5f4 HRITISII FUNGI 



Under conifers, parasitic on the false truffle called Elaphomyces 

 granulatiis, a fungus about the size of a walnut, buried in the ground. 

 The Torrnbia is sometimes entirely lemon-yellow when young, be- 

 coming dusky with age. If either of the above species of Torriihia 

 is encountered and carefully removed along with the fungus on 

 which they are parasitic, two birds are killed with one stone, or 

 two distinct and interesting fungi are secured and their names 

 determined. 



Claviceps 



Developing in the inflorescence of grasses and sedges, usurping 

 the place that would normally have been occupied by the o\'ary or 

 grain ; at first forming a hard, solid, black, horn-like sclerotium 

 which bears a conidial form of reproduction. This sclerotium falls 

 to the ground, and the following spring produces the ascigerous 

 form of fruit, which consists of a subglobose head supported on a 

 slender stem (spores needle-shaped, colourless, many-septate). 



A very remarkable and interesting genus. The stigma of the 

 iiower of a grass or sedge becomes infected by the spores of the 

 fungus brought by some insect visiting the flower. The spore 

 germinates on the stigma, and the mycelium grows down into the 

 ovary, where it appropriates the food intended to nourish the 

 grain or seed that should under normal conditions develop there. 

 Instead of this the fungus grows out as a long, black, slightly 

 curved body which bears minute conidia on its surface. These 

 conidia are carried by insects to other grasses, which in turn be- 

 come infected. When the grass is ripe the black sclerotia fall to 

 the ground, where they remain in an unaltered condition until the 

 following spring, when they give origin to one or more subglobose 

 ascophores or heads supported on slender stems. Spores produced 

 by these ascophores are produced in the spring, escape and are 

 carried by wind, etc., on to the stigmas of grasses, and the course 

 of development commences anew. 



Claviceps, or "ergot," as -it is commonly called, is one of the 

 few fungi that is used medicinally, and proves to be of consider- 

 able value in certain cases. A decoction of the sclerotium is the 

 part used as a medicine. 



Epichloe 



Parasitic on the stems of grasses. Ascophore encircling the stem, 

 white, then orange-colour, surface rough with the projecting mouths 

 of the perithecia (spores needle-shaped, colourless). 



E. typhina. — Ascophore or stroma growing round the stems of 

 various grasses as a thin crust, at first white, then deep orange- 

 colour, enveloping the stem near the top for a distance of i in. or 

 more, tlie surface becoming minuteh' rough, due to the projecting 



