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Colmr yellowish at first, then bright chesnut, in old age almost black.
Flesh thick, very firm, dehcately fibrous, pale, a t length reddish; thè
Pores o f the same colour, equal, roundish, very minute, either short or
ra th e r long, according to circumstances. Stipes either almost wanting,
or 6-10 inches in height, mostly erect and lateral, rarely centrical or
vertical. I t is often an inch or more in thickness, very hard, o f the same
colour and shining appearance as the pileus.
Few species of Polyporus are so handsome as P. lucidus.
Mr C u r t i s relates in the Flora Londinensis, that, when he
first discovered a magnificent specimen growing near Peekham,
it was of so bright a colour, and so beautifully polished, that
he scarcely knew whether he had found a natural or artificial
production. I have had no opportunity of tracing the growth
of this fungus; but Mr P u r t o n informs us, that the lacquered
appearance is occasioned by a thick, glutinous, reddish juice,
which exudes from every part of the pileus and stipes, and soon
dries. No species, perhaps, is so changeable in the characters
of the pileus and stem, not even excepting P. squamosus, already
figured in this work. A plant of it found by R i c h a r d
C o t t o n , Esq. of Claverley, is described by Mr P u r t o n as imbricated,
with a variously branched or lobed pileus, some of the
lobes much elongated, forming pilei of circular, and others more
or less of a semicircular figure.
Fig. 1. P . lucidus. Fig. 2. Section o f Pileus and Stipes, natural size. Fig. s.
Pores. Fig. 4. Transverse section o f Pores, shewing the Thecæ; magnified.
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