave no more thought to changing a plant name than he would to changing his cravat. His 

 juggling was done without any definite plan. The only idea he seems to have had was to use names 

 not used by Fries or others. 



3 Paulet was one of the first crude writers on fungus and did not have the most vague idea of 

 their relationships. He included in Scutiger two polyporoids (sic , four hydnums sic . and an agarn 



sic . How Mr Murrill reached the conclusion that this misfit aggregation of Paulet is the same as 

 the section Ovinus of Fries we will leave to our readers to guess. It is beyond our comprenen>ion. 



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