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PHLEBIA M e r ism o id e s .
Orange-bordered Phlebia.
Class and Order CRYPTOGAMIA FUNGI, Linn HYMENOMYCETES.
— O r d . I. PILEATI, Fries.
G E N E R IC C H A R A C T E R .
Hymenium cum pileo homogeneum, vage vel interrupte plicatum, rugis prominen-
tibus cum hymenio undique ascigeris. Asci immersi. Sporidia albida.
Hymenium homogeneous, with the pileus irregularly or interruptedly plicate,
the folds prominent, covered every where, as well as the hymenium,
with fructification. Asci immersed. Sporidia white.
S P E C I F IC C H A R A C T E R .
P hlebia Merismoides ; effusa, carneo-mbra, subtus villosa alba, margine aurantiaca
pilosa, plicis rectis.
P. effused, fiesh-colour, villose and white beneath, margin orange colour, pilose,
folds of the hymenium straight.
P hlebia Merismoides, Fries, Syst. Myc. v. l . p . 427.
M erulius Merismoides, Fries, Obs. Myc. 2 . p. 235.
H ab. Trunks of dead trees, frequently intermixed with Mosses ; rare. Autumn
and winter. Swanston wood, near Edinburgh.
Pileus carnose, not a line in thickness, either growing upon the bark itself,
or (more frequently) spreading for two or three inches over the mosses
upon it, especially near the ground ; often completely enveloping their
stems, in which state it bears no inconsiderable resemblance to a stalacti-
tical incrustation. The colour is more or less orange, or red ; that in the
centre becoming more and more dull as the plant grows older, b u t the
margin is delicate and very bright ; beneath, the pileus is whitish and
downy. The surface of the hymenium partly depends upon the subjacent
body ; b u t it is always more or less either tuberculated or folded ;
when growing on mosses, the folds or rugæ often pass into prominent or
somewhat elongated papillæ ; when the subjacent surface is plane, the
rugæ are more perfectly developed, and pass towards the circumference
in a tolerably direct manner. The margin is byssoid, as in the genus
Merisma. Asci linear, containing 1-4 globose white sporidia.
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