54 SOUTHERN POLYPORES 



38. ELFVINGIA P. Karst. 



Hymenophore large, epixylous, sessile, applanate or ungulate; 

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

 brown, cylindric, stratose, thick- walled, mouths whitish or 

 yellowish when young; spores brown; conidia present in most 

 species on or near the surface of the pileus. 



Hymenophore annual, persisting above later growths; pileus 



reniform, margin thin; spores roughly echinulate. i. E. lobata. 



Hymenophore truly perennial; tubes stratified; spores smooth 

 or nearly so. 2. E. megaloma. 



i. ELFVINGIA LOBATA (Schw.) Murrill 



Pileus applanate, reniform to dimidiate, 5-8 X 10-15 X 1-2.5 

 cm.; surface concentrically sulcate, subzonate, glabrous, fer- 

 ruginous to fulvous, becoming grayish-brown with age; margin 

 thin, rarely rounded, creamy-white, smooth, entire; context 

 punky with some horny fibers, chestnut-colored, slightly zonate, 

 5-8 mm. thick; tubes annual, 5-8 mm. long each season, avellane- 

 ous within, mouths circular, 4-5 to a mm., edges obtuse, entire, 

 cremeous to umbrinous, becoming brownish when bruised; spores 

 ovoid, dark-brown, asperulate, 8-10 X 6-7 /*. 



Occasional throughout on certain deciduous trees, especially 

 oak, causing decay of the trunk. The hymenophores are peculiar 

 in being annual. 



2. ELFVINGIA MEGALOMA (Lev.) Murrill 



Pileus hard, dimidiate, applanate, 6-15 X 8-30 X 1-4 cm.; 

 surface milk-white to gray or umbrinous, glabrous, concentrically 

 sulcate, encrusted, fasciate with obscure lines, conidia-bearing, 

 usually brownish during the growing season from the covering 

 of conidia; margin obtuse, broadly sterile, white or slightly 

 cremeous, entire to undulate; context corky, usually rather 

 hard, zonate, fulvous to bay, 5-10 mm. thick, thinner with age; 

 tubes very evenly stratified, separated by thin layers of context, 

 5-10 mm. long each season, avellaneous to umbrinous within, 

 mouths circular, 5 to a mm., whitish-stuffed when young, edges 

 obtuse, entire, white or slightly yellowish to umbrinous, quickly 

 changing color when bruised; spores ovoid, smooth or very 

 slightly roughened, pale-yellowish-brown, truncate at the base, 

 7-8 X 5-6 M- 



Very common from the mountains of Alabama northward on 

 dead or diseased trunks of most deciduous trees, and also on 



