Boston flfo^colootcal Club. 
BULLETIN NO. 9. 
[Issued June, 1899, as a reprint, by permission, from Rhodora, Vol. 1, No. 4, 
for April, i8gg.] 
A LIST OF VERMONT HELVELLEAE, WITH DESCRIPTIVE 
NOTES. 1 
E. A. Burt. 
(Plate 4.) 
The Helvelleae are a family of discomycetous fungi with fructifica¬ 
tions consisting usually of two portions; an ascigerous, or spore-con¬ 
taining portion and a stem — sometimes called stipe — upon which 
the ascigerous portion is elevated above the underground, vegetative 
mycelium. The ascigerous portion (^/, figs. 3 and 4) is very varied in 
form, as mitrate, clavate, capitate, ovoid, etc. The reproduction of 
the Helvelleae is by ascospores, that is by spores contained in the 
interior of fleshy sacs, called asci. From two to eight spores, according 
to the species, are contained in an ascus (figs. 1a, 4/3 etc.). The 
asci, intermixed with sterile, thread-like bodies, called paraphyses (figs. 
4 c and 5*7) are arranged side by side in a palisade layer, called the 
hymenium, which forms the outer and upper surface of the ascigerous 
portion. The hymenial surface is either even, rugose, gyrose-convolute 
or pitted by intersecting systems of ridges, its configuration affording 
in some cases characters of generic value. 
By their habit and size, some species of the Helvelleae may be 
confused with Basidiomycetes, such as Phalleae, Sparassis, and the 
simple club-like forms of Clavaria. Microscopic examination with a 
one-fifth or one-sixth-inch objective of a small bit of the hymenium, 
crushed down in a drop of water under a cover glass, will decide all 
doubtful cases by showing the characteristic asci containing spores for 
all Helvelleae. 
Some species of Xylaria, a genus of pyrenomycetous fungi, have 
fructifications which somewhat resemble those of Geoglossum, a genus 
Read in abstract before the Vermont Botanical Club, January 28, 1899. 
1 
