172—LYOOPERDON PSEUDORADICANS. 
We have received from F. J. Braendle, Washington, D. C., 
what seems to us to be a unique species of Lycoperdon. It grew on 
the “White Moss,’’* and has a peculiar root-like appendage penetrat- 
ng into the moss. This however, is not a root but is the sterile base of 
the plant . It illustrates in a striking manner 
the adaptability of plants, that this species 
growing on cushions of dense moss should 
develop its sterile base into a root-like 
projection which firmly holds the plant in 
its peculiar habitat. We know of no other 
species of Lycoperdon in the whole fungus 
literature, having a sterile base that assumes 
any similar form. We have another species 
of Lycoperdon which grows only in moss, 
Lycoperdon muscorum (see Gastromycetes 
Genera, Fig 45). This moss (Polytrichum) 
is loose and the shape of this plant is 
quite different from L. pseudoradicans but 
equally adapted to its place of growth. 
Description :—Peridium globose, contracted at the base, into a 
long root like projection which is the sterile base of the plant. Cortex 
persistent thin, covered with short spinules, arranged in fours, and 
converging at the apex. Columella large, pro¬ 
minent. Spore mass dark olivaceous brown. Spores 
small (about 4 me.) minutely roughened, apiculate. 
Thickness of capillitium threads varying from one 
to two diameters of spores. 
In the color of spores, cortex, and large colu¬ 
mella, this plant is in accord with Lycoperdon 
piriforme but differs in its peculiar shape, habitat, 
and larger apiculate spores. It is close to Lycoper¬ 
don pratense of Europe both internally and exter¬ 
nally (the cortex spines are not so large however). 
Bresadola writes me that he would consider it a 
lapsus of this plant. Its peculiar root-like sterile 
base seems to me however, to be hereditary and could 
not have been acquired save from a long line of 
ancestors growing on its particular habitat. It is 
without question a distinctive character of the plant, so different that I 
would consider it entitled to specific rank. 
Fig. 61. 
Lycoperdon pseudoradicans. 
(Section.) 
Fig. 50. 
Lycoperdon pseudoradicans. 
(In situ.) 
* I,eucobryum glaucum. We acknowledge our indebtedness to Mrs. E. G. Britton for kind¬ 
ness in naming it. She informs us that “this moss forms dense cushions on the ground in damp 
woods.” 
84 
