88 
THE LARGER FUNGI 
on or near wood. Some revive to some extent when moistened, so that some 
authors may place a species in the genus Panux and others place it under 
Pleurotus. A ring is present in some foreign species and may thus give a. 
resemblance to ArmiUarki but the stem is not central. When the stem is only 
slightly excentric and the gills decurrent or not sinuate, difficulty will be found 
in separation from the genus Glitocybe. Other species may resemble Tricholoma, 
but the species in this genus nearly all grow on the ground. 
Two large species and several small ones have been recognised as South Aus- 
tralian. Quite common is the large and beautiful P. lampas already mentioned. 
Another large whitish species, a form of P. nstrcatux , has only been found in 
one locality, the Bluff at Encounter Bay, where it grows on the trunks of a 
Myoporum exposed to the strong salt-laden sea-breezes. Several minute greyish 
species are not' uncommon on bark and fallen twigs. P. hepatot riclnix, a species 
that revives in part on moistening and is of a iirmisli texture and hence has been 
placed in the genus Panux, is often to be found on fallen bark or on the rough 
stems of Eucalypts — it is greyish-brown, may reach 4in. in size, is laterally con- 
tracted, lias a hoary pi I BUS and gills which with a hand lens may be seen to be 
bristling with cystidia. 
KEY TO THE SPECIES. 
Stem excentric. Plants large. Gills decurrent. 
Luminescent. Often very large. Pileus variable, 
pallid, yellowish-brown to fuscous. At base of 
Eucalypts 89. Pleurotus lampas. 
Medium large. Pileus yellow-brown to dark -brown. 
Stem stout, with gill reticulations above. On 
trunks 90. P. osirmius. 
Medium size. Pileus and gills cinnamon buff. At 
bases of stumps 91. P. mallceanus. 
Laterally attached by a stem-like base. 
1 lark-brown to blackish, up to .1.7 x 3 cm., pruiuose, 
cortex subgelatimms. Gills drying rusty-brown, 
bristling with cystidia . . .. 92. P. hepatotriehiis. 
Dark-brown, up to 9 x 5 cm., smooth, viscid when 
moist, cortex subgelatimms. Gills with cystidia . 93. P. viscid ulus. 
Gills radiating from an excentric point. Small. 
Pileus pallid grey, tomentose. Gills grey with a 
fawny tint. Upper layer of flesh dark, 
gelatinous. Spores spherical, 6 to 7 y . . . . 94. P. subapplicatiis. 
Pileus dark greyish-black, hoary, clothed with 
cells and processes with wart-like projections. 
Gills rather close, grey. Flesh dark, sub- 
gelatinous. Spores 6 x 3.5 y . . 85. P. cinerascenx. 
S9. Pleurotus lampas Berk. (L., lampas, a torch). (Probable synonyms, 
P. oandvscens Mull. ; P. phosphor e us Berk.; and doubtful, P. nidiforinis Berk.). — 
Large, strongly ‘‘phosphorescent’' (luminescent), usually densely caespitose and 
often with several irregular pile!. Up to Tin. (IS cm.) or more' high and broad, 
stem more or less excentric, sometimes nearly central (especially when growing 
from buried wood), sometimes nearly lateral, pileus very irregular, sometimes 
flabclliform especially when young and against a trunk, ' often lobed and even 
sublobed ami undulated, convex altogether or in places and depressed in others, 
surface matt when young, smooth when old, edge turned in when young, cuticle 
peels and tends to split more or less radially, colour mostly Cream (xvj.) but 
especially in specimens of firmer texture and ’exposed to light the older portions 
or nearly the whole pileus may assume colours, often rich in tint, of brown, 
bronzey brown, or purplish black, such as Buckthorn Brown (xv.), Cinnamon 
Browm (xv.), Mummy Brown (xv.), Kaiser Brown (xiv.), Light Buff (xv.), 
browner than Mars Fellow' (in.), dark chocolate brown, greyer than Parma 
Violet, etc. Gills deeply decurrent, when young close and narrow,' later moderately 
close and up to 1 cm. deep, attenuated at both ends, deeurrent on the thick stem 
where they appear as raised lines which may anastomose or fork, cream-coloured. 
