236 FUNGUS-FLORA. 



Polyporus varius. Fr. 



Pileus 2—4 in. or more across, expanded, depressed at the 

 point of origin of the stem, pliant, tough, often irregular, 

 smooth, rather virgate, commonly bay brown, sometimes 

 paler, flesh 2-3 lines thick, pallid ; stem excentrio or lateral, 

 |-1^ in. long, about 2-3 lines thick, even, smooth, greyish- 

 black downwards ; pores deourrent, short, more or less 

 rounded, about ^ mm. across, whitish then pale cinnamon ; 

 spores colourless, linear-oblong, 4 x 1 • 6 ju.. 



Polyporus varius. Pries, Syst. Myo. i. p. 362 ; Stev., Fung., 

 p. 191. 



On trunks, stumps, &c., especially ash. Size and form 

 variable, wheii large the pileus is often undulated and 

 lobed ; often in dense tufts and more or less deformed from 

 mutual pressure ; commonly bay, but sometimes pale, 

 especially when young. Sometimes sessile. Distinguished 

 from Polyporus picipes by the glabrous stem (not velvety), 

 the more or less virgate or radially streaked pileus, and the 

 different spores. The pileus soon becomes woody and 

 rigid. 



Polyporus elegans. Pr. 



Pileus 2-4 in. across, expanded, often angular, equally 

 fleshy, at first pliant, soon rigid and woody, smooth, even, 

 all of one colour, varying from pale ochraceous to dull 

 orange, shining, not virgate nor infundibuliform ; stem 

 ^1^ in. long, 2-3 lines thick, excentric or lateral, even, 

 smooth, pallid above, abruptly black below, rooting; pores 

 plane, sometimes decurrent to the black portion of the stem, 

 sometimes not at all decurrent, subrotund, minute, yellowish- 

 white, then pallid, about ^ mm. across; spores linear- 

 elliptical, 4 X 1 • 5 /x. 



Polyporus elegans, Fries, Epicr., p. 440 ; Stev., Fung. ii. 

 p. 192. 



On stumps and trunks, chiefly birch. Distinguished from 

 allied black-stemmed species, by the pileus being almost 

 *plane, scarcely depressed, neither virgate nor infundibuli- 

 form, and in the absence of any bay or chestnut colour. 

 Flesh white, about 1^2 lines thick, equally so up to the 

 margin. 



Var. nummularius. Fries. 



