I
mella slender, about one-tbird the height of the sporangium,
capillitium rather dense, the main branches springing from the
apex of the columella which is sometimes expanded in a discoid
manner, branches stout, simple fo r half their length, then tivo or
three times diehotomous, axils acute, secondary branches straight,
sometimes anastomosing laterally, tips colourless, the other
portions blackish; stem elongated, straight or sub-flexuous, conical,
smooth, blaokish-hrown, filled with amorphous organic matter,
springing from a hypothallus; spores globose, dingy purple,
coarsely spinulose, 15—17 g diameter.
Scotland (Moffat); Tasmania; N. Zealand.
On moss, wood, &o.; gregarious, 2 mm. high. A very fine
species, remarkable for the elongated stem becoming usually
much incrassated downwards, and in the apex of the columella
being in some specimens expanded into a disc from the margin
of which the primary branches of the capillitium originate.
Both these features are characteristic of the genus Enerthenema,
and the present species forms a connecting link between the
last-named genus and Lamproderma. Agreeing with L. echinulata
in the large, spinulose spores; differing in the long, straight
branches of the capillitium, and the stem being filled with
amorphous lumps of organic matter.
Lamproderma ElHsiana, Cooke.
Sporangia globose, stipitate, minutely rugulose, blackish-
purple, rather dull; columella short; capillitium originating
from apex of columella, threads blackish-purple, very slender,
equal throughout, repeatedly forking from the base, angles very
acute; stem coloured like the sporangium and twice as long,
slender above, becoming very thick downwards, and expanding
into a small, circular, brown hypothallus; spores in clusters of
5—7 ; when the spores break up the clusters are sub-angular
but soon become globose when free, pale lilac, minutely warted,
16—16 g diameter.
Lamproderma Ellisiana, Cke., Myx., U. States, p. 897.
Badhamia penetralis, Cke. and Ellis, Grev., vol. v., p. 49.
(Type in Herb., Kew.)
About 1 mm. h ig h ; scattered. “ On pine boards not much
decayed, white at first.” (Ellis.)
United States.
The clustered spores probably suggested the genus Badhamia,
but the plant is a true Lamproderma, and quite distinct from
a small species of Gomatricha, with which it is mixed.
Ellis appears to have confused the true Lamproderma of
Cooke with the Gomatricha in the N. A. F., Ser. II.
Lamproderma robusta, Ellis and Everh.
Sporangia globose or slightly contracted below, stipitate,
blackish-purple, du ll; when in perfect condition covered with
a very delicate bloom, lower portion usually remaining like
a frill round the stem; columella short, thick, wrinkled;
capillitium very dense, springing from apex of columella, the
main branches 3—5 g thick, simple for a very short distance,
then branching and anastomosing to form a small-meshed, very
irregular dense network; threads tapering from the base, mostly
flattened, angles often rounded, with scattered interstitial
swellings, brownish-purple at the base, becoming paler upwards,
attached at numerous points to sporangial wall; stem equal
in length to sporangium or a little longer, blackish, smooth,
equal, springing from a hypothallus; spores globose, dirty
brownish-purple, minutely warted, 9— 10 g diameter.
Lamproderma robusta, Ellis and Everhart.
(Described from portion of type communicated by Mr.
Wingate.)
On wood. United States.
A very distinct and beautiful species, gregarious, springing
from a common hypothallus, 2—2'3 mm. high. The sporangium
is covered with an exceedingly thin layer of some substance
resembling the bloom on a plum, which may be lime; it cracks
and breaks up into angular patches in water. >
Lamproderma Schimperi, Rost.
Sporangia spherical, green, becoming blackish, or with a
-Jill