THE NORTH AMERICAN SLIME-MOULDS (continued 6)
Reading edition
Saccardo includes Craterium floriforme Schw. here.
By the descriptions of the earlier authors it is impossible to distinguish this from H. vesparium on the one hand, and T. decipiens on the other. T. botrytis Pers., l. c., gives us first secure foothold. Fries discards Persoon's appellation as unsuitable and improperly applied, and takes up what he deems an older specific designation, T. pyriformis Leers. But Rostafinski is certain Leers had A. punicea in mind, and that other early names are equally ill-applied. Rostafinski rejects Persoon's names simply as not pertinent in every case. Massee examined the specimens of Léveillé, and finds them belonging here; but see our No. 14, seq.
Not common, but with wide range. Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Colorado; Toronto.
11. Trichia subfusca Rex.
1890. Trichia subfusca Rex, Proc. Phil. Acad., p. 192.
Sporangia gregarious, scattered, dull tawny brown, shading to dark brown below, about ½ mm. in diameter, globose, stipitate; stipe short, about equal to the sporangium, stout, brown or brownish black, rugulose, solid; capillitial mass bright straw color; the elaters long cylindrical, 3–4 µ wide, adorned with spirals four, which wind unevenly, are perfectly smooth, and terminate in abrupt tips about twice the diameter of the elater; spores yellow, under the lens yellow, minutely and closely warted, globose, 12 µ.
The spores of this species resemble closely those of the preceding, but the sporangium is at sight different in appearance and proportions and the capillitium not the same at all. The elaters are never fusiform, the apices always abrupt in their acumination, and the sculpture irregular and uneven. In form the elater resembles that of T. scabra. The description is drawn from specimens, N. A. F., 2495, with which, however, specimens received from Dr. Rex and later collected exactly correspond.
The elaters of uniform diameter, the apices abruptly narrowed to a blunt point, turned to one side, will serve to distinguish this species from the whole T. botrytis group, some forms of which it outwardly resembles.
We have beautiful specimens from the shores of Puget Sound.
New York.
12. Trichia erecta Rex.
1890. Trichia erecta Rex, Proc. Phil. Acad., p. 193.
Sporangia gregarious, often in clusters of two or three together, but generally single, nut-brown, checkered with broad, conspicuous yellow dehiscence bands, globose, ½ mm. wide, stipitate, stipe double the sporangium, dark brown, solid; capillitial mass bright yellow, the elaters cylindric, 3–4 µ wide, terminating in apices short and smooth, adorned with spirals, four, coarsely spinulose, winding unevenly or even branching and so united to one another! spore-mass yellow, spores by transmitted light pale, globose, minutely warted, 12 µ.
Distinguished at sight by the peculiarly mottled peridium. T. botrytis in its ochraceous forms sometimes shows tendency to the same thing, but the checkered surface is here conspicuous. The elaters resemble those of the preceding form, but are remarkably rough.
Rare. Adirondacks, New York.
13. Trichia decipiens (Pers.) Macbr.
Plate IV., Figs. 2, 2 a, 2 b.
1793. Lycoperdon pusillum Hedwig, Abh., I., p. 35, Tab. iii., Fig. 2.
1795. Arcyria decipiens Pers., Ust. Ann. Bot., XV., p. 35.
1796. Trichia fallax Pers., Obs. Myc., I., p. 59, etc.
Sporangia gregarious, sometimes closely so, sometimes scattered, turbinate, shining olive or olivaceous brown, stipitate; stipe generally elongate, concolorous above, dark brown below, hollow, i. e. filled with spore-like cells; capillitial mass yellowish or olivaceous yellow, the elaters perfectly smooth, long fusiform, tapering gradually to the long, slender taeniate apices, simple or often branched, adorned with spirals three, which wind evenly but somewhat distantly; spore-mass olivaceous or ochraceous, spores under the lens, pale, minutely delicately reticulate, 10–12 µ.
One of our largest and most common species, in form and size resembling H. clavata, but immediately distinguished by its color. The capillitium is like that of T. botrytis, but differs in the more open sculpture and the longer and smoother unwound tips. The episporic net is a constant character in all the specimens examined. This feature reminds of T. scabra.
This is, of course, our familiar T. fallax of all authors from Persoon down. The earliest unmistakable reference to this species is Hedwig, l. c. But Batsch, in 1789, had used the same combination to describe a real puff-ball, so that Hedwig's name was already a synonym. The specific name here adopted is next in point of priority, although Persoon discarded it the year following, substituting fallax, because he had mistaken the genus.
Not rare. New England, Toronto; west to the Black Hills and Washington, Oregon, California, south to the Carolinas and Kansas; Jalapa, Mexico.
14. Trichia lateritia Lév.
1846. Trichia lateritia Lév., Ann. Sci. Nat. Bot., 3 V., p. 167.
1875. Trichia lateritia Lév., Rost., Mon., p. 250.
1892. Trichia fragilis (Sow.) Rost., Mass., Mon., p. 176.
1894. Trichia botrytis Pers. var. lateritia (Lév.) List., Mon., p. 171.
1899. Trichia botrytis Pers., Macbr., N. A. S., p. 216.
1911. Trichia botrytis Pers. var. lateritia (Lév.) List., Mycetozoa, 2nd ed., p. 217.
Sporangia more or less closely gregarious, (a) simple globose-turbinate, dull black when dry, when moist generally with a vinous tinge, 1 mm. in diameter, stipitate. The stipe concolorous, rigid, erect, simple even, 2–6 mm., or (b) multiple, several sporangia united by their pale brown or reddish-brown, striate, weak, closely adherent or united stems; hypothallus small or none; capillitial-mass bright brick-red cut-off from the stem-cavity, such as may be, and enclosed by a thick, firm opaque peridium, which opens above in fragmental or petaloid lobes, leaving a craterium-like cup below, to persist in flower-like fashion long after the contents have blown away; elaters fusiform, extremely long, to 50 µ; about 5 µ in width at the widest (middle) point, long acuminate, adorned with usually four clean-cut even, regular, taeniae, uniformly spaced and carried forward on the progressive acumination, almost to the smooth, straight spine-like point; spores in mass brick-red, by transmitted light, orange-brown almost smooth, 10–12 µ.
This showy and remarkable species is set out from T. botrytis Pers. with which it has been more or less closely associated, for several reasons. In the first place, it is easily recognized in the field, by its size, color, and structure. Often simple throughout a colony entire, nevertheless where the vegetative development has been stronger, simple and multiple fructifications may stand side by side, but the odd fasciation is generally limited to few sporangia, perhaps three or four, or at most, half a dozen. These fasciate forms generally shorter, or less erect. The elaters, so far as our observation goes, are the longest in the genus notable for their beautiful symmetry. The spores are larger than in the red forms of T. botrytis as usually presented, smoother and of different color.
We have also a geographic limitation. Taken to Paris first from southern Chile, it promises to be a Pacific coast species, found as it now has been in North America from San Diego, to Vancouver. In a deep forest near Monterey, California, a half-buried log showed one colony a meter in length and from six to twelve centimetres in width, hundreds of sporangia, each by gentlest explosion opening to display its tuft of bright-tinted wool, a patch of color visible from far.
4. Oligonema.
1875. Oligonema Rost., Mon., p. 291.
Sporangia distinct, small, generally crowded together and superimposed; hypothallus none; capillitium scanty, the sculpture rudimentary and imperfect, scattered rings or mere roughenings, sometimes imperfect or faint spirals; spores yellow.
The oligonemas are simply degenerate Trichiae, and show the vagaries usually to be noted in a passing type. They are difficult to define, and the species are indeed variable. Those here listed seem to offer constant features throughout our range.
Key to Species of Oligonema
A. Spores reticulate.
a. Sporangia in broad effused patches2. O. brevifilum
b. Sporangia in small heaped clusters.
i. Elaters roughened, no distinct rings or spirals1. O. flavidum
ii. Elaters with scattered rings; sometimes faint spirals3. O. nitens
B. Spores warted4. O. fulvum
1. Oligonema flavidum (Peck) Mass.
1874. Perichaena flavida Peck, Rep. N. Y. Mus., p. 76.
1892. Oligonema flavidum (Peck) Mass., Mon., p. 171.
Sporangia crowded and superimposed, sessile in small masses or clusters 1 cm. or less, bright yellow, shining, the peridium thin but opaque, yellow; capillitium of long, slender tubules usually simple, anon branched, even, or with an occasional inflation, the sculpture confined to warts or small, distinct spinules, roughening more or less conspicuously the entire surface, the apices generally obtuse, anon apiculate; spore-mass yellow, spores under the lens pale yellow, irregularly globose, beautifully reticulate, the meshes large and few, as in Trichia favoginea, 12–14 µ.
This species is marked by its capillitium, which is abundant for the present genus. The threads are longer than in any other species, and not infrequently branched, smooth, or more commonly, very distinctly minutely spinulose throughout, no trace of rings or relief sculpture of any sort, the spirals, that are to be expected, very imperfect, if discernible at all. In habit the species resembles O. nitens, but the colonies are much larger, and the sporangia higher and larger, attaining 1 mm.
New England to Iowa and Nebraska; south to Alabama and Louisiana. Toronto; Miss Currie.
2. Oligonema brevifilum Peck.
Plate XX., Figs. 5, 5 a.
1878. Oligonema brevifila Peck, Rep. N. Y, Mus., p. 42.
Sporangia small, cylindric, dull ochraceous-yellow, sessile closely crowded, sometimes superimposed, forming large, effused patches several centimetres in extent; capillitium exceedingly scant, consisting of nothing more than a few minute threads, very short, only three or four times the diameter of the spore, smooth, or without any definable sculpture, ochraceous; spore-mass dark ochraceous, under the lens the spores are brighter, marked with reticulations much as in other species of the genus, 10–12 µ.
Probably a variety of our No. 1, but constantly collected.
Separate, however, from the following also in color and habit. To the naked eye the fructification suggests Trichia persimilis; the color much the same, and the sporangia similarly congested. The peculiarly rudimentary condition of the capillitium is apparently also constant. Iowa specimens accord perfectly with those from New York.
Rare. New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Iowa, Missouri, Oregon, Washington, California; Vancouver Island.
3. Oligonema nitens (Lib.) Rost.
Plate II., Figs. 8, 8 a, 8 b.
1834. Trichia nitens Lib. Pl. Cr. Ard., III., No. 227.
1875. Oligonema nitens (Lib.) Rost., Mon., p. 291.
1883. Trichia pusilla Schroet., Kr. Fl. Schl., III., p. 114.
Sporangia gathered in small, heaped clusters, irregularly spherical, bright straw-color, or yellow, sessile, superimposed, the peridium thin, smooth, shining; capillitium of short elaters, simple or branched, smooth, adorned with an occasional projecting ring, often with faint spiral sculpture spreading especially toward the apices, which are blunt or anon acute, the point sometimes flexed or bent to one side, never very long; spore-mass bright yellow, spores globose, beautifully reticulate, 12–14 µ.
Readily recognized at sight by its heaped, shining, or glistening sporangia. The capillitial threads are further definitive, and serve to distinguish it from everything else.
The range is wide, probably coextensive with the forests of the country. Specimens are before us from New England, Canada, Montana, and all intervening regions, and south to the Gulf of Mexico; California, Nevada,—Prof. Bethel. Yosemite, shores of Mirror Lake!
4. Oligonema fulvum Morgan.
1893. Oligonema fulvum Morgan, Jour. Cin. Soc., p. 42.
Sporangia large, sub-globose, sessile, or crowded, more or less regular; the peridium tawny yellow, or olivaceous, very thin and fragile, iridescent; mass of capillitium and spores tawny-yellow, elaters simple or sometimes branched, very short, sometimes with thicker swollen portions, the surface marked with low smooth spirals, in places faint and obsolete, the extremities rounded and obtuse, usually with a minute apiculus; spores globose, minutely warted, 10–13 µ.
This species may be recognized by its tawny, irregular, more or less crowded sporangia. Under the lens the warted, not reticulate, spores are diagnostic. The elaters are quite constantly marked by imperfect spirals.
Our specimens are from the author of the species, and so far there are none reported from outside Ohio.