L Y C O P E R D O N p t r i f o r m e .
Pear-shaped Puff-Ball.
C la s s an d O r d e r CRYPTOGAMIA FUNGI, i i m — NAT. O rd . GASTROMYCI,
Link.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
Peridium dtiplex; cxlerius adnalum, furfuraccum, scepe in verrucas abiens;
inlerius memhranacetm, apice irregulariter rumpens. Sporidia Jloccis inspersa.
Peridium double; outer one adnate, furfuraceous, often passing away in
the form of w a rts ; inner one membranaceous, bursting irregularly at
the summit. Sporidia intermixed with filaments.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
L y c o p e r d o n p y r ifo rm e ; caespitosum, pyriforme, umbmialum, rufo-mnhrinum,
plus minusve stipitatum; stipite cum peridio confiuente, verrucis ienuissimis
vel subnullis.
L. tufted, pear-shaped, umbonate, reddish-brown, more or less stip ita te ;
stipes confluent with the perid ium ; warts very slender, or nearly wanting.
L y c o p e r d o n p y r ifo rm e , Willd. FI. Berol. p . 4,11. fide Persoon.— Schceff. Fung.
t. 185.—Bull. Champ, t. 32. ( v a r .)—Bers. Syii. Fung. p . 148.—Bolt. Fung.
t. xl'j.— Hook. FI. Scot. Pt. 2. p. l l .— Schwein. Fung. Carol. No. 344.—
Grev. FI. Edin. p . 457-
L y c o p e r d o n Proteus, var. ovoideum. Bull. Champ, p . 14 8 . t. 4 3 5 . f. 3 .—B e
Cand. FI. Frang. v . 2 . p . 26 5 .
L y c o p e r d o n Proteus, var. pyriforme, With. Bot. Arr. v . 4. p. 4 5 3 .—Relh.
FI. Cantab, p. 5 6 5 .—Purt. Midi. FI. v . 2. p. 700.
Hab. On the rotten stumps of trees, on the ground in woods, and in similar
situations. Autumn. Not unfrequent.
Growing in dense tufts, frequently so numerous and crowded as to compress
one another. Peridium, distinctly pear-shaped, umbonate, pale
reddish-brown, furnished with warts, either very small and slender, or
resembling minute dots studding the surface. The orifice is small. The
peridium is provided with a stipes, into which it passes insensibly; and
though the stipes is often an inch in length, it is sometimes so short as
to appear to be absent, from its gradual dilatation into the peridium.
Internal substance of the stipes yellowish-white. An exceedingly delicate
woolly mass, filled with interspersed purplish-brown globose spo-
rules, occupies the p e rid ium ; one distinct mass of woolly filaments
VOL. VI.
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