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SCLEROTIUM QUERCINÜM.
Oak-leaf Sclerotium. n
*
Class and Ohder CRYPTOGAMIA I'UNGI, i r á » .— N a t . Ord. GASTROMYCI Í
Link, Grev.
GENERIC character.
Massa suhglohosa aut difformis, intus homogénea, vesiculosa, carnosa, vel cornea.
(Sporulce incognitæ).
A eubglobose or shapeless mass, within homogeneous, vesiculose, fleshy or
corneous within. (Sporules have not hitherto been discovered).
SPECIFIC character.
SCLEROTIUM quercinum ; sparsum, gldbosum vel subhemisphoericum, læviuscu-
him, pallidum, demum nigrescens, intus corneum.
S. scattered, globose or subhemispherical, rather smooth, pale, at length
black, corneous within.
S c l e r o t iu m quercinum, Pers. Disp. p . 15.—Ejusd. Syn. Fung. p. 124. e t Icon.
Piet. fasc. 3. p. 42. t. 17- f. 2.—Alb. et Schwein. Consp. Fung. p. 76.—
Moug. et Nestl. PI. Exsicc. No. 575.—Schwein. Syn. Fung. Carol. Sup.
No. 317. —Gray’s Nat. Arr. v. 1. p. 591.— Grev. FI. Edin. ined.
S c l e r o t iu m pustula, De Cand. FI. Franç. ed. 3. v. 6. p. l lS .—Ejusd. Mem.
du Mus. V . 2. No. 18.
H a b . On the dead leaves of both the British species o f Oak. On the Continent,
it has also occurred on those of the Chesnut and Hornbeam. In
North America, M. S c hw e in iz finds it on different species of Walnut.
In no country is it very abundant. I have only seen it in Swanston
wood, near Edinburgh, and in woods at Balmuto, Fifeshire. Spring to
Autumn.
Plants much scattered, regular in form, roundish, but often depressed, either
attached to the leaf by a small portion of the base, or wholly adnate, or
even passing through and appearing on the other side o f the leaf, as represented
at Fig. 3. in the Plate. At first they are of a dirty white colour,
but soon assume a darker hue, and at length become nearly black. The
substance is very dense and corneous ; the surface rather smooth, except
under a high magnifying power, when it appears slightly granulated.
Mature plants vary from 1 to 2 lines in diameter.
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