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Sub-sect. I. Stemonitae.
Stemonitis, Gled.
^ Sporangia cylindrical, ovate, or globose, stipitate; stem continuing
into the sporangium as a columella of greater or less
length, and giving origin to numerous branches throughout its
length, which combine to form a dense, irregular network;
wall of sporangium thin, soon disappearing, often with metallic
tints.
Stemonitis, Gleditsoh, Meth., p. 141; Rost., Mon., p. 193 (in
part); Cke.. Myx. Brit, p. 46 (in part); Sacc., Syll., vii., pt. I.,
p. 397.
Comatricha, Preuss. in Sturm’s Deutschl. (in p a rt); Rost.,
Mon., p. 197 (in part); Cke., Myx. B rit, p. 47 (in part); Sacc.,
Syll., vii., p. 394.
The genus Comatricha was distinguished according to Preuss
by the globose or shortly elliptical sporangium from the species
of Stemonitis, a character shown by Rostafinski to be untenable,
hence the last-named author used characters supposed to be
presented by the capillitium for the separation of the two
genera. In Comatricha the meshes of the network are arcuate
or cuived, and not attached to the wall of the sporangium,
by short branches, whereas in Stemonitis the threads are not
arcuate at the surface, and the capillitium is attached to the
wall in numerous places by short branches. These characters,
not being constant, and furthermore overlapping in the two
genera, cannot be considered as of generic value, neither in my
opinion would they be so even if constant.
Distrib. Scattered over temperate and tropical regions.
Species 23.
A. Spores blackish brown in the mass.
§ Spores warted.
Stemonitis fusca, Rost. (figs. 155—157 and 162—104),
Densely gregarious, springing from a well-developed, broadly
ill
spreading hypothallus; sporangia cylindrical, obtuse or attenuated
at the apex, wall thin, evanescent ; blackish with metallic
tints ; stem slender, equal, shorter than the sporangium, blackish,
shining ; columella reaching nearly to apex of sporangium ;
capillitium dense, threads blackish, tapering, combined into a
dense, irregular net, the peripheral meshes smaller or equal to
the spores in diameter : spores in the mass black, with violet tinge,
dingy violet by transmitted light, globose, varying from distinctly
verrucose to almost smooth, size also variable, from
5—11 g diameter.
Stemonitis fusca, Rost., Mon., p. 193, fig. 40; Cke., Myx. Brit.,
p. 46, fig. 40 ; Sacc., Syll,, n. 1362.
Exsicc.—-Boum.., Fung. Sel. Gall. (Rel. Moug.); Ellis, N.
Amer. Fung., 1119 ; Fckl., Fung. Rhen., 1149; Holl, Schmidt,
and Kunze, Deutschlands Schwamme, n. oix. > ; Cke.,y Fungo. Brit.,>
Ed. ii., n. 522; Fung. Cub. Wrightiani, n. 538; Roum,, Fung.
Gall,, Cent. xiv. (number indistinct).
On rotten wood, &c. Britain (Bournemouth, Kew, Ilfracombe,
Epping; Bulmer, Yorks; Carlisle, Aboyne); Europe;
N. America; Cuba; Yenezuela; Natal; Mauritius; Himalayas;
Ceylon; Yictoria; Tasmania.
From 5—14 mm. high. The only large British species with
a small meshed capillitium and spores blackish violet in the
mass.
(Eostafinski’s Synonyms.)
Lycoperdon capite cylindracea, Rupp. Jenn., 304 (1718).
Glathroidastmm obscurum, Mich., t. 94, f. 1 (1729).
Embolus nigerrimus. Hall, t. i., £ 1 (1742).
Clathrus nudus. Linn., FI. Suec., 1263 (1745).
Stemonitis I, Gled., Meth,, 141 (1753).
Embolus, Hall, 2137, t. 48, £ 1 (1768).
Tuhulifera crémor, FI. Dan., t. 659, f. 1 (1777).
Tremella typhina, Willd. FL Ber., 420 (1787).
Mucerr araneosus, Jacq. Misc., t. 15 (1778).
Stemonitis fusca, Roth. Mag. Bot., p. 26 (1782); Ehr. Ber.,
f. 5; Grev., S. C. FL, t. 170; Corda Ic., ii., f. 87; Eng. FL,
V., 317; Cooke, Hdbk., 1155, fig. 132, Fung Britt., ii., 522.
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