432 BRITISH FUNGI 



hailed witli delight by the mycologist wlio is addicted to eating 

 as well as to studying fungi. 



Clavaria 



Perhaps nowhere amongst the fungi can a greater variety of form 

 and general appearance be met with than in the genus Clavaria, 

 and perhaps in no other instance are the various forms met with 

 in Clavaria repeated in other genera of fungi having no relationship 

 with Clavaria, other than being fungi. Hence, at the commence- 

 ment of the study, the student is confronted with difficulties which 

 at first sight appear almost insurmountable, but which, fortunately, 

 after a little experience, fade into insignificance. Many of the 

 fungi mimicking Clavaria do not even belong to the Basidiomycetes, 

 as Geoglossum, Hypoxylon, Cordyceps, etc. ; these can, of course, 

 most certainly be separated by a microscopic examination, when 

 the numerous asci, with their contained spores, will at once indicate 

 their position and affinities. Apart, however, from microscopic 

 work, the presence of myriads of minute wart-like bodies on the 

 clubs, corresponding to the openings through which the spores 

 escape, which are easily seen under a pocket lens, indicate that the 

 fungus is not a Clavaria. When the fungus mimicking a Clavaria 

 belongs to the Basidiomycetes, a microscopic investigation is even 

 more a necessity, as in the case of Calocera ; but even here the 

 viscidity and toughness of the fungus indicates that it is not a 

 Clavaria, where the flesh is soft and generally brittle. 



So far as form is concerned, some of the simpler forms justify 

 the generic name, being simply and literally club-shaped without 

 a trace of branching. From this primitive type we meet with species 

 showing a tendency to branch ; whereas in the most highly evolved 

 forms the conception of a club is completely lost, and the plants 

 resemble a densely branched tree in miniature. 



Several of the species are edible ; probably none are poisonous. 



With one or two exceptions, the species grow on the ground, 

 mostly in woods, although a few of the smaller kinds are met with 

 amongst grass in pastures and lawns. 



PiSTILLARIA 



The genus, as defined in this book, includes wliat have pre- 

 viously been considered as two distinct genera, namely, Typhula 

 and Pistillaria, the first-named being distinct owing to the fact 

 that the species spring from a minute sclerotium. This point of 

 distinction, however, cannot be accepted as of generic importance, 

 even if it were constant, which is not the case. It is even doubtful 

 whether Pistillaria, in the broader sense, is really generically dis- 

 tinct from Clavaria. There are no real structural points of distinc- 

 tion, and the only feature that can be indicated is a relative differ- 

 ence in size. All the species of Pistillaria are minute, several not 



