SOUTHERN POLYPORES 53 



37. ELFVINGIELLA Murrill 



Hymenophore large, epixylous, sessile, applanate or ungulate; 

 surface sulcate, horny-encrusted; context brown, punky; tubes 

 brown, cylindric, stratose, thick- walled ; spores smooth, hyaline 

 or subhyaline. 



Pileus exactly ungulate; pores 3 to a mm. i. E. fomentaria. 



Pileus compressed-ungulate; pores S to a mm. 2. E. fasciata. 



i. ELFVINGIELLA FOMENTARIA (L.) Murrill 



Pileus hard, ungulate, concave below, 7-9 X 8-10 X 3-10 cm.; 

 surface finely tomentose to glabrous, isabelline to avellaneous and 

 finally black and shining with age, zonate, sulcate, horny- 

 encrusted ; margin obtuse, velvety, isabelline to fulvous ; context 

 punky, ferruginous to fulvous, conidia-bearing, 3-5 mm. thick; 

 tubes indistinctly stratified, not separated by layers of context, 

 3-5 mm. long each season, avellaneous to umbrinous within, 

 mouths circular, whitish-stuffed when young, 3-4 to a mm., 

 edges obtuse, entire, grayish-white to avellaneous, turning dark 

 when bruised; spores globose, smooth, hyaline or nearly so, 

 3-4 M- 



Frequent in the southern Appalachians on trunks of birch and 

 beech, and occasionally on maple and a few other deciduous trees, 

 causing serious decay. The punky substance of the hymenophore 

 was formerly used in tinder-boxes, and is still used as an absorbent 

 in surgery and for the manufacture of various ornamental and 

 useful articles. 



2. ELFVINGIELLA FASCIATA (Sw.) Murrill, comb. nov. 



Pileus hard, dimidiate, applanate to ungulate, convex above, 

 7-10 X 8-15 X 2-6 cm.; surface finely tomentose, at length 

 glabrous, concentrically sulcate, at first mole-colored, changing 

 to umbrinous, and finally avellaneous with black fasciations; 

 margin acute to obtuse, isabelline, sterile, undulate or entire; 

 context punky, thin, ferruginous to fulvous, zonate, 3-5 mm. 

 thick; tubes indistinctly stratified, 5-10 mm. long each season, 

 avellaneous within, mouths circular, minute, 4-5 to a mm., 

 edges obtuse, avellaneous to umbrinous, becoming darker when 

 bruised; spores subglobose, smooth, light-brown, 5-7 p. 



Common throughout the Gulf states on dead trunks of various 

 trees. The validity of the specific name used is doubtful. 



