S P H Æ R IA MYRIOCARPA.
Minute crowded black Sphæria.
C l a s s a n d O r d e r CRYPTOGAMIA FUNGI, L in n— N a t . O r d . H Y P O X Y L A ,
De Cand. Grev.
G EN E R IC CHARACTER.
Receptaculum 0. Perithecia cornea, libera, sessiles aut suhimmersa, sparsa vel
congesta, ore interdum elongato, aliquando-nulb ; intus massa gelatinosa sporulifera
instructa.
Receptacle 0. Perithecia corneous, free, sessile, or slightly immersed, scattered
or crowded, the mouth sometimes elongated, at others wanting.
Interior filled with a gelatinous sporuliferous mass.
S P E C IF IC C HARAC T ER .
Sphær ia myriocarpa ; nuda, subconferta, ovato-ghbosa, atra, nitida, peritheciis
minimis, loevibus, astamis, demum apice periusis.
Sph . nak ed , more o r less c row d ed , ovato-globose, b la c k , sh in in g , th e p e rith
e c ia v e ry small, smooth, a t first w ith o u t a n orifice, a t le n g th w ith a
p o re a t th e a p e x .
Sphær ia myriocarpa. Fries, in Vet. Ac. Handl. 1817-—Sclerom. Nmcc. No. 313.
—Syst. Mycol. v. 2. p. 459-—Kunze, Mycol. Heft. 2. p. 40.
Sphær ia atomus, Schum. Soelland, 2. p. 158.
H ab. On dead wood, posts, &c. especially when lying on the ground.
Autumn. Near E dinburgh.
Perithecia crowded or somewhat scattered, minute, very black, ovato-globose,
smooth, shining, remarkably neat in appearance, the apex slightly mammilliform,
with a pore in old specimens. They grow perfectly naked
upon the surface of the wood, never in the least immersed, and are several
times smaller than the extremely common Sphæria Pulvis-pyrius,
and a good deal smaller, also, than S. pulveracea and ovoidea, with which
our present subject is nearly allied,
This minute but very neat species is here figured for the
first time. F r i e s seems to think that S o w e r b y had the
plant in view when he described and delineated his Sph. insidens,
t. 372. f. 12. S o w e r b y , however, mentions it as somewhat
scabrous; and indeed his figure is too globular for our
plant.
Fig. 1. a, Sph. myriocarpa, nat. size, b, Perithecia, magn, c, A perithe-
cium divided, d. The contents.
VOL. I I I .
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