INTRODUCTION TO GllYPTOGAMIC BOTANY. 



327 



S. ToRULACEi, Cor da. 



Mycelium filamentous or cellular, sparingly produced ; fer- 

 tile threads bearing erect moniiiform chains of spores ; spores 

 formed by the deciduous joints, simple or articulate. 



352. The black weather-stains on wooden structures, and the 

 velvety or sometunes bristly spots which so often meet the 

 inquirer's eyes on stems of herbaceous plants, &c., are in great 

 part attributable to this group. They are Fungi in which 



Fig. 74. 



a. Sporoschisma mirablle, Bei*k. and Br. Threads bursting above 

 and discharging the triseptate spores, with one of the Helminthospo- 

 roid threads and spores {Helminth, bacilliforme, Mont.), which always 

 accompany them. Magnified. 



b. Asciform threads of Bloxamia truncata, Berk, and Br., with a 

 single plant at the base surrounded by a delicate envelope and a single 

 spore above. 



c. Phragmotridaun Chailletii, thread and joint. From Massachusetts. 

 Magnified. 



there is no trace of any common perithecium, nor even of an 

 investing cuticle ; the fertile threads are reduced in general to 

 a minimum, and the fruit composes far the greater part of the 

 plant. In many cases this fruit is simple, whether gromng singly 

 or arranged in necklaces ; in many, again, whether single or con- 



