118 



Mycologia 



between root and shoot system, and, in the balance account, per- 

 haps have a httle credit left on the side of the root system. 



IV. Heart Rot of Oak {Querciis spp.) 



Three fungi of interest were observed causing- heart rot of 

 different species of oak, as follows : 



I. Globifomes graveolens (Schw.) Murr. — In a forest of oak, 

 sweet birch and red maple, near Mt. Loretto, Staten Island, a red 

 oak (Quercus rubra L.), i6 inches in diameter, breast high, had 

 recently been broken about 12 feet from the base and blown over, 

 the freshness of the damage being attested by the wilted, green 

 leaves. Scattered along the surface of the bark from the base of 

 the tree to the breaking point at fairly regular intervals were 

 four fine specimens of this fungus, an organism which is of rare 

 occurrence in North America, and never before found in this 

 locality. From a little distance it resembles a small beehive with 

 one side more or less flattened and cemented firmly to the bark. 

 On closer inspection it may be seen to consist of a large number 

 of small, tightly overlapping, light to very dark gray sporophores 

 of polyporaceous nature, all proceeding from a common center or 

 core (Plate 10, fig. 3). 



There is good evidence that the fungus is a facultative parasite, 

 for where the wood was exposed by the break it was covered with 

 a thin sheet of white mycelium which was connected with the 

 sporophores. Investigation showed the heartwood to be infested 

 everywhere with the mycelium, which, in spots, was encroaching 

 on the sapwood also. The fruiting bodies were borne in furrows 

 of the bark, perhaps in regions of old branches. The fungus had 

 apparently gained entrance through a fire scar which extended 18 

 feet up the trunk. 



That the fungus is also saprophytic is shown by collections in 

 the herbarium of the New York Botanical Garden from dead 

 hickory in Indiana, and from a dead stump in Delaware. Other 

 collections at the Garden are from North and South Carolina ; 

 from Pennsylvania, Ohio and Iowa. It has been collected on liv- 

 ing Quercus coccinea at Wilmington, Delaware, by Dail. The 

 specific name was derived from its sweet odor, which, however, 

 was not evident in our specimens. 



