200 STUDIES OF AMERICAN FUNGI. 



tion of the flesh is spongy and the middle portion tough and coria- 

 ceous, and darker in color. The pileus is somewhat pliant when 

 moist or wet, and firm when dry, the dark inner stratum hard. 



The spines are first white or cream color, in age changing through 

 salmon color, or directly into grayish or grayish brown. The spines 

 when mature are long, slender, crowded, and decurrent on the upper 

 part of the stem. The spores are white, globose, echinulate, 3-4 ^. 

 The stem is stout and irregular, very closely resembling the stem of 

 Hydnum velutinum, with a thick, spongy, outer layer and a central 

 hard core. 



The odor, which resembles that of a perspiring darkey, before the 

 plant is dry, disappears after drying, and then the plant has the same 

 agreeable odor presented by several different species of Hydnum. 

 The odor suggests H. graveolens, but the characters of the stem and 

 surface of the pileus separate it from that species, while the tough 

 and pliant character of the cap separates it from H. fragile. Figure 

 199 is from plants (No. 4334, C. U. herbarium) collected at Blowing 

 Rock, N. C, during September, 1899. 



CHAPTER XL 



CORAL FUNGI: CLAVARIACEAE. 



This family is a very characteristic one, and very interesting 

 from the large number of beautiful species in one genus, the genus 

 Clavaria. The plants all are more or less erect, or at least stand out 

 from the substratum, that is, the substance on which they are grow- 

 ing. The fruiting surface cover? the entire upper part of the plant, 

 all but the bases of the stems. Some of the branched species of the 

 Thelephoracece resemble the branched species of the Clavariacece, but 

 in the former there is a more or less well defined upper portion on 

 the tips of the branches which is flat, or truncate, and sterile, that is, 

 lacks the fruiting surface. Some of the species are simple, elongate 

 and clavate bodies. Some stand singly, others are clustered, or 

 others are joined by their bases, and others still are very much 

 branched. All of the species are said to be edible, that is, they are 

 not poisonous. A few are rather tough, but they are mostly the 

 small species which would not be thought of for food. The spores 

 are borne on club-shaped basidia, as in the common mushrooms. 



