CLASSIFICATION 433 



exceeding 2-3 lines in length, and in the few that attain to a 

 length of I or 2 in. the stem and club are delicate and thread- 

 like. 



Most of the species grow on dead leaves or on dead herbaceous 

 stems, etc., lying in damp situations. Two or three kinds have 

 been described as parasitic on the stems of cereals, root of sugar- 

 beet, etc. 



Pterula 



The two British species belonging to this genus, both of which 

 are rare, are small plants 1-2 in. high, of a whitish or straw-colour, 

 and recognized at sight by the dense tuft of long, thread-like 

 branches springing from a short stem-like base. Growing on dead 

 wood, dead leaves, etc. 



Sparassis 



Forming a large, irregularly globose, fleshy mass, having its 

 entire surface covered with flattened, variously contorted, plate- 

 like portions growing into each other. 



Amongst the largest of British fungi, and cannot be mistaken for 

 any other genus. 



5. crispa. — Forming an irregularly subglobose, fleshy mass vary- 

 ing from 6-18 in. in diameter, having the surface covered with 

 flattened, tortuous lobes, the whole springing from a stout, rooting 

 base, colour varying from whitish to pale ochraceous. 



Brittle. Amongst the best of edible fungi. 



Amongst heather in fir woods, etc. 



A second species of Sparassis has been recorded as occurring in 

 this country, but it is doubtful whether the specimen was in 

 reality other than Steremn. 



Clavaria 



Sporophore erect, simple and more or less club-shaped, or vari- 

 ously, often very much divided into branches and branchlets ; 

 hymenium covering every part of the sporophore ; spores hyaline, 

 or more or less ochraceous. 



Growing on the ground, rarely on wood, fleshy, usually brittle, 

 often brightly coloured. Differing from Pistillaria mainly in 

 point of size, the species included in the last-named genus being 

 minute. 



A. Plants unbrancJied, isolaied or in small groups {not t lifted). 



* Plants white. 



C. acuta.- — Solitary or in small groups, simple, erect, clavate, tip 

 acute, pruinose, very fragile, |-i| in. high (spores colourless, sub- 

 globose, 7-8 jj). 



Distinguislied from C. vermicularis by its scattered habit and 

 large spores. 



Among grass and on soil in plant pots, etc. 



