hyme] 



WXyt Creagttrj? of 3Srjiang. 



610 



the pileus is at length turned over, the ! 

 stem becoming gradually lateral, while it , 

 ceases to increase in length ; and in a little j 

 species from Borneo, the stem is com- ! 

 pletely torn off, and remains like a little 

 style in the centre. 



The Hymenomycetes are for the most part 

 either soft and fleshy, or by various transi- 

 tions hard and compact, but a few species 

 are gelatinous, and some of these when 

 dried up recover their form on the appli- j 

 cation of moisture. They pass by almost | 

 imperceptible degrees into Hyphomycetes, | 

 by means of Typhula and Isaria ; into 

 Gasferomycetes, by means of Agaricus and 

 Montagnites ; and into Coniomycetes by 

 means of Tremella and Podisoma. The 

 transition into the sporidiiferous fungi 

 is not so acutely marked, the relation of 

 Clavaria to Geoglossum being rather one 

 of analogy than affinity. They are fungi of 

 great importance as containing the greater 

 number of the larger species, and supply- 

 ing an immense quantity of excellent food, 

 besides answering other domestic ends. 

 In the organised world their use is to de- 

 compose more rapidly such structures as 

 have answered their immediate purpose. 

 The largest trees, when once attacked, soon 

 acquire a condition which is favourable 

 to other causes of decay. The hymenium 

 being the prominent element in these 

 plants affords the readiest mode of their 

 classification. The following natural orders 

 depend, therefore, on its conformation:— 



Agaricini : those which bear gills or 

 gill-like wrinkles. 



Polyporei : those with pores or tubes. 



Hy'dnei : those with spines or tubercles. 



Auricularini : those destitute of in- 

 equalities. 



Clavariei: pileus club-shaped. 



Tremellini: substance gelatinous ; fertile j 

 threads not fastigiate ; hymenium con- 

 volute. 



The Hymenomycetes occur in all parts j 

 of the world, extending southwards as far 

 as Campbell's Island, and northwards to 

 Spitzbergen. They abound, however, most 

 in warm and moist temperate regions, as 

 in Sweden, which is perhaps the richest 

 and most prolific country in the world for 

 these fungi. There are no certain traces 

 of them in any geological formation older 

 than ancient peat mosses. [M. J. B.] 



j HYMENOPAPPUS. A genus of annual 

 j or perennial North American herbs of the 

 composite family, with angular stems, pin- 

 J nately lobed or cut leaves, usually clothed 

 i with lax white wool, and white or yellow 

 ' flower-heads in corymbs at the ends of the 

 branches. From its allies the genus dif- 

 fers in the florets being all tubular and 

 | perfect, and in the involucral scales being 

 j white and petal-like at the tips, thusgiving 

 the heads a ragged appearance. [A. A. B.] 



HYMENOPHORUM. The cellular or 

 I filamentous structure in hymenomycetous 

 Fungi, on which the hymenium or fructify- 

 i ing surface is spread like wax upon a 

 i mould. In the^ Agaricini and Polyporei, it is 

 , identical with what is called the trama or 



inner substance of the gills or partitions 

 of the pores. [M. J. B.] 



HYMENOPHYLLUM. A genus of film 

 ferns, of which one or two species occur 

 in Britain, and many others are scattered 

 over the hot damp forests of the tropics, 

 both insular and continental, as well as the 

 moist ravines of New Zealand and Chili. 

 The fronds vary greatly in size and charac- 

 ter, some being minute and others of con- 

 siderable size and length, some simple and 

 others decompound; but all, or nearly all 

 of them, filmy pellucid in substance, and 

 with creeping thread-like rhizomes. The 

 spore-cases are collected around free pro- 

 jecting bodies formed of the ends of the 

 veins which traverse the fronds, and are 

 contained within oblong or suborbicular 

 two-valved marginal cysts. Hymenophyl- 

 lum differs from Trichomonas, the other 

 principal genus of film ferns, by the two 

 valves of the involucres being separate, 

 and not blended into a cup. [T. M.] 



HYMENOPHYSA. A genus of Cruciferce 

 closely related to Lepidium, and differing 

 chiefly in the little fruits— the size of mus- 

 tard seed— being globular instead of com- 

 pressed. There are two species known, 

 H. fenestrata, found in Persia, and H.pubes- 

 cens, in the Altai. The latter is a perenn ial 

 branching, leafy-stemmed herb, whose 

 branches terminate in racemes of nume- 

 rous small white flowers. [A. A. BJ 



HYMENOPYRAMIS brachiata, the only 

 species of the genus, is a scandent East 

 Indian shrub of the Verbena family, with 

 quadrangular stems, opposite entire ovate 

 leaves, hoary underneath, and terminal 

 leafy panicles of very minute flowers, with 

 tubular corollas, having four-toothed bor- 

 ders. The calyx, at first of four minute 

 teeth, enlarges when the flowers wither, 

 and encloses the small ripe hairy nut, in 

 the form of a four-winged bladder. This 

 character serves to distinguish the genus 

 from its allies. [A. A. B.J 



HYMENOXYS. A genus belonging to 

 the corymbiferous tribe of compound 

 flowers. The scales of the involucre are in 

 two rows, the inner largest, all rigid and 

 pressed close to the flower ; the i - eceptacle 

 is chaffy, and furnished with small glands; 

 and the fruit is downy with chaffy pappus. 

 H. californica, an annual species, grows to 

 the height of about a foot, with slender 

 branched steins, smooth narrow pinna- 

 tirld leaves, and large yellow flowers on 

 very slender stalks. [C. A. J.] 



HYOBANCHE. A genus of fleshy and 

 woolly plants, parasitical on various roots, 

 found in the flat lands of the Cape of Good 

 Hope. .The stem is closely covered with 

 ovate appressed scales. The flowers are in 

 a dense ovate spike, and have an unequally 

 fivn-cleft calyx, a clavate corolla slightly 

 curved and vaulted, with a very narrow 

 oblique mouth, and obsolete limb, four sta- 

 mens of nearly equal length, the anthers 

 by abortion one-celled, and a more or less 

 completely two-celled ovary. The capsule 



