170 
THE LARGER FUNGI 
***"'**Pil euS coriaceous or woody, pliant; gills firm, often toothed. 
LENTINUS Fr. 
(L., Imtus, pliant or tough.) 
“ Pileus coriaceous, pliant, more or less irregular, stipitate or sessile. Stem 
when present central, excentric or lateral, confluent with the pileus. Gills tough, 
adnate or decurrent, often toothed at the edge. Spores white; elliptical, pip- 
shaped, oblong cylindrical or globose; smooth or echinulate; continuous. Cystidia 
present or absent. Growing on wood, rarely on the ground, solitary or 
caespitose. ’ ’ — Rea. 
The species of Lentinus are tough fungi, more or less pliant when moist, 
becoming more rigid when dry, reviving with moisture. They approach Pleurotus 
on the one hand and Lensites on the other. The edge of the gills is thin and 
typically should become lacerated or toothed, thus distinguishing the genus 
from Pianus. This serrated edge is often poorly developed. We possess two 
species at least. One of these, Lentinus tepiileiis, very large, up to 10 Jin. across, 
with the pileus remarkably resembling a leopard’s skin in colour and pattern, 
has been found in our Malice country. The other species are smaller, strigose 
fungi, with the centre of the pileus usually deeply umbilicat'ed and with narrow 
decurrent gills, found attached to fallen wood. 
KEY TO THE SPECIES. 
Pileus nearly entire. Stem distinct. 
Pileus scaly. 
Large, stout, reticulated and variegated with 
spot-like scales 264. 
Pileus strigose or villose, thin, more or less 
infundibuliform. 
Gills with a violet tint, decurrent. 
Pileus becoming whitish 265. 
Gills pallid or wood-colour, decurrent. 
Pileus reddish-fawn, depressed, strigosely 
hairy. Gills pallid 
Pileus pale ochre, fasciculately hispid, the 
hairs longer and coarser than in the 
preceding. Gills pale wood colour . . 265. 
Pileus dark reddish-brown, infundibuli- 
form, densely hispid. Gills greyish 
brown ' 265. 
Pileus dimidiate or sessile. 
Lentinus Icpideus. 
L. dealbatus 
(vide L. fasciatus) . 
L. strigosus.* 
L. fasciatus. 
L. terresQris 
(vide L. fasciatus). 
No species yet recorded for the State. 
*C!ooke records L. strigosus Fr. for Queensland, 
Australia. 
It lias not been recorded for South 
I. Pileus nearly entire. Stem distinct. 
Pileus scaly, more or less manifestly veiled. 
264. Lentinus lepideus Fr. (Gr., Icpis, a scale). — Pileus lOJin. (26.2 cm.), 
convex with centre depressed and edge undulating, firm, presenting a leopard- 
like appearance from fine reticulations separating scale-like areas of J to Jin. 
(6 to 1_ mm.) ; the centre of each spot is pallid and outside this is a dark 
brown ring and beyond this again pallid oehraeeous anastomosing lines in the 
centres of which run the reticulations between the scales; in the central part, 
the areas are more plates; at the periphery they are more scale-like; genera 
colour near lawny Olive (xxix.), the centres of the spots paler; the youn: 
plant IS nioi e scaly and not spot-like, near Light Oehraeeous Buff (xv.) Gill 
decurrent anastomosing near the stem as reticulations, rather broad, close, n 
transversely striate, edges mostly entire, Light Oehraeeous Buff (xQ.), becomi: 
sh0 ; t ’. l llu - ( I. 2 -? ••>»•), stout (2m., 5 cm.). South Australia 
G-urrai (Peebmga Railway). July. 
al 
oung 
ills 
not 
om ing 
