REPORT OF THE STATE BOTANIST 1904 



49 



it is scarcely possible to confuse it with any other. It grows in 

 woods or their borders, generally only a few in place. The cap is 

 usually 2-4 inches broad; the stem 2-5 inches long, 4-8 lines thick. 

 It may* be found from July to September. In preparing it for 

 cooking use only the flesh of the caps, peeling away the tomentum 

 from the upper surface and removing the somewhat tenacious 

 tubes from the lower surface. It is harmless and though it may 

 not be considered a first class mushroom for eating purposes, it 

 is much better than none. 



Clavaria botrytoides Pk. n. sp. 



GRAPELIKE CLAVARIA 



PLATE 93, FIG. 5-7 



Stem small, short, divided near the base into branches which are 

 repeatedly and irregularly branched, the ultimate branches short, 

 crowded, blunt, usually terminating in two or more blunt teeth 

 or protuberances, red or pink at the tips when young, soon fading 

 and becoming concolorous, stem and branches solid, flesh w T hite, 

 taste mild; spores narrowly elliptic or oblong, rusty brown or 

 subcinnamon, .0003-. 0004 of an inch long, .00016-. 0002 broad. 



The grapelike clavaria is very closely related to the red tipped 

 clavaria and probably has been confused with it. It may be 

 separated from that species by its thinner stem, the fading or 

 evanescent character of the color of the ultimate branchlets and 

 by its shorter and differently colored spores. The tips of the 

 branches in mature or old plants are w T hitish like the branches 

 themselves, but often a few small branches may be found near 

 the base of the plant which have red tips and are therefore pre- 

 sumably of later development. It is possible that these two 

 clavarias have been confused in Europe for European mycolo- 

 gists do not agree in their description of the spore characters of 

 the red tipped clavaria. Stevenson describes them as subhy aline, 

 12-15 P l° n g> 6 fx broad. Massee describes them as white, 8 /x 

 long, 5 fx broad. In our plant the spores in mass have a rusty 

 brownish or subcinnamon color when collected on white paper 

 and they are 8-10 fx long, 4-5 /x broad. 



The plants are 2-4 inches tall and 1.5-3 inches broad. They 

 grow in thin woods on rather poor soil and may be found in August 

 and September. The edible qualities seem to me to be similar 

 to those of the red tipped clavaria. 



