218 
THE LARGER FUKGI 
and maiknd with l)eautiful conoentric shining satiny zones of various colours 
(browur, drab, grev, ]iinkish buff, whitish, etc.)- Tlic mass of brackets mav be 
several inches higii and wide, tlie individual luenibers usuallv only alxurt liin. 
(.'1.7 cm.) laterally ami lin. (2.5 cm.) from before backwards. Pileus gradually 
someAvhat ('onstricteil towards the base, arching slightly ^ downwards, often 
depressed behind, somewhat wrinkh'd and rugose, often radiately strigose, the 
edge thin, slightlv lobed ami when growing whitish, llvmeuial suifa(*e concur e 
to concavo-convex, i)ale buff, greyisli buff, Pinkish Puff (xxix.), or sometiines 
near Cinnamon Huff (xxi.v.) ; oiftices minute, about o in 1 mm., round, becoming 
toni and irregular, tubes about 1 mm. deep. Corrtext usuallv J:hin (about 1 mm.), 
corkv, white. Spores sausage-shaped, slightly curved, 5.,! to 7 x 2 On tops of 
logs the i)ilei may assume a rosette f(rrm. On telegraph posts, the plants mar 
appear in a thick’ irregular form (lin., 1.2 cm., thick) without the formation of 
\Fi'om if].(itercolour htj H, Bufier. 
Figure 48 . — Bolusbirtus versicolor (L.) Fr. (No. 332). Blue Mountains, 
New South 'Wales. Slightly reduced. 
brackets. Sometimes almost a Fomes-like form is mot with. On logs, fallen 
timber and occasionally telegraph posts, causing a slow rot. Rarely on dead 
rvood of living fruit trees (peach). Soutli Australia — Botanic Gardeirs, Fullarton 
(on living peach), National Park (on dead llakea), Waterfall Gully (on the 
trunk and at the base of basket rvillows), Greenhill Road, Mount Lofty, Morialta. 
Mount McIntyre (S.E.). New South Wales. Queensland. AGctoria. Tasmania. 
Probably nearly rvorld-wide, June to October. (Figure 48.) 
This is a very common species of thin bracket fungus readily rerognised by 
the beautiful velvety zones of greys and browns on the ))ileus. P. kirsutus Fr., 
more robust and densely strigose, has not yet been recorded for the State. 
Polystictiis versatilis Berk. (L., i-ersatiUs, versatile, here apparently 
meaning variable) (Syn., PolysHctus remistus Berk.). — Forming usually thin 
e.xteniled brackets, to 2in. (5 cm.) or more laterally, projecting up to tin. 
(2 cm.), occasionally hoof-shaped (nearly fin., 2 cm.), very light in weight. Pilei 
densely strigose, becoming denuded leaving a rough surface (P. veniistus, teste 
Lloyd), pallid to j)allid buff and Cinnamon Buff (xxix.) near the edge, becoming 
greyisli to dark brown in the ohler portions. Tubes irregular, usually irpiciform, 
teniling to be elongated, 4 to 14 mm. deep ; dissepiments thin, rather fluted, 
sometimes lacerated; surface becoming near Bister (xxix.), when fresh some- 
times with a violet or purplish tint, cut surface of tubes and context pallid to 
