bite UC TES Airmen Uh TC { . Ee a ty dL peasant ate Ut aN Mg rss: ¥ uot eee Un pei, Sian aes a tf et peasants iS beth i pie Matsakis sent Series vatytti tase cannes PREEet Ta he pee Seti Bide fice leet Fiserasehe: ects iw Fe 4 te ah MaRS oIC cette it eh RE HE IH es es PCat eh its ‘iss sesh i atTIN ate oh H ; i Ley peels ; fe fathied Beck QK 6249 Pre Garuell University Library Sthaca, New York GEORGE FRANCIS ATKINSON BOTANICAL LIBRARY 1920 LIBRARY N.Y, STATE COLLEGE OF AGRIC ITHACA, N.Y, ore Vate Due RETURN TO ALBERT R. MANN LIBRARY ITHACA, N. Y. aK 629.P7N4 University Library ‘ol wii WISCONSIN GEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SURVEY E. A. BIRGE, Director W. O. HOTCHKISS, State Geologist BULLETIN NO. XXXII SCIENTIFIC SERIES NO. 10 * THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN BY J. J. NEUMAN MADISON, WIS. PUBLISHED BY THE STATE 1914 QK 62-49 PT N4 @ 198.28 TABLE OF CONTENTS. Introduction ...... a. a aieya We. BSS NGS SURES Cae e Ble ere a Rehoree eres o's oe Distribution and abundance of Polyporaceae causing the decay of timber trees in certain regions of Northern Wisconsin...... Key to genera ....eeseeeeeeee iss atocoupserSbanclinerayaserinls “ejdiets see eeecees Description of species ........cccceeesccceees a ceplavaNG: Wa jaeacbisterers's Solomiay asd. Siaiss cnoceuis eames aie one BOS Gs see eeee Ma ‘ Porothelium ...........e060- is icheahiavgytuaitisinn one viansueie eeidaaueniee Merulius ..... Biel tee ee Beene i Sinead Gee eee tS ieee eee GICOPOTUS:§ esis ond bees ee easel ete Sibaissdcegbaraajbusiee BRS ANe Re Reet eS IRS wr Favolus ........ tw sarin eve alia alsleiahoe's\ ga aire «stig Or's a Vonve'e Doman ahs apeceveve Dacdalea. « sisws eas setae cms swans ages Sere ew eas eerie 5 anwiete 6 TTP AMCLES: aaacsd 026 Ssdiiecainisvs, 8 os007e bx eSiareileseiac dices Bieasece veel oeetesa Sere sah POPID. « wssicessesos Sheesceisuiie ce aerate serenebevaiievs ica daeatand pill aHaS Sgioey ota veusacaseng:e Poly stictus:. wassccsssansves sa eres weir asinwemurie’s Saws acoeracie sees FOMES 2... cece ccc cc cer ecsecece Banat exepevauarsdevavenesa aise sb ehebeeraNewee POLY POPUS: cxgecesay x wipe Sereees. career Wieeee a seek BS RL Seow eee Wistuling: cscs + setersamccacioe ans saa s eee sae eames , VOLS UUM US) wpieusek fa evaccsesavassssove toaneeasie wxeiaiiniCoud danas eV$ .ctuisels sauaunveyapevevausuedexaneseye StroDilOMYy Ces sos sesece ecepacs ie serasecs weanaee ds wreignais areynsa xa aayes erstarasec seis: Boletus? excsxiiesanuccveweteewwanes SiS eieitas eeaGdCes Bayona Rue eA Ral See sia Bibliography .......... esiosi bees (dats tute Saute Doct isco Vinee An evens Sd oecaclaaveteve eens GHOsSary” sscasccccixeewxn tie ayeBeia ls Rete ns Wrknece ma ea eee ea Susans TREX seis cosets co arenscedcioxens chess apothecaries Ree guciauece sub dea veispas THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN J. J. NEUMAN. This great family of fungi is represented in Wisconsin by a large number of species, belonging to all the commonly accepted genera ex- cept Cyclomyces. Many of them are common in all parts of the state but a few have so far been found only in certain regions. Polyporus volvatus, for example, is of course found only in the northern part of the state where its host, the pine, grows in considerable abundance. Many other species that have been collected only in the northern part of the state will probably also be found in the southern part, as their hosts, and the conditions necessary for their growth, are present in both regions. For example, Fomes marginatus grows on various de- eciduous trees, but it has thus far not been collected in the southern part of the state with the exception of one specimen which was found growing on a hickory stump in Madison. The group includes parasitic, saprophytic and terrestrial species. To the latter belong the Boleti, Boletini, Strobilomyces and Poria terrestris. The great majority, however, belong to the first two groups and it is not yet clear as to many wood inhabiting species whether they are in a strict sense parasitic or saprophytic. The collections on which the following account is based are now in the herbarium of the University of Wisconsin. They were made during a period of six or seven years by a number of collectors. By far the largest number of species was collected by the writer on spe- cial excursions into our northern forests. The brief account of the distribution and relation of the polypores to various decays in timber trees is largely the result of a special study of certain of our northern forest regions which were worked over in the summer of 1904, while the author was employed as a special agent of the United States bu- reau of Forestry. Abundant specimens of wood in various condi- tions of decay were collected and later worked over microscopically. Following are the names of some of the principal collectors who have contributed material for the present work: F. E. McKenna, Blanch- 2: THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. ardville, Iowa County; Prof. L. S. Cheney, Lake Superior Region; B. O. Dodge, Algoma, Kewaunee County; Dr. R. H. Denniston, Dane and Sauk Counties; Dr. C. E. Allen, Dane and Sauk Counties and Madaline Island; Dr. J. B. Overton, Brule River Region; Dr. R. A. Harper, Dane and Sauk Counties. A large number of specimens have been sent to specialists for de- termination and comparison, and I am especially indebted to Dr. C. H. Peck, Prof. J. B. Ellis, Prof. A. P. Morgan, Dr. N. Patouil- lard, Prof. G. Bresadola, and Dr. Paul Henning for numerous iden- tifications and notes on difficult and obscure species. I am also in- debted to Prof. R. A. Harper for numerous suggestions and assist- ance In many ways. The Distribution and Abundance of Polyporaceae causing the Decay of Timber Trees in certain Regions of Northern Wisconsin. The territory in which I more specially studied the relations of the polypores to the decay of timber trees, lies in Oneida, Vilas and Ash- land counties, all of which are in the northern third of Wisconsin. In Oneida county seven townships were quite thoroughly covered. Here the most careful study was made of the Yawkey Lumber company’s stand of timber. In Vilas county about two townships north and west of Star Lake were studied, consisting largely of the Merrill Lum- ber Company’s and Longely and Alderson’s timber. In Ashland county a little over one township was covered and practically all the work was done in the Nash Lumber Company’s forest near Shana- golden. In Oneida county most of the land has been cut over and much of it is covered with a young growth of poplar, birch and maple with here and there a sprinkling of red and white pine. The forest which has not been cut consists of white and red pine (Pinus Strobus L. and Pinus resinosa Ait.), hemlock [Tsuga canadensis (L.) Carr] a little fir ! Abies balsamea (L.) Mill.], and now and then a group of jack or gray pines (Pinus Banksiana Lamb). In the swamps, spruce [Picea mari- ana (Mill.) BSP], arbor vitae (Thuja occidentalis L.) and tamar- ack [Larix laricina (Du Roi) Koch] abound. Some deciduous trees are also found here but not in great abundance except in the new growth. Chief among these are sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marsh.) a little red maple (A. rubrum L.) red oak (Quercus rubra L.) yellow and red birches (B. lutea Michx. and B. nigra L.), American THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. 3 aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.), and at rare intervals an iron- wood (Ostrya Virginica Willd.). In the region around Star Lake the same kinds of trees were found but the proportion of deciduous trees is greater. Birches, poplar and scarlet oak (Quercus coccinea Muench) make up a very large part of the forest here. In some districts the forest is made up entirely of deciduous trees, with here and there a white or red pine and a few dwarfed firs. The swamps in this region are covered with spruce, tamarack and arbor vitae. About Shanagolden, Ashland County, there are very few pines, some hemlock, and in the swamps, spruce, tamarack, willow and ar- bor vitae are found. The bulk of the forest here consists of red birch (Betula nigra), elm, (Ulmus Americana L.) and hard maple. In all of these districts the standing timber, the new growth, burned areas and fallen trees were carefully studied, since all of these furnish data as to the prevalence and destructiveness of timber diseases. The age of the trees in the uncut forests is quite variable. In the older stands, the Norway pine often attains an age of one hundred to one hundred and fifty years, while large white pine stumps have two hun- dred rings of growth. Some of the largest of these trees have diameters of from twenty-five to thirty-six inches. The firs and spruce seldom reach a diameter of twelve inches at ages of not more than ninety- five years. Arbor vitae were measured at Shanagolden that had di- ameters of fifteen and sixteen inches at ages probably over one hundred fifty years. (As the center was decayed entirely in these trees their precise ages could not be determined.) These trees were seldom more than fifty or sixty feet in height. The birch, as in the sandy soil of Oneida and Vilas counties, was scrubby and not good for lumbering purposes, rarely exceeding from eight to eleven inches in diameter, and ranging in age from seventy-five to one hundred and twenty years. In the much richer soil of Ashland county, the red birch is. considered one of the most valuable of the trees for lumbering pur- poses. Here the trunks often attain diameters of from one and one half to two feet at ages not over one hundred twenty-five years. The elm grows very large here and is very valuable. The maple never: acquires a great size or high age in any of these counties and much of it cannot be used for lumbering purposes, for reasons to be men- tioned later. It acquires the largest size and best shape in Ashland. county, the largest ones here measuring about fifteen inches in di- ameter and from fifty to sixty feet in height. The ages of these trees vary from eighty to one hundred years. Much of the maple at Sha- nagolden is cut into cord wood. Tamarack and spruce rarely attain 4 THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. great size here. The largest tamarack trees were found near Razor- back Lake in a small swamp in the Star Lake Region. Some of these measured thirteen inches in diameter, with an altitude of about seventy feet and an age of one hundred and ten years. It is a conspicuous and very important fact that in the region studied, the soundness and healthiness of the trees vary greatly with the locality and with the kind of tree. Certain diseases are, or seem to be, confined to limited localities. One foreman of the Yawkey Lumber Company who has had many years’ experience in the woods told me that in the two- forties lying between Carr and Horsehead lakes, which are just being cut over, there is a great deal of ‘‘ring rot’’, or ‘‘dry rot’’, while in the cuttings several miles west of these there is very little. A train load of twenty-two cars of logs were counted one day and the proportion of logs showing sigus of decay was obtained. In all there were three hundred and one logs of red and white pine of all sizes ranging from seven inches to about thirty inches in diameter. Of these sixty-two showed more or less signs of the ring rot, or twenty and one-half per cent. Six logs had rot produced by Poly- stictus abietinus, or a little less than two per cent. Very little of- this rot was found on red pine. The percentage of infected red and white pines in the Star Lake Region is somewhat less. A large proportion of the hemlock is infected by Polystictus abie- tinus, especially near the edges of the forest and in the more exposed parts of it. Fir is comparatively healthy in the Carr Lake region. There is very little here and it is widely scattered. Firs of more than four or five inches in diameter and sixty or seventy years of age are comparativly rare. In the Star Lake region at least eighty per cent of the fir trees are infected, chiefly with Fomes ungulatus. Birch is very much infected with Fomes fomentarius, F. nigricans and Polyporus betulinus, especially in Oneida and Vilas counties. In a small area of about ten acres, out of ninety-seven trees forty-three were infected, or forty-eight and three-tenths per cent. The spruce is relatively free from rot. Near McNaughton several larger trees were found infected, one with Trametes pint and several with Polystictus abietinus. In some swamps a large number of spruces, especially young ones, were infected with a leaf rust which often kills young trees from two to ten years old. The older trees seem to be more or less immune from this disease, or have only the lower branches infected. In one swamp near Star Lake a few witches’ brooms were found on spruce; the cause of these is as yet uncertain. The per cent of tamaracks which are diseased is very variable. In some of the little swamps scarcely a pileus can be found on a tam- THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. 5 arack, while in others often as high as seventy trees out of one hun- dred are infected. Near Razorback Lake there is a little tamarack swamp of about twelve acres. There are many large trees here hay- ing diameters of over eleven inches and ages of from eighty to one hundred and twenty years. Here a very large proportion is infected with Trametes pini, Fomes ungulatus, Lenzites sepiaria, Fomes roseus and a very few with Polystictus. Of the arbor vitae nearly eighty-five per cant of the older trees are hollow in all of the regions gone over, but no fungus was found which could have been assigned with certainty as the cause, although sev- eral hundred trees were minutely examined. The decay extends over half way up into the trunk and usually down into the larger roots. In these large roots there are often loose whitish or greyish white wood fibres but in the upright trunks the cavities are usually empty. The early stages of the rot could not be found in any of the speci- mens examined. The youngest tree found infected was about two inchs in diameter and about eighteen years old. This tree had a well formed cavity nearly an inch in diameter, but this cavity did not extend down into the roots. Judging from the appearance of the cavities and the rotten wood, this disease seems to be very similar to the disease caused by Fomes juniperinus described by Von Schrenk, on red cedar. In the region studied, maple, at least the hard maple, is seldom fit for lumber. The trunks are quite universally cracked, apparently by frost. This opens the door for wholesale infection. Fomes con- natus, Hydnum septentrionale and Polyporus resinosus are also found in living trees. Elm was found only in Ashland county. These trees are tall and graceful, the largest being from two feet to two and one half feet in diameter and at least one hundred and fifty years old. Most of these trees are said to be ‘‘shaky’’ in the butt to the height of about four feet, that is, they are checked and cracked. This, however, does not seem to be due to infection. Fomes nigricans, although not as abun- dant as on maple, produces a rot in the elm similar to that produced in maple by the same fungus. One large pileus which has at least thirty strata was found on a living elm whose interior was quite de- cayed. Polystictus conchifer is often found in the lower dead limbs of the elm, but it was not evident that the fungus was the cause of the death of these limbs. Lentinus Lecomptei grows quite abundantly out of old elm logs or dead standing trunks, but nothing was deter- mined as to its possible presence in living trees. 6 THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. In Oneida and Vilas counties the birch is nearly all defective ex- cept the young growth, which covers the cut-over areas. Many trunks, both living and dead, show numerous pilei of Fomes fomen- tarius, F. nigricans and Polyporus betulinus. Frequently they are also infected with Fomes marginatus, Polystictus pergamenus and Fomes applanatus. The last named, however, was never found on a living birch, but only on much decayed trunks. Fomes applanatus is quite frequently found growing out of wounds in the trunks of living oaks. I have found such specimens near Horicon in Dodge county, Oakfield in Fond du Lae county, and Bangor in La Crosse county. In Ashland county the birch is healthier and here it forms one of the most valuable trees for lumbering purposes. In this region Polyporus betulinus is quite rare. Fomes nigricans seems to be the usual cause of disease in the birch here also. Two dead trees were found infected with Armillaria mellea. Poplar in all of these regions is infected to quite an extent with Fomes nigricans. populinus, F. fomentarius, Polystictus pergamenus and F. applanatus. Fomes nigricans and Polystictus pergamenus were frequently found growing on living trees with every appear- ance of being active parasites. Polyporus Schweinitzit is a frequent cause of disease in hemlock, fir and white pine, especially in the Shanagolden district. This is the only fungus in the whole region whose mycelium seems to enter the tree through the roots. The rest seem for the most part to gain an entrance through wounds. Many other polypores as well as agarics and hydnums were col- lected from decayed logs, stumps, chips and roots, but evidence was not available as to the nature of the decay they produce. One spe- cies, Polyporus maculatus Pk., was frequently found on pine stumps partly or wholly decayed by Fomes ungulatus. Fomes lucidus was found on hemlock stumps near Glidden, apparently producing a rot peculiar to itself. However, it was never found on standing trunks and the decay was of limited extent. Trametes odorata was found associated with a brown rot not unlike that produced by Fomes carneus, on hemlock logs. JI have found this fungus very abundant under bridges and sidewalks at Horicon, Dodge county, Sparta, Mon- roe county and Bangor, La Crosse county, always associated with the same brown rot, sometimes on pine timber but more often on hemlock planks. I have not found it on living trees. Lenzites sepiaria was found on various species but chiefly on hemlock and tamarack, pro- ducing a brown rot apparently not unlike that of Trametes odorata. THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. | Fomes carneus was found abundantly on logs of white pine, spruce and tamarack. No specimens were found on living trees. One small distorted specimen was found on the under side of an arbor vitae log. In a small area of less than an acre in the Yawkey Lumber Com- pany’s stand there were twelve red pine and two white pine trunks which showed numerous pilei of Polyporus volvatus Pk. growing out through the bark. Two of these trees (red pines) were living. A few had apparently been dead several years while most of them had been killed by a fire the year before. Near Lake Catharine was a large jiving white pine which showed several pilei of the same fungus. Whether this fungus ever causes the death of trees was not deter- “mined. It is possible, however, that it does have some effect upon the wood, especially in the immediate neighborhood of the holes pro- duced by bark borers, out of which its pilei seem almost always to grow. Still, the mycelium sometimes spreads under the bark and this may be sufficient to injure the tree. In their abundance and relative destructiveness to timber the spe- cies show a wide range of variation. I shall next describe in more detail those forms which in the region studied were evidently of the greatest economic importance in destroying the living or dead trunks of the more valuable timber trees. Polystictus abietinus (Dicks) Fries. This fungus looks very much like Polystictus pergamenus in color, shape, habit, and pores, but the latter grows only on deciduous trees, while the former grows only on the conifers. The zones are often quite distinct as concentric suleations. The pores are larger than those of P. pergamenus, but shallower. When growing the pores are violet and they retain much of this color in drying. When old, the hymenium becomes torn into teeth and the pileus becomes more and more incurved. Trees are often covered from the ground up- ward for from twenty to fifty feet with the pilei which grow out through the bark. Infection takes place through wounds. In all the trees examined that were infected with this fungus it was perfectly plain that the entrance of the fungus was through a wound. The pilei are found growing out of the region of the trunk where the tree was wounded, and from this region as a center, they spread, appearing successively in some cases for fifty feet or more up and down the trunk. They are found on trees of all sizes and ages whenever there is an opening through the bark made so that the spores can gain an entrance. Oc- 8 THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. casionally the pilei grow out of holes made by bark borers. One spruce tree in a swamp near McNaughton had been barked for an area four feet long and from three to five inches in width, by the felling of a pine tree nine years before. On this wound numerous pilei were growing. A few scattered pilei were growing also out of the bark above this wound for a distance of twenty feet. Wood specimens were cut out as far as the pilei extended and the charac- teristic decay of the wood was evident. We have thus the evidence as to the rate at which the fungus spreads when once it gains a foot- hold in a tree. The remainder of this tree was alive and the top comparatively thrifty. In all, seven living trees were found in- fected whose tops indicated a greater or lesser degree of thrift. Near Carr Lake a red pine stump was found infected with this fungus. The tree, which was perfectly sound and healthy, had been cut the year before. On one side, the wood had been somewhat slivered by the felling of the tree. Here infection took place. This infection was only one year old and minute pilei were just forming. no rot was noticeable to. the naked eye. The mycelium that was growing out of the wood and bark to form pilei was white and velvety. It was plain that the first three rings of growth con- tained mycelium since it was out of these rings that the pilei were growing. Infection seemed to have taken place in the side through the split surfaces and not from the top through the sawed surface of the wood. This white cottony mycelium was also found spreading under the bark to some extent. Infected dead trunks both standing and prostrate are abundant in some areas. This is especially true in exposed parts of the for- est, viz., near the edges of the forest bordering on clearings or the shores of the lakes. In these places, there are many wind-felled trees lying in different directions and many cases of wounding can be traced to the falling of these trees. This probably accounts for the abundant infections in such localities. In an area of about an acre between Little Tomahawk and Carr Lake, thirty to thirty-five standing trunks were found infected out of a total of one hundred and twelve trees, besides many prostrate trunks. All of these were hemlocks with diameters varying from eight to fifteen inches. These trees were especially exposed to winds from two directions. I cut one tree about cleven inches in diameter and one hundred and fifty years old to determine the extent to which the wood was affected. The pilei were found present to the very top, which was dead. About thirty feet from the top there were about half a dozen living branches. On the side on which the living branches were found, THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. 9 there was a narrow strip of wood not yet infected, extending from the base of the trunk to the living branches. On the other side, the characteristic rot was co-extensive with the fungus. Frequently the tops are dead in trees infected with this fungus, but in all of these cases it was found that the fungus had actually spread to the top in- stead of encircling the trunk at the point of infection. Another tree which was wounded some thirty feet from the base was cut down to determine whether the fungus spreads downwards. Upwards from the wound traces of the fungus were found to a distance of some twenty feet, but downwards it had spread less than ten fect. From this it would seem that the fungus spreads upwards more rapidly than downwards. Trees killed by the fungus often remain standing for many years before they are blown down. This is because the heartwood is usu- ally sound. One tree trunk was found near Star Lake in which the sapwood was decayed by P. abietinus and the heartwood by Fomes pinicola. This trunk was about twelve inches in diameter but I eas- ily broke it off and by stepping on it, crumbled it into minute pieces. The general effect of P. abietinus on fir, spruce, and tamarack, is the same as that on hemlock, but the percentage of infected trees is much less than for hemlock, being least in white pine. Stumps and branches of red pine were quite frequently found infected. Very often the white mycelium was found spreading in strands between the bark and the wood. In these cases the bark loosens easily from the wood. Often when the pileus grows out of a hole made by a bark borer, the white mycelium is found spreading in every direction be- tween the bark and the wood, the greater growth being upward. The cambium being destroyed, the bark becomes loosened and that part of tree dies. : Whenever there are cracks in the wood, it is found that the myce- lium follows them very readily and pilei are formed at the openings of the cracks where the mycelia issue in strands. This would seem to show that the mycelium spreads most easily in the direction of least mechanical resistance. The hyphae which run lengthwise through the cells are always the largest and best developed. These large hy- phae pierce the end wails of the tracheids quite easily. The end walls are perhaps less resistant than the lateral walls. Whether the path of sap flow has something to do with the direction of the growth of the hyphae, is difficult to determine. There does not seem to be any spread of the fungus in the bark. The rot produced by the fungus is characteristic and unlike any other rot I have observed, though in some respects it resembles the 4 wy 410 THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. rot produced by Polystictus pergamenus. The latter, however, as noted, is found cnly on deciduous trees. Both fungi produce rot in the sapwood. Neither seems to penetrate more than an inch or two into the wood. When branches are infected, the rot may soften them through their entire diameter, if they are not too thick. My observations support the generally accepted view that the break- ing down of the wood cells is due to an enzyme produced by the fun- gus. The lignified walls seem first to be changed to cellulose and the latter is then dissolved. There is hardly a change in the wood visible to the unaided eye, when the fungus first begins to spread, after infection. "Wood of a red pine that had been infected for less than a year appeared somewhat grey- ish in color in and about the regions where young pilei were growing out. Otherwise nothing could be seen of rot or decomposition with the unaided eye. Sections under the microscope, however, showed unmistakable signs of decomposition. Here and there the inner la- mellae of the large tracheids as well as of the smaller wood fibers showed traces of reduction to cellulose when tested with zine chloriodide. Staining with ruthenium red showed the middle lamella unaffected. The ray-cells also showed the action of the fungus, the walls of many having been broken down more or less completely. The inner layers of the cell wall seem to be attacked first and slowly changed to cellu- lose, as is shown by their more or less deep blue color when treated with zine chloriodide. The inner surface of the lamellae becomes ir- regular as though it were dissolved unequally. The wood, when it begins to decay, may become a trifle paler in color. Sometimes the very earliest stages are characterized by a dark or grayish color, as stated above, but this is not a constant characteristic. Again there may be irregular black lines in the wood next to the bark, but this is also not constant. The cells in these black lines seem filled with a dark brownish substance insoluble in alcohol. Mycelium is usually abundant in cells near these lines. A little later there are numerous white streaks passing through the summer wood of the rings of growth, both tangentially and longitud- inally, thus marking off the wood into more or less rectangular areas. Near these white lines the microscope reveals numerous hyphae running generally in the direction of the streaks. Later, the wood fibres break down along these lines, making little pits and holes which in- erease in size as the decay advances. Some tracheids break down quite completely, while others are in- tact and form anastomosing strands which intersect at right angles and are full of air, giving them a white appearance. The wood THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. 11 ‘thus becomes filled with small holes and becomes soft and brittle. The fall wood is left more or. less intact as a thin brittle shell, making the growth rings more or less easily separable. The larger and more vigorous hyphae are usually found growing lengthwise up and down the cells but are not as much tangled and matted as the hyphae of Polyporus borealis figured by Hartig. The horizontal hyphae are fewer in number, straighter and much thinner than the others. They seem to be able to penetrate the radial walls more easily than the tangential ones. Probably most of the ra- dial distribution of the fungus takes place through the ray cells. The hyphae in the ray cells are always quite small and never abundant, although their action on these cells is always prominent. The hyphae do not always pass through the pits of the eells but appear to be able to penetrate the walls at any point. Polystictus pergamenus Fries. This is one of the commonest forms of the Polysticti, growing on maple, willow, oak, birch and poplar. It is easily recognized by its leathery consistency and purplish hymenium. The dissepiments are usually torn into teeth or plates so that older specimens might often be taken for species of Irpex. The hymenium turns brown with age. ‘The pilei are thin, profusely imbricated and laterally confluent. This species seems to be closely related to P. abietinus, described above. The latter, however, is smaller, more hirsute and concentric- ally suleate and grows only on Coniferae, while P. pergamenus grows only on deciduous trees. ° P. pergamenus is quite frequently found in living oak, maple and poplar. The trees thus infected are always in a poor condition of health and are often found in the last stages of life. On one side of an oak tree even some of the large branches had pilei growing out of their sides. The larger part of the tree was dead, and the rest was not very vigorous. It was evident that this tree would soon be en- tirely dead. On the side infected, the bark was cracking and loosen- ing. Infection of living poplar is more rare, and then it is usually found to be confined for the most part to the areas immediately surrounding a wound. Nor does the bark seem to crack and loosen in poplar as in oak and maple. It would seem that in the poplar the spread of the fungus through the wood occurs after the death of the tree, or at any rate the spread here is very slow. 12° THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. In all cases where living trees are infected it was fcund that they had been wounded, and in most cases pilei were growing out of the wound or out of the bark in the immediate neighborhood. In one case the fungus had evidently gained an entrance through a wound caused by the breaking of a limb and from here had spread into the trunk. This species is found abundantly in all parts of the state, and is confined chiefly te the hosts named above. In the northern part of the state where birch is plentiful, it is most abundant on dead birch logs and limbs. I never found it on living birch trees. In the southern part of the state it is most abundant on oak and poplar. The poplar is apparently usually attacked when dead, pilei on living trees being quite rare. In ail cases which I have observed, trees infected with this fungus were found to have been wounded and usually pilei were growing out of the wounds and about them. A typical case was that of the poplar (Populus deltoides) from which specimen No. 226 was taken. The tree was about eight inches in diameter and could not have been more than twenty years old. About two feet from the ground there was a wound about ten inches long and three to four inches wide. The process of healing had progressed for several years. The exact time was not determined. In and about this wound there were numerous pilei of P. pergamenus. The disease had not spread very far, for pilei were found only a few inches above and below this wound. I have found no more exact data regarding the rapidity of spread in either poplar or oak. However, since oak trees are frequently found covered from top to bottom with pilei, one is inclined to think that the disease spreads more rapidly in oak. In general, the decay is a sap rot and is somewhat similar to that produced by P. abietinus in the Coniferae. Only the sapwood is af- fected, and this only to a depth of an inch or two. The wood, es- pecially that of the oak, becomes much lighter in color and weight. Oak wood thus decayed is of the color of poplar but the grain of the wood still appears unchanged. The resistance of the wood fiber is completely destroyed, so that it is possible to rub most of it into a white powder between the fingers and thumb. If sections of this wood be treated with phloroglucin and hydrochloric acid, they will show abund-- ant lignose still present; but sections treated with zine chloriodide show also some traces of the cellulose reaction. These changes do not show quite so clearly in poplar. This may be due to the fact that the color of poplar is naturally light and the texture of the wood is soft and spongy. THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. 13 The specimens of this rot especially studied were taken from a scarlet oak (Quercus coccinea) about one hundred and fifty years old, in the vicinity of Bangor, La Crosse County. The pilei grew out of a large wound and out of the bark just above the wound. Although the wood was decayed to a depth of an inch to one and one-fourth inches, or throagh twelve to sixteen rings of growth, yet the decay had not progressed more than an inch or two above the wound. Lat- erally the fungus had spread very slowly also. Some dead bark re- mained on the wounded part. Out of this abundant pilei were grow- ing. The new wood formed in the healing part was not affected by the fungus and was gradually covering the decayed wood. The ring of growth next to the one affected was almost entirely sound, form- ing an abrupt boundary line between the decayed and the healthy wood. From this it would seem that it is difficult for the fungus to penetrate the wood radially, from one ring of growth to the next, and that when a ring has been penetrated the infected region is almost completely destroyed before the next ring is attacked. ‘The effects on the walls of the cells are about the same in poplar as in the oaks. The ray cells are among the first to be attacked. In the poplar the hyphae are quite abundant in all the cells, but in the oak they are less abundant. Here, as in the case of P. abietinus, the largest and the most abundant hyphae go through the cells length- wise. They give off smaller branches, which penetrate the lateral walls. Sometimes the hyphae go through the pits. Lenzites sepiaria Fries. Though not a polypore, I shall describe this fungus here because of its similar habit and relation to decay of timber. This fungus is easily recognized by its sepia brown color with lighter margin. At every rain, during the first part of the season, this margin seems to revive and grow. The gills when first formed are of a light cream color like the young margin but on maturing the whole fungus grows dark. L. sepiaria is & very common fungus in all parts of Wisconsin, grow- ing chiefly on hemlock, pine, spruce and tamarack. During wet sea- sons the pilei are found growing abundantly out of bridge timbers, planks in sidewalks and sleepers. In the forest the pilei were found on fallen trunks of tamaracks, white and red pine, and spruce. They were more rare on dead standing trunks and were never found on living trees. 14 THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. Since neither the pilei of the fungus nor its characteristic rot was found in living trees, it appears that it is strictly saprophyte attack- ing the wood only after the tree is dead. The effect, however, on. the cells is not much different from that of Fomes pinicola as descibed by Von Schrenck and by Hartig. In general, the pilei seem to grow out of cracks in the wood, and the decay also follows these cracks to some extent. Wherever there is abundant mycelium, and especially in the neighborhood of pilei, the wood is often colored a sepia brown by a coloring matter which ap- pears also to be dissolved out by the rain. This coloring matter is very soluble in ammonium hydrate. Wood containing the mycelium or the coloring matter turns very dark, almost black, when treated with ammonia, as does also the pileus. The wood destroyed by this fungus becomes brown, paler than in the case of the rot produced by Fomes carneus and F. pinicola, but otherwise it looks quite similar. The wood becomes cracked and shrunken. This cracking occurs for the most part transversely and longitudinally, sometimes also radially, forming irregular cubical frag- ments. In advanced stages the wood can be rubbed to a fine powder: with the fingers. The cracking is evidently due to the shrinking, as Hartig suggests, probably because of the removal of moisture and eell- wall substances by the fungus. Nothing definite can be stated about the method and time of infec- tion, nor as to the rapidity of development. It seems certain, how- ever, that infection takes place in the openings that oceur in the wood, such as cracks and holes, and in the porous ends of rough transverse: cuts. In such places the pilei will be found, and in the neighbor- hood the wood shows the effects of the fungus. Bridge timbers that become checked from weathering are always in danger of attack by this fungus. I have never found it on well painted timber, unless it showed cracks or holes. The earliest stages of decay that were studied were found in a piece. of hemlock out of which a pileus one and one-half inches broad, and one inch long was growing through a hole in the bark one-quarter inch deep, made by a bark borer. The wood underneath this pileus for a distance of three inches above and below this hole, and one inch in width, showed stages of decay. To a depth of about one-quarter inch the wood was turning brown but showed white spots and stripes. Underneath this to a depth of nearly three-quarters of an inch the wood had its natural color but was mottled with whiter spots and stripes. These white spots and stripes are in the summer wood, and the darker- - THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. 15. ones in the fall wood, as though the thick-walled cells were more re- sistant. The wood during this stage is comparatively brittle and can be broken into small pieces with the fingers, but cannot be pulverized as in the later stages. Later, all the wood affected turns to a pale brown and is very brittle. The effect on the wood cells is well marked, and similar to the effect produced by Fomes pinicola, Trametes odorata and Fomes carneus. The hyphae appear strong and vigorous, light coloréd and much tangled. They develop chiefly lengthwise through the cells, not pene- trating through many layers of cells. This perhaps is why the decay and the development of mycelium follows the cracks and chinks in the wood, the lines of least resistance. Strong and vigorously growing hyphae usually contain large bluish-green granules, as shown in Fig. 9, which are soluble in alcohol, but are made clearer and somewhat darker with ammonia. ~ Trametes pint (Thore) Fries. Ring Rot. Dry Rot. Looked at from above, the piieus appears hoof-shaped or ungulate, but the lower surface is concave and usually uneven. The base is usually decurrent, and out of it very often several small pilei spring, so that the sporophores thus become imbricated and confluent. The young actively growing portion is of a rich golden brown color, soft and velvety, but soon changes to dull ferruginous and becomes rough, almost strigose. The surface finally becomes black and covered with moss and lichens. The concentric furrows or sulcations are narrow and numerous. The margin is thin and acute; the substance of the pileus hard, of a rich yellowish brown. The pores are small and regu- lar in the younger parts but become larger and more irregular, al- most sinuous, in the older portions. The tubes usually become more or less white-stufted. From the walls of the tubes project numerous large awl-shaped cystidia, which are sometimes one-fifth of the di- ameter of the tube in length and of a deep red-brown color. T. pint was found on tamarack, white pine and hemlock. In Oneida and Vilas counties it was found most abundant on tamarack and white pine, and in Ashland County on hemlock and tamarack. The fruiting bodies were rather rare on white pine but abundant on tamarack. They were found on both living and dead trees. In the ease of hemlock only, were they found on fallen trunks. Although the sporophores were rare on white pine, yet I believe that white pine was abundantly infected—more than any of the others. 16 THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. Many large white pine trunks when cut down show the characteristic rot due to this fungus, but when the trunk is examined minutely one fails to find the fruiting bodies. Occasionally swellings or lumps called ‘‘punk knots’’ by the lumbermen are seen some distance up the trunk on infected trees. When cut open, it is found that these knots are found by the healing over of the ends of broken branches. These old branch stubs are usually very much decayed, and together with a mass of yellowish-brown mycelium, fill the cavity of the knot. In a few instances small sporophores were found growing out of the end of the punk knots. In all instances where pilei were found on white pine, they occurred at places where a branch had been broken off. On hemlock and tamarack the pilei appeared at other places on the trunk as well. This agrees with Von Schrenk’s observations (Bull. 25, page 36). Another striking feature is the fact that no matter how much or how little the trunk is decayed, or over how great an area the infection had spread in the white pine, the sporophores, if found at all, are never very large. They seldom exceed an inch in length and an inch and a half in width. On tamarack, on the other hand, pilei were found measuring five inches long by twelve inches wide, and at- tached by a base at least six inches in thickness, the tubes showing in some cases eight strata. Probably the tamarack is more prolific than the white pine in producing fruit bodies, because its sapwood is less resistant than that of the pine and the growing mycelium easily ‘gets close to the periphery, so that there is only a thin shell through which it must break in order to get to the surface. The question remains why the sapwood of the pine should be more resistant. The main dif- ference between the sapwood and heartwood is the greater abundance of free resin in the former. This free resin seems to be an obstacle to the spread of the fungus, probably because it quite effectively shuts off the supply of air and moisture without which the plant cannot grow. As a matter of fact,there is always more or less resin flowing out of old punk-knots and places where old branches have been broken off and are in the process of healing over. Atkinson mentions that the ‘‘gum running from all the knot-holes’’ is regarded as a sure sign of heart rot. When, then, the mycelium does get to the surface, which usually occurs through the small heart- wood of a dead branch, only a limited amount of growth takes place and the resulting pileus is small. On the other hand, the mycelium easily penetrates the sapwood in the tamarack and the decay extends to the bark. Between the bark and the wood there are somtimes formed cushions of brown mycelium with pore-bearing surfaces, but THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN i7 more often the mycelium pushes through cracks and holes in the bark and forms the numerous fruit bodies so often found. The amount of timber injured or destroyed by this fungus has al- ready been indicated above in speaking of the ‘‘ring rot’’ or ‘‘dry rot’’. Very little of this fungus was found on hemlock and spruce, and none was found on balsam fir. Von Schrenk finds that fir is rarely attacked by it in the New England states. Von Schrenk has already fully described the rot produced by this fungus in tamarack, spruce, and fir, and the results of my observa- tions confirm his account on practically all points. The rot of hemlock seems to differ only slightly from that of tam- arack. The wood fibers, being changed to white cellulose fibers, are not so much absorbed, leaving holes or pits as in tamarack, but retain their shape, size and structure in this altered condition. The change to cellulose takes place on both sides of a ring of growth. The irregu- lar black lines spoken of by Von Schrenk are not so numerous as in the tamarack, but wherever there are cracks or holes in the wood, there is a great deal of the brown incrustation which is soluble in caustic potash or ammonia. The appearance of the rot in white pine is quite different from that in hemlock and tamarack. It is known here by the names of ‘‘ring rot’’ or ‘‘dry rot’’. One tree studied was between one hundred and eighty and two hundred years old, and measured nearly two feet in diameter. It was felled by the loggers about two days before my ob- servations were made. It was found that the rot extended from the ground upward about fifty-one feet through the center of the trunk, making the trunk for nearly fifty feet practically worthless, except for a comparatively thin shell of sapwood. The top of the tree for about sixty feet was practically sound and healthy.. The rot was most widely spread between ten and thirty feet from the ground, and it extended only slightly into two of the larger roots. At about thirty feet from the ground a few small pilei were found growing from the stubs of broken and much decayed branches. Other branches extending into the decayed part of the trunk were not affected. Lumbermen regard this ring rot as one of the commonest and most destructive of the enemies of the white pine. In an area of twenty- five square feet there were three large white pines, averaging at least two feet in diameter, that were at least as badly decayed as the one described above. Infection in the above-deseribed case must have taken place through one of the broken branches which was about one and one-quarter 2 18 THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. inches in diameter. On the knobs so formed the small pilei were found, and these were the only places at which the rot communicated with the surface. No other wound was found. In this region the rot had developed most vigorously, all of the heartwood being affected and here and there places in the sapwood also. From here the rot spread upward and downward. The horizontal spread is peculiar. At the place of infection the mycelium spreads horizontally as well as up and down, but not so rapidly. When this mycelium has succeeded in get- ting a good foothold in a ring of growth or a number of rings, it fol- lows the ring around the tree and at the same time grows up and down in the same ring or rings. This gives the rot the ring form which is so common, and shows that the mycelium spreads more easily tangen- tially and longitudinally. Another white pine twenty-five years old was studied. This tree, to all appearances, seemed to be perfectly sound and healthy. However, at the end of a branch stub one foot above the ground a very small pileus was found, measuring about one- half inch in width and a little less in length. At this place there had been a wound which had healed over pretty well. The tree, which was about forty feet high with a diameter at the base of eight inches, was cut down and split through the center. The characteristic greyish brown decay was found, extending from a few inches under the ground to nearly four feet above the ground. The decayed area was widest about a foot above the ground, where the pileus and the wound were found, being nearly one inch in di- ameter. The tree had been wounded about eighteen years previously, when it was only seven years old. If infection took place at once the fungus was of very slow growth. However, it may have taken place during any of the succeeding eighteen years, there being nothing to show when it did occur. In this case the rot was not distributed in rings, as in the log described above. Only the heartwood in the cen- ter was decayed to a height of nearly four feet. Usually the wood turns to a dull pale brown color, but in this case it was a light grey- brown, lighter than the sound heart wood. The little holes and cavi- ties mentioned by Von Sechrenk for tamarack and spruce were just be- ing formed. The mycelium is quite vigorous in hemlock, but less so in the pine. On the whole, it seems that the growth and spread of the mycelium is much slower in white pine than in any of the other conifers. So that if the trunk of a tree like the big one described above is almost entirely decayed within, it must have taken the greater part of a century to accomplish the work. THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. 19 The rot produced by Trametes pini advances very slowly in white Pine but much more rapidly in tamarack and hemlock. One tam- arack about ninety-five years old, measuring twelve inches in diameter four feet above the ground, had its interior wholly destroyed to a height of nearly fifty feet, except a thin shell underneath the bark about one-half inch in thickness. This, perhaps, accounts for the fact that the pilei are so abundant on tamarack and so rare on white pine. It is very probable that the formation of pilei is dependent not so much on the amount of mycelium produced within the wood as upon its ability to get to the surface. I am of the opinion that this is the case with several other forms. While at Hazelhurst I wounded a birch infected with Fomes nigricans cutting into the wood until the decay was reached. In less than two weeks small pilei were forming on the wound. The same result can be obtained with FP’. fomentarius, Polystictus pergamenus, Fomes applanatus and probably also with Trametes pini. Fomes ungulatus (Schaeff.). This is a large woody fungus. It is possible that at least four forms of it have been described under as many different names: f’. pinicola (Schwartz), F. ungulatus (Schaeff), F. marginatus Fries and F. pini- canadensis Schw. ‘The form most commonly found here agrees best with Fries’ de- scription of Fomes marginatus. This is the large applanate form, often growing to one foot or more in width. The upper surface of this form is hard, rough, concentrically sulcate, and the oldest portion is black. The youngest sulcation is blood red with a creamy white mar- gin. The context is corky or hard, wood-colored and zonate. The tubes are stratified and about one centimeter in length, and of the same color as the context. The young growing margin, as well as the pores, stain reddish or pink when touched or bruised. This fungus is widely distributed, especially through northern Wis- consin, but it has been found as far south as Madison, where one speci- men was found in 1899 growing on hickory. It was found especially abundant in the Star Lake region, where as stated before, about eighty per cent of the fir trees are infected. One fir tree only ten years old and a little more than an inch in diameter, when cut down, was found decayed at the center, from the roots, into which the decay extended for about six or seven inches to about three feet above the ground. This tree was simply cut down at random and bore no marks or signs of infection or wounds above ground. Although there was so much 920 THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. rot in the fir trees produced by F. ungulatus, yet there were few sporophores found on these trees, either living or dead. The most abundant sporophores were found on hemlock, tamarack, and birch; next in order comes white pine and spruce; and lastly red pine. On all of these trees sporophores were found on both living and dead trees. Large pilei were found only on tamarack, birch and hemlock. Those on the other trees were aiways small. The pilei were never found higher than four or five feet from the ground; usually a foot or two above the ground. Frequently there were a half dozen large pilei found at the base of a tamarack or hem- lock. White and red pines are often decayed at the center but do not show any sporophores or other signs of infection or disease on the out- side. Sometimes the pilei do not form on the trunks until they are prostrate. In that case they usually grow out near the place where the trunk broke. The decay produced by F’. ungulatus differs from any of the others so far described, in that it is not distinctively either a heart rot or a rot of the sapwood, but may destroy either or both; in fact, it ulti- mately does in most cases destroy both, no matter in which region it starts. This, however, is true in a lesser degree of the firs. There is nearly, always a shell of sound sapwood of greater or lesser thickness in them, although the whole interior may be changed to a brittle brown substance. In tamaracks, the fungus apparently spreads with as much ease in the sapwood as in the heartwood. Wood that is destroyed by this fungus turns to a light brown, lighter than that produced by Lenzites sepiarta or Fomes carneus. It is light, dry, and extremely brittle, often collapsing at a touch. It is much cracked in all directions, as if dried suddenly. Sheets of white leathery mycelium spread through the cracks in every direction, es- pecially in the cracks between the rings of growth. The brown decayed wood turns red when treated with phloro- glucin in presence of hydrochloric acid, from which it appears that the lignin has not been reduced. In the earlier stages of decay there is some cellulose still present, as can be shown by staining with zinc chloriodide. On the road to Razorback Lake, near Star Lake, a tamarack tree fifty-seven years old, and about ten inches in diameter near the ground, was found infected with Fomes ungulatus. On one side was a large wound produced by the falling of a white pine not more than twelve years previously. This wound was nine inches wide at the base and extended upward for about four feet. Out of the wound and out of the bark beside it five small pilei of the fungus were growing. The THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. 21 tree was felled and sections were cut out. Rot like the above de- scribed was found extending from the base to about eight feet upward. At a height of about seven feet only a few ‘‘strands’’ of decay were found between the heartwood and the sapwood on the side of the tree which was wounded. The center and the rest of the tree here were sound and normal. Four feet above ground the rot had extended over half way around the center, which was still quite sound here, but in the sapwood it reached the surface, where little knots of white mycelium indicated the beginning of pilei. About one foot above the ground the entire heartwood and most of the sapwood, ex- cept that on the side opposite the wound, were reduced to the brittle brown condition. On the side opposite the wound, the tree was sup- ported by a shell of sound living sapwood, about one inch in thickness and nine inches in width. Numerous small pilei were growing out of the wound at this height. The roots were sound also, except one or two of the largest ones into which the rot extended for several inches. The top of the tree was green but had a sickly appearance. Some of the lower branches were dead and others were losing their needles. The growth of the year of the twigs and tips was less than that on other trees near by, as though the tree was lacking in strength and nourishment. It was plain that even if the tree escaped the storms, it would be dead in a few years. From the evidence in this case we may conclude that: First :—Infection may take place in wounds, and the decay is greatest in the region of infection, if the wounds are near the base. This was shown by the fact that near the base where the wound was Jargest, there was the most rot. At that point the mycelium first pene- trated and hence had had a longer time to produce its effect. Here also were most of the pilei. Second :—The spread is upward, radially and tangentially, and downward. The spread directly upward is very much more rapid than in any other direction, and downward it is least rapid. The spread is more rapid tangentially than radially, following the rings: of growth. It spreads to the center only when most of the rings in: which it is found are used up. This is evident from the section at a. place four feet above the ground, where the sound center was nearly; surrounded. Third:—The decay spreads only very slowly into the roots of the tree. Fourth:—The spread and reduction of wood is quite rapid, as all of this rotting must have been completed within a period of twelve years. 922 THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. Fifth :— Quite a little mycelium must form before pilci are produced, as none of the pilei were more than three years old. Other similar examples were found but none so striking as the one described. The place of entrance in the pines and fir trees is not al- Ways easy to determine. One small fir was cut down and examined. It was forty-five years old and three inches in diameter. In the stump, one inch under the ground, was a wound about an inch in di- ameter. From this place the rot extended upward into the trunk apout three and one-half feet, through the center and a few inches into four of the larger roots. No pilei had as yet been formed, as the rot had not reached the surfae2 at any place except near the wound, and that was under ground. However, the rot was unmistakably that of F. ungulatus. In several red and white pines the small pilei were growing through holes in the bark, and it is possible that infection took place here. The carbonization of the wood by this fungus is quite complete. In the advanced stage it does not burn with a flame but smoulders like charcoal, giving off a comparatively small amount of smoke. The transition from decay to healthy wood is remarkably abrupt, there being apparently no intermediate stage between the decayed and the sound wood. One ring of growth may be healthy and vigorous, and the next one to it may be entirely broken down. In small areas here and there, traces of cellulose may be found. In these spots the secondary lamellae do not have ‘the spiral cracks found in the other parts. In most of this tissue no cellulose reaction can be found. It all stains bright red with phloroglucin, even when in the jast stages of decay. The secondary lamellae crack spirally, and finally the middle lamella also becomes brittle, so that the whole wood structure can be easily rubbed into a fine powder with the fingers. In many cells there are numerous boles through which hyphae pass. There seems to be little absorption of the wood after change, and no cavities appear as in the ring rot. However, the medullary cells show some absorption. This may account for the radial cracks in which the mycelium grows, as suggested by Von Schrenk. THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. 23 Polyporaceae. Fleshy, leathery or woody fungi, the carpophore variously shaped or wanting. Hymenophore typically porose and on the underside of the pileus. Pores rounded or angular sometimes sinuous or lacerate. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14, 15. The following key to the genera is based on that of Fries. KEy To THE GENERA, Fructification consisting of tubules only, the receptacle entirely wanting; tubules gregarious on substratum, at first elosed...... Solenia Hoffm. Pileus expanded, membranaceous; tubules at first papilliform, becoming ClON EACH sri roster tee RaR ose Bae gee aed ohne dees Porothelium. . Pileus effused, membranaceous, pores mere pits formed by reticulating POUDS sass essai ates runceieetesecay dao cord ove o wueke erie a edeesgaceio eile as Merulius Hall. Tubes in a gelatinous layer distinct from the pileus; dimidiate or effuso- TeElexed s: oevsasaeans sanndcs Gutsy wad ee Anca ce aco Sale eed Gleoporus Mont. Pileus semi-stipitate, pores alveolar, arranged in radiating series from the BUDS: oi sees esiwdinn als ahaa ehs.o 3 oes Gave oeeal oe ters eas Favolus Fries. Pileus dimidiate, coriaceous; pores sinuous, labyrinthine. Daedalea Pers. Pileus usually woody or corky; tubules unequally sunk into the substance of the pileus, round, or elongate, entire............... Trametes Fries. Pileus wholly resupinate; sometimes obsolete................. Poria Pers. Tubules at first punctiform, developed from the center outwardly; hy- Mmenophore coriaceous, or Membranaceous........... Polystictus Fries. Stratum of tubes distinct from hymenophore, but not separable; usually stratose, woody, sessile, dimidiate...................... Fomes Fries. Stratum of tubes distinct from hymenophore, but not separable, not stra- tose; flesh, tough, stipitate or sessile................ Polyporus Michx. Stem lateral or wanting; tubes distinct from each other but crowded to- gether at first resembling warts............+.....eeeee Fistulina Bull. Tubules not easily separating from the pileus nor from each other, formed by numrous radiating broader lamellae everywhere connected by nar- rower anastomosing plates. ........... cece eee eaee Boletinus Kalchb. Tubules longer, with difficulty separating from the pileus; not radiate. 4G ovatend, ewes Sas dS A Saye Seton t eecere aioe se tid daslaee Strobilomyces Berk. Tubules long, easily separable from the pileus and from each other. SSeS alae aes arias bas ge Gy ck metas ad ee a ettge cent ase Wheat ates Boletus Dill. 24. THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. Description of Species. 1. SOLENIA Hofftm. Plants belonging to this genus are without a pileus. They are sim- ply a collection cf tubules united at their base by a few loose mycelial hyphae. Massee, Hennings and others have placed the genus near Cyphella under the Thelephoraceae. Fries was the first to put it with the Polyporaceae on’ the assumption that in Solenia ‘‘only the layer of pores is present without a real fruit body.’’ Solenia anomala (Pers) Fries. (Plate I, fig. 1). Tubules usually crowded, short-stiped, pyriform, regular, pilose, yellowish to ferruginous; margin of the tubes usually incurved. In- ner surface of the tubes whitish; spores egg-shaped, hyalin, 4 x 6 mi- erons. Found at Ladysmith and at Madison on the bark of fallen oak twigs, on the bark of fallen alder twigs near Mud Lake near Crandon, For- est County, and on alder twigs near Bangor, La Crosse County. The patches measure from 2 to 10 cm. in length and from 0.5 to 2 em. in width. The tubules measure from 1mm. to 2mm. in height and from .5 to 1 mm. in diameter. The spores measure 2 by 7 microns. They are rod-like and slightly curved. The basidia which line the tubes are whitish, closely packed long and narrow, measuring 20 mi- crons in length, and from 2 to 3 microns in diameter. Following are the characteristics upon which identification is based: Color: Golden brown to dull ferruginous. Pileus: None. Tubes: Small, crowded, pyriform, mouths usually closed, but open on being moistened. Habitat: Encrasting fallen twigs. Syn. Cyphella fasciculata (Schw.) B. & C. Solenia villosa Fries (Systema, II, p. 200). Tubules nearly cup-shaped when young, later cylindrical, growing in groups, clearly pilose, whitish. Growing on decayed wood. Apparently rare. One specimen was found near Madison, and one near Mud Lake near Crandon. The tubules in this species are not crowded as those in the preceding one, nor are they as large. They THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. 25, do not form distinct patches but are more or less scattered in little groups. The tubes are often nearly spherical. They measure about 1mm. in height, and from .5 mm. to .75 mm. in diameter. They are very delicate and brittle. This species is probably often passed by, be- ing mistaken for a slime-mould. Following are the distinctive characteristics: Color: White 10 grayish white. Pileus: None or consisting of a few whitish delicate floccose my- celial strands joining the small groups of tubes. Tubes: Small, slightly gregarious, spherical to cylindrical, pilose,, whitish; on decayed wood. 2. POROTHELIUM. Porothelium fimbriatum (Pers.) Fries (Plate I, fig. 2). Wide spreading, (or effused) membranaceous, thin, white, margin fimbriate or ragged, tubes crowded in the center, confluent, becoming more scattered toward the margin, superficial. Specimens were found at Blue Mounds, Bangor, on an old stump near Hazelhurst, Star Lake, and Crandon on pine stumps and -logs. The longest specimen is 15cm. in length and about 4cm. in width. The substance is white, very thin and paper-like. The margin is thin and ragged. The pores start in little papillae or wart-like structures which finally become depressed in the center into tubes and thus ulti- mately form pores. Very young specimens do not have pores and are thus often overlooked. 3. MERULIUS Hall. This genus is characterized by the loose, soft, mucedineous consist- ency of the resupinate or reflexed pileus; the wax-like or subgelatinous hymenium; the enastomosing folds forming the shallow, irregular and often sinuous pores. 296 THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. §1. ContopHori. Hymenium powdered with the rust-brown spores. Merulius lacrymans (Wulf). Pileus widely effused, often .3 to .8 meters in extent, of membran- aceous, or spongy-fleshy or leathery consistence, ochre-yellow or fer- ruginous with white tomentose border. Pores large, unequal, gyrose meshes; orange-yellow, becoming cinnamon-brown from the spores. Spores egg shaped, one sided, intensely yellow-brown, 10 microns by 6 microns. On decaying wood, especially timbers in damp buildings and cel- lars. Massee (17, p. 186) says that it grows ‘‘On trunks, worked wood, carpets, etc., the patches varying from 2 to 3 inches to a foot and more in diameter, 14 inch or more, thick at times. Very variable, but dis- tinguished by the slightly gelatinous substance, irregularly rugulose hymenium, and bright rusty orange spores. Exuding drops of water when growing.’’ This is the so called ‘‘Dry rot’’ or ‘‘Hausschwamm’’ of Europe. Winter (28, p. 395) calls it the ‘‘foe of the homes, whose woodwork it destroys’’. According to the same author the folds usually lengthen in old age into teeth, giving rise to the following names: Boletus ob- liquus Bolton; Sistotrema cellare, Persoon; and Wallroth’s Boletus hydnotideus. Localities: Madison, Bangor. Some specimens were found in the woods in the fall of 1903 growing on a charred stump, and some small Bpecimens were found growing on the ground in a lumberyard, under the lumber and on pieces of lumber lying on the ground. The specimens are all very irregular and thin and show well the long strands or threads of white mycelium which run through the wood. The margin is white, soft tomentose, not at all reflexed. The hymenium begins about 4 mm. from the margin in very shallow pores of a rusty yellow color. Toward the center the pores are much larger and deeper, becoming almost brown. The folds are sometimes toothed. Syn.: Xylomyzon destruens Pers. ; 23, vol. 2, p. 27. THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. 27 §2. Leprospori. Hymenium naked or lightly powdered with the white spores. Merulius aureus Fr. Hffuse, thin, membranaceous, adherent, golden-yellow, margin thin, villous, of the same color; hymenium plicate-porose, gyrose; spores globose or subglobose, yellowish, § microns in diameter. Several well developed specimens were found at Bangor which were identified by Bresadola as belonging to this species. It may well be more abundant in the state than this would indicate. Merulius corium (Pers.) Fries (Plate I, fig. 3). Resupinate effused, soft, sub-papyraceous at length reflexed with the margin free, villose, beneath white. Hymenium reticulate-porose fiesh-colored becoming paler; spores oblong-lanceolate, hyaline 10 x 3 microns. Macbride (15, p. 4) says that this species when fresh is noticeable for its delicate tints and soft velvcly snow white margin. Massee says it is very variable, but known by its white, silky pileus and the reticu- lato-porose, ochraceous hymeniun.. This species seems to be rare in Wisconsin. Our only specimens were collected at Bangor, LaCrosse Co., in October, 1905. The speci- mens grew on the under side of an alder branch lying on the ground. The stick was covered for a distance of about 30 em., the fungus aver- aging in width about 2.25 cm., and .5 mm. in thickness when dry. The pileus is reflexed about 5mm. The pileus and margin are white or whitish, but. the hymenium is pale ochraceous with more or less of a rosy tinge. On drying the rosy tinge disappears, leaving it a pale straw color. When fresh the substance is soft and waxy, but on drying it be- comes brittle and papyraceous. The pores are very shallow near the margin but are deeper in the center. They seem to be arranged more or less in concentric circles, around rather definite centers. ‘'his characteristic is shown quite well in the figure. This species seems to be closely related to M. aurantiacus Klotsch., differing only in the paler color of the hymenium, the less reflexed pileus and the thinner substance. Identification is based on the following characteristics: Color: Whitish pileus and pale ochraceous hymenium tinged with Tose. 28 THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. Substance: Thin, waxy, becoming brittle when dry. Pores: Small, very shallow, irregular giving the appearance of be- ing arranged in concentric circles around various centers. Merulius aurantiacus Klotzsch (Plate I, fig. 4). Effuso-reflexed 2.5 to 4 em. across, subcoriaceous, tough, dingy white, yellowish or gray, coarsely tomentose, indistinctly zoned; hymenium minutely rugulose, somewhat porose, orange. ‘*Pileus 2.5 em. broad; zones obsolete, hirsuto-tomentose. Nearly allied to M. corium.’’ Berk. Only two specimens were found on a fallen oak branch in Parfrey’s Glen. The largest specimen covered the stick for about 18cm. The pileus was reflexed to a width of oue centimeter at its widest part. The surface is nearly white without any suggestion of yellow—verging perhaps more toward a grayish-white. The margin becoming in- curved on drying, is smooth or somewhat wavy and not at all denticu- late or radiate as in M. tremellosus. The tomentum on the pileus is dense and coarse. It is well described by Berkeley (17, p. 190) when he calls it ‘‘hirsuto-tomentose’’. The zones on the pileus form quite conspicuous concentric ridges. The hymenium is of a reddisu-orange verging toward ochraceous. The substance seems to be leathery and tough. The pores are very shallow, small and irregular. The hymenium appears to be thrown into circular ridges around slightly raised centers which make it seem as though the pores are arranged in concentrie circles around these centers. This character- istic is more striking in this species than in the following. M. aurantiacus is closely relatzd to M. tremellosus and M. corium. From the former it is distinguished by its tougher substance, small pores, darker colored hymenium and smooth margin. From the latter it differs in its thicker substance, darker colored hymenium, more re- flexed pileus and the coarser tomentum. Merulius tremellosus Schrader. Resupinate; margin becoming free and more or less reflexed, usu-- ally radiato-dentate, gelatinoso-cartilaginous; hymenium variously ru- gose and porose, whitish and subtranslucent, becoming tinged with brown in the center; spores cylindrical, 4 by 1 micron. THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. 29 On wood. From 2.5 to 7.5 em. across remaining pale when growing in the shade. Margin sometimes tinged with rose, radiating when well developed. Common in Wisconsin on the underside of old logs, and charred stumps. Specimens were found near Madison, Blue Mounds, Hori- eon, Dodge County, Hazelhurst, Oneida County, Crandon, Forest County, Sparta, Monroe County, Bangor, La Crosse County, and Mil- waukee, The pileus of the older specimens usually becomes more or less re- flexed especially if they grow on the side of-a log. The pileus is then snow-white above, except at the margin covered with a soft tomentum when dry. The margin is thin, fimbriate, toothed or radiate, red, turn- ing reddish-brown. The underside is made up of shallow irregular pores formed by the anastomosing folds of the subgelatinous red to reddish-brown hymenium. The pores are usually arranged radially. When dry the substance is quite leathery or more brittle in old specimens. Young specimens are quite thin—often 0.5mm. to 1mm. in thickness. These are quite gelatinous, subtranslucent, more or less orbicular; the margin very thin, soon becoming free and more or less reflexed. The hymenial layer appears to consist of fine filaments, embedded in a gelatinous substance, not much interwoven but running more or less parallel with each other, bending downwards into the folds which form the pores. The filaments seem to enter the hymenium from the pileus in strands or bundles. In this respect it differs from Gleoporus conchoides, the young of which it resembles somewhat in appearance and consistency. In the latter the pileus passes more gradually into the denser hymenium which, however, is also made up of more or less parallel fibres embedded in a jelly-like substance when young. Mature specimens of G. conchoides are of course at once distinguishable by the minute, elongated, round tubes. M. rubellus, a near relative, is never resupinate but always sessile, more tenacious, less tomentose. The larger specimens found measured from 4 to 8 em. in width, re- flexed to about 4cm. The pileus is about 3 to 4mm. thick, the pores scarcely 0.5mm. in depth. Following are the distinctive characteristics: Color: White above when reflexed; pale rose, red or reddish-brown underneath. Hymenium: Gelatinous or waxy, soft, translucent when young. Pores: Irregular shallow, made by the folds of the hymenium. Syn. Xylomyzon tremellosum Pers.; 23, 2, p. 30. \ 80 THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. 4, GLOEOPORUS Mont. Pileus with a coriaceous, floccoso-cellulose context, usually white. The distinctive characteristic is the tremelline-gelatinous hymenium with its at first punctiform impressions and which contracts on drying.. Gloeoporus conchoides Mont. (Plate I, fig. 5). Conchiform, pileus coriaceous, thin, pliant, dimidiate, sessile, convex, unequal, velutinous then somewhat glabrate, tawny, margin acute; pores flesh-colored, white when wet, round, minute, superficial, gelat- inous. ‘*Pileus varies from white to tawny; from dimidiate to resupinate. Appeared to Berkeley and Cooke to be a form of P. nigropurpurascens Schw. or P. dichrous Fr.’’ (Sac., 26, vol. 6, p. 403). / This species seems to be quite common on decayed poplar logs, run- ning lengthwise and laterally confluent, like P. adustus, and may cover the whole side of the log. It grows in late summer and fall, even after frost has come. When young the hymenium is markedly gelatinous. This charac- ter, however, is entirely lost when cld. The pores become brown elon- gated tubes, sometimes 1 cm. in length. The pilei are either dimidiate and sessile or strongly reflexed; cor- jaceous, thin with a thick base; very convex above and concave below— and hence said to be conchiform. The margin is acute, uneven and usually lighter when growing. The pores are at first small, roundish, shallow, unequal, apparently formed by folds of the hymenium. When moist and growing, the hymenium is white-primrose; otherwise it is of a dark-brownish purple near the base becoming lighter toward the margin where it may be almost orange, especially in growing specimens. Old specimens of both G. conchoides and Merulius tremellosus were found at Elkhorn and carefully compared. From some specimens the hymenium had rotted or been eaten away. On the underside of the pileus of Merulius tremellosus were found reddish radiating fibres, probably the bundles of mycelial hyphae which go to form the hy- menium as mentioned above. Under the grayish weathered pilei of Gloeoporus conchoides these red fibres are not found. The underside is smooth, gray to grayish white. G. candidus Speg. is closely related. It is thinner and the hy- menium is very much lighter in color. It may be only a variety of G. conchoirdes. THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. BL The species may be recognized by the soft, white conchate pilei and the thin gelatinous, partly separable hymenial layer. Specimens have been found near Madison, Elkhorn, Bangor, Shana- golden and Star Lake. 5, FAVOLUS Fries. Hymenium reticulate-cellular to alveolate. Alveoli formed from densely anastomosing lamellae, radiating from the point of attachment. Spores white. Fungi dimidiate, substipitate, fleshy tough, annual. This genus differs from others in the form of its pores produced by the anastomosing lamellae. Favolus europaeus Fries, (Plate I, fig. 6). Pileus fleshy, soft, thin, orbicular, smooth, white; stipe short, lat- eral; alveoli deep, reticulate, subrotund; spores 12 x 4 microns. Macbride (15, p. 6) says among other things that ‘‘they are not exactly in concord with the above description. Our specimens are yellow or orange above, white below and while not scaly above, yet might be described as appressed-squamose or fibrillose, and in these respects conform to descriptions of F’. boucheanus Kl. The latter again seems not to differ from I’. canadensis of the same author’’. Specimens found in Wisconsin vary in color. Young and grow- ing specimens are usually of a pale tan color. Sometimes the color is of a deeper brownish but scarcely orange. Old bleached specimens are white. The color of the hymenium is usually the same as that of the pileus. The fibrillose scales are not always present. The form of attachment may be sessile, lateral stiped or rosetted, and occasion- ally excentrically stiped. The stipe when present is, however, always very short. F.. europaeus is one of our most common types of polypores, having been collected in every county visited so far. The most favorite sub- stratum is a hard wood stick lying on the ground—especially oak and hickory branches. The largest specimen measured is 10 cm. broad and 8em. long. The pileus is only a few mm. thick, while the pores are about 4-5 mm. deep. The largest pores measured were about 3mm. long and 2 mm. wide. In size however they vary very much in the different specimens. Sometimes there is more or less of a depression at the point where the stipe is attached. 32 THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. When moist or growing the pileus is leathery tough and flexible and it dries very hard and becomes brittle. The species may be recognized by the smooth, leathery pale-tan pileus with the large angular or alveolar pores. Syn.: Hexagona alveolaris (D. C.) Murrill, 19, vol. 31, p. 327. Favolus rhipidium Berkeley (Plate I, fig. 7). Pileus coriaceous, reniform, concentrically sulcate, alutaceous or white, cuticle seceding in small furfuraceous areoles; stipe lateral, short, tapering downward, primrose, becoming yellow when dry; pores small, white, angular, denticulate. This species resembles Panus stipticus so much that doubtless it is often passed by collectors of polypores. Like that species, it grows in small densely cespitose tufts, the pilei being of about the same size and color as those of P. stipticus. FEiven the stipe is of about the same shape and size. The pilei are nearly always reniform, smooth and leathery in sub- stance, alutaceous when growing, pale tan when dry. The stipe is short, curved, lateral and tapers downward, of the same color as the pileus. The pores are small and have the alveolar shape characteris- tic of the genus. Specimens when fresh or moist measure from 1.5em. to 2.5 em. broad, and from lem. to 2 em. long, 3mm. thick; the stipe from 1 to 1.5 em. long and 2 to 31mm. thick. When dry, the pores are scarcely visible. A few specimens were fvund on much decayed oak wood by Mr. B. O. Dodge in Juneau County, and a few specimens were found near Blue Mounds. Favolus Curtisii Berkeley. Pileus orbicular, umbilicate, thin; margin ciliate; stipe central, thickening downward setulose; pores oblong, medium. Carolina, Curtis. ‘‘Pileus 18mm. broad, pellucid; stipe 2.5 cm. high, 8mm. thick at the base; 1.5mm. at the top. Pores roundish 0.5 mm. broad. Similar to Polyporus arcularius, but more delicate’’. Sac., vol VI, p. 391. Several specimens of this apparently rare species were found in August 1902, near Oakfield, Fond du Lae County, growing from twigs under the leaves on the western slope of a limestone ridge. They agree very well with Berkeley’s description and thus are easily iden- tified. THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. 33 The largest specimen measures about 2.5 em. in diameter; the sub- stance of the pileus is scarcely 9.5 mm. thick and is translucent when moist. The color is somewhat brighter than that of F. europaeus. The pores are deep and alveolar as those of F. europaeus but not so large, a little darker in color than the pileus. The stipe is attached centrally. It varies in length from 2 to 3¢m., averaging about 3mm. in diameter. It tapers upward end is covered with brownish furfur- aceous scales. When dry the plant is hard and brittle. The distinguishing characteristics are the thin, circular, umbilicate pileus, the favoloid pores and the slender central stem. From Polyporus arcularius, which it strongly resembles, it may be distinguished by its lighter color and its delicacy. Syn.: Polyporus arculariellus Murrill, 19, 31, p. 36. 6. DAEDALEA Persoon. The genus is readily recognized in most cases by its sinuous and labyrinthine pores. When young the pores are firm and roundish but soon break down into teeth or lamellae, usually woody and herd. Daedalea unicolor (Bull.) Fries. Pileus leathery, tough, flexible, villous-strigose, ashy zonate, the zones concolorous; pores labyrinthine, flexuous, acute, at length lacer- ate, dentate; lamellae white; sometimes yellowish. This is the commonest representative of the genus and is found in all parts of the state. The species is very variable and occurs on different hosts. It is most often found on old and partly decayed logs and stumps of deciduous trees, but chiefly on poplar, willow, and maple. Occasionally specimens are found: on living maple and wil- low trees, growing out of the wounds. The wood on which the speci- mens grow becomes white and brittle. But whether the trees are killed by the plant I cannot state. The pileus is usually soft leathery, hirsute and concentrically sul- cate, resembling Polystictus hirsutus when seen from above. Some- times the pubescence is wanting, especially on specimens growing on living maple and willow. The margin is usually rounded. -The color of freshly growing specimens is normally yellowish-white or aluta- ceous. Specimens growing on maple trunks and willow are grayish- white. Older specimens become grayish or grayish-black. Old spe- 3 34 THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. cimens often become greenish. This is due to an abundant growth of an alga. The hymenium also varies in color from white through ashy-gray- to tawny and almost rusty-brown. ; The tubes are short, very sinuous with toothed dissepiments which soon become torn into teeth. In form the pilei may be resupinate, reflexed, sessile, -imbricated or laterally confluent. Old specimens become black, hard and less hir- sute. The distinguishing characteristics are the leathery, velvety-hirsute, sulcate pileus, and the whitish to grayish shallow sinuous pores which become cut into teeth. Syn.: Boletus unicolor Bulliard ; 7, vol. I. p. 365-501, fig. 3. Cerena unicolor (Bull.) Murrill, 15, vol. 32, p. 97. Daedalea confragosa. (Bolt.) Persoon (Plate ITI, fig. 12). Pileus sessile, somewhat imbricated, slightly convex, of corky- leathery, almost woody consistence, rough, reddish-brown with indis- tinet concolorous zones, wood colored within, becoming brown; pores narrow, labyrinthine, torn, at first gray-pruinose, later reddish-brown. The pilei are either plane pale above or slightly convex, and always convex beneath. The surface is usually rough-scabrous, or concentric- ally corrugated. The color varies from gray to reddish brown. The margin is acute, and even. The pores are at first trametoid, white, then they become darker and more sinuous, finally in old specimens they break down into thin fus- cous lamellae. If horizontal sections be eut through even the most lenzitoid specimens, the top of the hymenium will still be seen to be daedalioid, showing that this breaking down into lamellae is only su- perficial. A series of pores, from the trametoid type to the lenzitoid form is shown in figures 12 b to g. The top of the pileus is shown in figure a. Sometimes the surface of the pileus becomes roughened toward the base, while toward the margin it is marked by narrow regular con- centric suleations which in turn are crossed by slight radial rugae. In a few specimens the margin is wavy and lobed. Peck (22,30 p.71) says that D. confragosa, Trametes rubescens, Lenzites Cooket, L. crataegi, L.-proxima and possibly L. Klotzeschit are one species. Prof. Macbride also includes Lenzites corrugata and L. bicolor with Daedalea confragosa. THE. POLYPCRACEAE OF WISCONSIN. 35 The species is very common in the southern, eastern and western parts of the state. Specimens were also found in Oneida, Forest and Ashland Counties. The species grows most abundantly on dead wil- low, but is also found on living willow, dead oak and poplar. The upper surface of the pilei is always nicely horizontal no matter in what posi- tion the wood is on which they grow. Sometimes they are clustered but usually each plant grows separately. The largest specimen found measures about 14cm. in width, 8 cm. in length and nearly 3em. thick behind. Most specimens, however, are smaller. The hymenivm of a growing specimen turns to a dull brick-red when wounded or bruised. Syn.: Daedalea confragosa (Bolt.) Fries, 3, plate 160. Boletus labyrinthiformis Bulliard ; 7, plate 491, fig. 1. Agaricus confragosus (Bolt.) Murrill; 19, vol. 32, p. 86. Daedalea albida Fries; Obs., I, p. 107. Pileus corky to leathery, smooth, flat, zoneless, milk-white, with delicate tomentum appressed silky smooth, pores entire and of the same color. Very well developed specimens of this fungus were found at Cran- don and were identified by Bresadola, who puts them here rather than in the genus Lenzites. These specimens are certainly typically daeda- . lioid. Daedalea obtusa (Berkeley) (Plate II, fig. 11). ; Pileus thin, pulvinate, fleshy, spongy, soft, tomentose, white; mar- gin obtuse; pores unequal, wide, irregular, subgyrose, becoming brown when dry. This species was placed under the genus Polyporus by Berkeley but is here placed with Daedalea because of the large labyrinthine pores and because the substance of the pileus passes unchanged into the trama. Peck, to whom a few specimens were sent, writes :—‘‘It seems to me a better Daedalea or Trametes than Polyporus.’’ Maebride (15, p. 22) says: ‘‘Perhaps no one at first sight would consider a specimen a Polyporus at all; it looks more like a Daedalea perhaps. The pores are very large, irregular, almost labyrinthine and very long—————--_ Furthermore the hymenophore descends. 36 THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. as a trama between the pores in such a fashion as to suggest a Trametes and the context is delicately zoned.’’ This is one of our handsomest and most showy polypores. It is easily recognized by its massive structure, very obtuse margin; straw-yellow, tomentose or rough velvety surface; very large sinuous pores which sometimes reach a length of from 3 to 3.5 em. The substance is corky- fibrous. Part of these fibres pass down into the trama, and part up- ward into the pubescence. I have seen none that are glabrate. When old and weathered the pileus cracks and forms bunches of stiff hairs which become gray or blackish. The flesh is pale alutaceous as are also the pores. The latter become darker on drying. Specimens vary much in size. My largest specimen measures about 24 em. in width and 15 em. in length. The flesh of the pileus is 4 em. in thickness and the tubes vary from 3 to nearly 4 em. in length. The figure shows part of the hymenium of a specimen enlarged and is a good representation of the labyrinthine pores. The specimens are usually sessile dimidiate or crescent-shaped, grow- ing backward so that they seem to clasp the tree upon which they grow. Two specimens were collected by Mr. F. E. McKenna in Iowa County. These are orbicular, growing from the underside of a fence rail. The pores are closed or stuffed in these. This is a common con- dition in younger specimens. Quite common on dead or living black oak and hickory trees. Speci- mens have been collected in Dane, Walworth, Iowa, Monroe, LaCrosse, and Chippewa Counties. Berkeley describes the species as ‘‘thin,’’ but our specimens never appear so; they are always thick. The long tubes and the incurved margin make the species thick pulvinate and obtuse. Syn. Polyporus obtusus (Berk) ; 26, vol. VI, p. 184; 15, p. 22. Trametes unicolor (Schw.) Murrill; 19, vol. 32, p. 638. Polyporus unicolor Schweinitz; 26, vol. VI, p. 131. 7 7. TRAMETES Fries. Fries deseribes the genus as follows: Pores subrotund, obtuse, en- tire, usually of equal depth not forming a heterogeneous stratum, ap- pearing as if sunk into the flesh of the pileus; the trama continuous with the flesh of the pileus and similar to it. From woody to suberose, hard, not stratose, commonly scented. The most prominent characteristics of this genus are the lignatile pileus, the pores, with obtuse dissepiments, which are usually subro- THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. 37 tund or lengthened radially; tubes of unequal length with the trama of the same substance as the pileus. The dissepiments are seldom toothed or torn. §1. Context white or whitish. Trametes sepium Berkeley. Pilei effused, at base reflexed, often laterally confluent, finely tom- entose, successively zonate, pale wood color, leathery, sometimes when young three cornered, substance white; pores slightly sinuous, about 5/6 mm. in diameter. Found in North and South Carolina on oak, pine, and cypress; in Alabama on laurel and sassafras; in Connecticut, Ohio and New Jersey on oak. (26, VI, p. 342.) This small, large pored Trametes is quite common on oak fence posts, fence rails and on oak trunks. It has been found at Elkhorn, Horicon, Madison, Bangor, Sparta, Crandon and Oakfield. The larg- est specimen was 3 em. broad, 1 cm. long; flesh of the pileus 2—4 mm. thick, tubes from 4—-8 mm. in length. The pilei are white, pulvinate, leathery, more or less imbricated, con- fluent, margin acute, infiexed and finely tomentose when young. The pores are large, angular or sinuate, sometimes decurrent upon the soft white tomentose mycelium below. In some specimens the pores are nearly alveolar or hexagonal, reminding one of Favolus. The color of the pores varies from white, to straw-yellow and yellowish brown. Sometimes the pores become torn into lamellae and teeth. The zones are not very apparent on young specimens but are more so on mature ones, on which also slight concentric sulcations some- times appear. The tomentose pubescence disappears with age and weathering. This species is closely related to Trametes serialis Fries, and Tram- etes serpens Fries. It is, however, less resupinate and has larger pores than either of these species. Syn. Daedalea sepium Rav.; Fung. Car., fase. I, no. 21. Coriolellus sepium (Berk.) Murrill; 19, vol. 32, p. 481. Trametes serialis Fries (Plate ITI, fig. 13). Pilei laterally confluent, effuso-reflexed, corky-coriaceous, yellowish to straw color, with obtuse margin. Pores small, white, unequal, in the reflexed part roundish, in the effused part irregular, oblique, toothed. 388 THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. On the wood of conifers. Pilei.1—11% em. broad, confluent length- wise for 14 meter. Not common; a few specimens were found on a fallen alder trunk at Bangor, and a few near Stone Lake, Forest County, on an old pine log. The largest specimen, made up of a number of confluent pilei, was effused for about 15 em. in length, and 5 em. in breadth, the re- flexed margin bent back not more than 114 em. The color is a peculiar reddish-yellow, ‘‘scherben farbig’’ or tile color, and is more or less persistent. Young specimens are orbicular and entirely resupinate. The pores being longer and larger in the center, become smaller and shorter toward the margin. On the whole, the pores can be called large, ir- regular and unequal. In older resupinate forms they are often sin- uous or labyrinthine, and often become split into teeth. The chief characteristics of this species are the tile-colored, conflu- ent pilei and the large, irregular toothed pores. Trametes suaveolens (L.) Winter (Plate II, fig. 9). Pileus thick, pulvinate, 5—12 em. broad, fleshy-corky, tomentose, azonate; white, with strong anise odor; pores large, roundish, at first white becoming brownish, dissepiments obtuse. Spores oval, colorless, 9 microns long and 4 to 5 microns thick. On willow trunks. This large showy Trametes is not very common. Some specimens were found at Bangor growing from the dead and decayed parts of living willows and from willow stumps. Two large reflexed specimens and one resupinate specimen were found near Crandon, Forest County, on a fallen fir, and a small specimen at Devils Lake. The pores in these specimens were somewhat smaller with thinner dissepiments than in the specimens from willows. , The pilei are pure white, soft corky, somewhat uneven, finely tomen- tose; margin blunt, flesh pure white, smelling strongly like anise, the odor being more or less persistent. The pores are large roundish, at first shallow then lengthening. The mouths of the pores are at first snow-white but darken to smoke color later. The largest specimen found, measured 10 em. in breadth, 7 em. in length and 1.5 em. in thickness, with tubes nearly 1 em. in length. The specimens found near Crandon were thicker in proportion to their length and width. Easily recognized by the soft white corky substance, the large dark- ening pores and the strong persistent anise odor. THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. 39 Trametes gibbosa (Pers.) Fr. (Plate I. fig. 8.) Pileus sessile, with gibbous base, 8 to 15 cm. broad, corky, elas- tic, strigose, obsoletely zonate, whitish, becoming gray with age. Pores linear, short, and narrow, usually straight, sometimes slightly sinuous. Odorless. On trunks of various trees. Only a few specimens were found growing from the decayed side of a living apple tree in Horicon, July, 1905. The largest specimen measures about 8 cm. wide, 3 em. long and from 2 to 8 em. thick. The color varies from whitish to grayish and pale brown. The upper and lower surfaces are convex, the base being more or less decurrent. The context is corky and has a wood color. The pores are large, narrow, unequal and more or less sinuous. The young pores near the growing margin are small, but they become larger and sinnous with age. Trametes Trogii Berkeley. Fuscous, subolivaceous; pileus convex, subzonate, clothed with bunches of rigid hairs; margin acute, context white; pores unequal, seubangulate, dentate. This looks like 7. Peckii, but is smaller, thinner, and lighter in color, the context being white; the pores also are smaller and much lighter in color, being almost white with a brownish tinge. They are more decurrent than in 7. Peckii. One specimen which was sent to Professor C. H. Peck and identified by him was almost resupinate. This species is not so common as the preceding. Several specimens were collected at Horicon on a cottonwood stump and another near Elk- horn cn a poplar stump. These specimens are much imbricated and laterally confluent. The larger one measures 8 cm. in width and 3 to 4 cm. in length. The pileus is about 0.25 em. thick and the pores vary in length from i mm.tolem. The diameter of the pores is about 0.3 to 0.4 mm. Trametes Peckii Kalchbrenner (Plate IV, fig. 15). Pileus suberose, dimidiate sessile, subdecurrent, hirsute, azonate, ferruginous-fuscous, at length faded, margin acute; pores rather large, rotund-angulate, concolorous with the pileus, becoming fuscous with age; context wood-colored. 40 THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. This species is quite common growing on poplars, and oak. Speci- mens have been collected at Sparta, Bangor, Madison, Horicon and on Madaline Island. Dead poplar trunks and stumps seem to be the favarite substrata. The pileus is dimidiate-sessile and sometimes even crescent form, very often imbricated, and laterally confluent. The substance is dark wood color, corky to fibrous, and about one half as thick as the length of the pores, and, as McBride (15, p. 10) says—‘‘it passes by imper- ceptible transition into the matted hirsute outer coat.’’ The margin is usually acute, but in a few specimens quite obtuse, especially in younger specimens. It usually curves down when dried. The pores are large, irregular, long, sometimes almost sinuous and in old weathered specimens torn into teeth. In color they vary from grayish brown to very dark brown. The pilei are variable in size, being from 2 to 20cm. in width; from 1 to 8 em. in length and from 0.25 to 1.5 cm. thick with pores from 0.5 cm. to 2m. in length. This species is closely related to 7. Trogit, from which it differs in its larger size, larger pores and darker color. It is easily recognized - by its seal-brown strongly strigose-hirsute pileus and the large irregu- lar subdecurrent pores. Syn.: Funalia stuppens (Berk.) Murrill; 19, vol. 32, p. 356. Trametes heteromorpha (Fries) Bres. Pileus effuso-reflexed, thin, tubercular, fibrous-wrinkled, leathery, pale-whitish; lamellae very broad, crowded, more or less anastomos- ing, white, growing beyond the margin thus making it appear dentate. On conifers. The above is Fries’s description of Lenzites heteromorpha. Peck (Report no. 42, p. 120) says that L. heteromorpha exhibits three forms; the daedalioid, the trametoid and the lenzitoid. Bresadola places them all in the genus Trametes. Our specimens belong to the daeda- lioid and trametoid forms. The specimens are nearly pure white, thin but leathery-tough, much effused and narrowly reflexed. The pores are large, shallow, varying from roundish tolabyrinthine. The leathery substance is easily separ- able from the substratum and becomes hard and brittle when dry. Our specimens were found growing on fallen limbs, sticks and logs at Shanagolden, Crandon and Ladysmith. The largest specimen measured nearly 10 cm. in length and 3 to 4 cm. in width, 1 to 2 em. THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. 41 in thickness. One side was reflexed about 1.5em. The surface of the pileus in this case was minutely tomentose. Syn.: Lenzites heteromorpha Fries, 9, Taf. 177, Fig. 3; 28, vol. 1, p. 490. Trametes stereoides (Fries) Bres. (Plate III, fig. 14). Pilei imbricated, leathery, thin, stiff, effuso-reflexed, reniform, at first tomentose, then glabrate, grayish-brown, with concolorous zones, 1 to 1.5 em. long, 0.5 to 1 em. broad. Pores short, quite large, obtuse, variously formed, white. Trunks of conifers. This species seems to be quite abundant in the forests of Northern Wisconsin. Our specimens were collected in pine and mixed woods in Oneida County, near Hazelhurst, at Shanagolden, Ashland County, and in the Star Lake region. The specimens were found chiefly on fallen hemlock or spruce branches and decayed logs. They were much imbricated, effused and reflexed and laterally confluent, so that the largest specimen measured about 12 cm. in length and 5 to 6em. in breadth, being reflexed to about 2 to 3 centimenters. The pilei are thin, leathery but stiff; the surface very uneven, and of a dark gray-brown. The zones are sometimes blackish, making the surface look very much like that of Polystictus plunus Pk., from which, however, this species differs in its larger and coarser structure and the larger pores. Fries (9) places the species in the genus Polyporus, but Bresadola (in litt) calls it a Trametes and regards it as identical with T. mollis Fries. This species is easily recognized by the very uneven, thin leathery grayish-brown pileus and the ‘large, shallow white pores which soon turn gray. Our specimens agree very well with Fig. 3, Taf. 187 of Fries Icones iI, page 86. Syn.: Polyporus stereoides Fries; 28, I, p. 415. Polystictus stereoides Fries Sac.; 26, VI. p. 267. Trametes scutellata Schw. ‘‘Pileus pulvinate, narrow, zonate, yellowish-white, tomentose, but at length laccate-glabrate, context thin, almost concolorous; hymen- ium concave, white; pores punctiform, dissepiments wide, rigid.’’ This is another small whitish Trametes. The pileus is pulvinate, hard corky; sometimes scutellate or even hoof-shaped with a narrow 42 THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. ; base. It is white to pale tawny, the old parts becoming black, and the context, at first white, becomes darker wood-color and never very thick. It is usually more or less glabrate, zoned, often concentrically sulcate; the white margin smooth, more or less acute, spreading. The hymenium is white or pale tawny and nearly always concave. The porcs are small even, regular, with thick dissepiments. The tubes are of unequal length. Some of the older specimens seem to be quite distinctly stratified, and look like No. 1010 of Fungi Columbiani (Fomes scutellata). Per- haps the two forms should be placed together in the genus Fomes. T. scutellata is said by Macbride (15, p. 10) to be the same as Trametes Ohiensis Berk. An entirely resupinate form occurs on the underside of old fence rails. This is dry, whitish, thin, closely incrusting the surface of the wood. The tubes are short with small mouths and thick dissepiments. ‘he hymenium is the same as that of the dimidiate forms. The pileus follows the unevenness of the wood surface, with here and there slight indications of becoming reflexed. This is not always evident, however. T. scutellata is a quite common form growing on old fence rails and posts. I have never seen it on trees and logs lying on the ground. Specimens have been collected in Monroe, Walworth, Dane, Fond du Lae, Dodge, Iowa and La Crosse Counties. They are from 2 to 3 em. wide; 1 to 4cm. long; flesh 4 to 6mm. thick. The tubes are 1 mm. long in resupinate forms, and in others form 3 to 10 mm. The distinguishing characteristics of the species are the hoof-shaped pileus, the white dry substance, the concave hymenium with smail pores and thick dissepiments. Syn. Fomes scutellatus (Schw.) ; 26, vol. VI, p. 192. Trametes ohiensis Berk. ; 26, vol. VI, p. 342. §2. Context yellowish. Trametes rigida B. & Mont. Pileus corky, undulate, by far the greater part resupinate; the mar- gin narrow, acute, subzonate, tawny brown; pores medium, round, equal, obtuse, whitish. Only a resupinate form was found growing on the underside »f a poplar log at Madison. The specimen was about 15 cm. long, 2 to 4 em. wide, and nearly lem. thick. The color varied from whitish to tawny. The substance was quite hard and tough. THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. 43 The tubes were small, equal, and about 4mm. in length with thick dissepiments. Syn. Polystictus rigens Sace. et Cub., 26 vol. VI, p. 274. §3. Substance tawny or ferruginous. Trametes odorata (Wulff.) Fries (Plate II. fig. 10). Pileus pulvinate, 5 to 8cem. broad, corky, somewhat soft, shaggy, during the first year brownish-yellow, later blackish-brown, widened, concentrically furrowed, wrinkled, tomentose, with cinnamon colored margin; pores roundish, or oblong, cinnamon. On old spruce trunks. Common. In the woods on spruce logs; otherwise on spruce planks and timbers. A small but very common form grows on the planks and sleepers of sidewalks made of hemlock lumber. Here the species pro- duces a brownish rot in the wood which causes it to crumble into a fine brown powder, not unlike that produced by Lenzites sepiaria and Fomes ungulata. Our specimens were found in Oneida County, on hemlock logs, and in La Crosse County, Monroe County and Dodge County, on sidewalks and bridge timbers. The largest measure about 7 cm. broad and 6 to 8 em. long; in thickness they vary from 0.5 to 3 em. The pilei may be dimidiate sessile or entirely resupinate. Usually the specimens grow only one season, but many specimens especially resupinate forms growing on the underside of bridge timbers have from two to three strata. The specimens found on spruce trunks in the woods also show several years growth. The pores and margin when growing are almost cream-yellow, but soon change to cinnamon brown. At first they are soft and moist, staining brown where bruised, but they become corky and brown, and at last blackish and hard. At first the specimens are tomentose shaggy but by weathering they become glabrate and rough. The pores are medium, equal, thick-walled, about as long as the thickness of the pileus. The specimens growing on worked timbers are usually softer in substance and richer in color. The odor is not very pronounced. When fresh they have merely a disagreeable fungus smell, but on drying the odor becomes stronger and sweetish. In habit and appearance the younger specimens strongly resemble Lenzites sepiaria. The distinguishing characteristics are the rich cinnamon-brown 44 THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. color, the soft corky substance, the equal to medium-sized pores, and its habitat which is almost invariably hemlock. Syn. Boletus annulatus (Schaeff.) ; 27, Taf. 106. Trametes pini (Thore) Fries (Plate IV, fig. 16). Pileus pulvinate or bracket-shaped, sometimes resupinate, 8—16 em. broad, very hard, of corky-woody consistence, concentrically sulcate above, rimose-scrupose, rusty-brown becoming black, within yellowish- brown. Pores large, roundish or oblong, reddish-yellow. Spores broadly oval, only more rarely globose, 5—6 microns long, 4—5 microns broad. On living trunks, especially of pine, but also on other conifers. Massee says that the flesh is thick behind, that the pores are 14 inch deep the first year, but that the species is perennial and eventually the strata collectively become 1 inch or more thick. He describes them also as having a slight but pleasant odor. Specimens submitted to Patouillard were identified by him as Poly- porus piceinus Peck. Henning, to whom specimens were also sub- mitted, expresses the opinion that P. piceinus and Trametes abietis are the same as 7’. pini. Polyporus piceinus (22, 42, p. 25) is described by Peck as follows: ‘‘Pileus 1-2 inches broad, thin subcorky, sessile, often concrescent, and imbricated, sometimes resupinate or effuso-re- flexed, tomentose, concentrically suleate, and adorned with interven- ing elevated tomentose lines or narrow zones, tawny-brown or subspa- diceous, the thin margin at first golden-yellow, soon tawny, then con- colorous; the hymenium plane or concave, tawny-cinnamon, the pores minute, subrotund, long, the dissepiments thin but entire; spores mi- nute, subglobose, 4 microns broad.’’ In further notes on the same species, Peck says that P. piceinus grows on spruce only and that its color resembles that of Lengzites sepiaria. ‘‘T. pim,’’ he says, ‘‘is a little paler or more tawny.’’ He notes further that it revives the second year and resembles Fomes pecti- natus, but that it belongs rather to the Polystictt. Our specimens were collected in Milwaukee, La Crosse, Oneida, Vilas, Forest and Ashland Counties on white and red pine, living and dead, on tamarack, living and dead, on dead spruce and dead hem- lock. The species is most abundant on tamarack, living and dead, in the northern part of the state and on living white pine. In the pines it produces the well known ‘‘dry or ring-rot.’’ Hartig calls it ‘‘red rot’’ (Rothfaule). THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. 45 The largest specimen was found on a tamarack near Star Lake. This measured about 24cm. broad, 14cm. long and 6 em. thick be- hind. The base was strongly decurrent and many smaller pilei were growing out of it. The tubes were about 1 cm. long, distinctly strati- fied and in some places made up of 2 and 3 strata. The specimens collected from the pines and spruces are always much smaller and agree more exactly with Professor Peck’s description of P. piceinus. Specimens collected on hemlock logs are larger than those on pines but not so large as those on tamarack. Von Schrenck has found the species on fir trees in the New England states, but says that it is rare. The specimens when dry are very hard and somewhat brittle. In color and general appearance they resemble somewhat Fomes con- chatus but the color inclines more to reddish-brown and the pores fre much longer and more irregular. The older part beccmes black, rimose and moss-covered. When young and growing, the margin is of a golden-brown and is covered with a soft velvety tomentum. The La Crosse County specimens were found on the exposed root of a living white pine. Syn. Polyporus pini Pers.; 23, vol. 11, p. 83. Porodaedalea pini (Thore) Murrill; 19, vol. 32, p. 367. Polyporus piceinus Peck; 22, no. 42, p. 25. Trametes abietis Karst.; 56, vol. VI, p. 346. 8. PORIA. This genus is made to include all forms which are entirely resupin- nate. They may be thin membranaceous, fleshy or almost corky ex- pansions or incrustations. A true Poria should never be reflexed. This is the tribe Resupinatae under Polyporus of the older authors. It is considered by some to consist of simply young or abnormal forms of Polyporus. Forms whose pores break up readily into teeth are with difficulty separated from Irpex, and thus endless confusion arises. The genus is abundantly represented throughout the state. KEY TO WISCONSIN SPECIES OF PORIA Pale ior White: fOPMS .cis.c ses cs ace Cee eRE eae CUR CaS ew ea ae eee 1 Darker or bright colored fOrMsS........... sec ec eee ccte eee e cert teeeeeees 2 1, Growing on the ground.......-.- see cece cence eee eteees P. terrestris 1. Not on the Zround.......... ccc eee eee ree eee enter e eee n ete eeneens 3 2. Yellow from the start........ ccc eee cece eee e cere ete e eee eneeenes P. nitida 2. Pale yellow, S0ft......... ccc cee c cere ete eee e eect eenaceeneaee P. vitellina BS on THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. 2, Pale yellow, hard, ry........ 0... cece cece ce cccccccccceccucues P. xcantha Bas NAOLCC TIT 5 asess Seetihogvecs cvs ges eg Sa he ae ieee oaks ehticherdia eww anavera bie P. violacea 2. Purple with white margin...... 0.0... cc ccc ccc cece cecuceeuee P. purpurea 2. Ferruginous with white margin...............c.cccceeeeee P. marginellus 2. Purple tubes long........... 0. ccc cece cece cccuucececuuveene P. crocipora 2. White becoming yellow and fuscous...............cee--000- '.P. Andersoni 25° BEOW Dy SOLE coisas. ivedne sae ced. otis ce tuiocg actus ait tepinan eens Monel P. contigua 4s CBYOWDs DATde? 5c. Sas ys coed ox Moe CARR Ste ek 2 Pec sb Resi P. ferruginosa 2. Purplish brown wWoody............cccccccccccecsceecucuceeees P. laevigata 8. Fleshy, somewhat moist........... 0... cece cece eee cereccceeeuceeeucees 4 8. Flesh more or less dry......... cc ccc cect cc cececccccecvsnecutavesecuce 5 4. Very thin; WHIte scies satu evavededieveie vd okay cosa va 308.8% bebceb P. Gordoniensis 4. Substance of radiate flocculose strands..............0cecceceeees P. radula 4. Soft, pores small, thin.......... 0... cc ccc cece ccc eee cseeees P. mollusca 4. Dry, thin, pores medium, oblique..............c cece eee eeeeeues P. viridans 4, Pores lengthened, torD............ ccc ccc c cece cee ese cceeeseuas P. subacida 4. Pores very long, forming almost the entire thickness of the plant SAU endbhy do ad ea alae ean Reet ook Sloane od Ae eee P. medutlia-panis Pores SiNUGUS sa x fae dis seen ee AN Evid ss isratecee ssc ean tice P. sinuosa Pores minute, pale yellow or pinkish..................0.e008 P. attenuata Pores minute, yellowish or tawny.............ce cece cee ecceeeees P. crassa Pores: sitiall: ‘Dlutitays vane cee on as Bots ta eS he seta hess P. vulgaris Pores larger, torn... 20... cee cece cece ence ccc ceeenaeeasensencs P. corticola Pores large, shallow.............c ccc ec cece cece eects esescrece P. vaporaria Pores small, short, stratified... ....... 0... cc cece eee enone P. obducens Pores minute irregular........... ccc ccc eee ee tec eees P. subfusco-flavida Pores minute, regular, angular.........-... ccc ccece cence ceees P. pulchetla SUSU OF Or OT me Poria terrestris (D. C.) Fries. ‘Effused, very thin, composed of delicate byssoid hyphae, white, evanescent; pores central, very minute, white, then rufescent. Only one specimen has been found in the state. It was growing on the ground in the greenhouse at the University of Wisconsin in De- cember 1899. It was thin, whitish and moist and measured about 38cm. in length, 2em. in width and scarcely 1mm. in thickness. It was iregular in outline. The margin was somewhat fringed, and the surface was uneven. The pores in the center, were small, irregu- lar, and shallow, becoming a faint reddish-brown. The plant was held to the ground by rhizomorphous strands which were about 8—9 cm. long and from 1—2mm. thick. They penetrated the ground in vari- ous directions for their full length. The spores are subglobose about 4 microns by 3.5 microns. Syn.; Polyporus terrestris (D. C.) Fries, 28, 1 p. 410; 8, p. 576. THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. 47 Poria gordoniensis B. & Br. Effused, membranous, very thin, separable, persistently white; margin shortly fimbriate, pores minute, unequal, angulate; dissepi- ments very thin, fimbriate-dentate. One lot of specimens of this very small fungus was collected at Parfrey’s Glen. The largest pileus is about lem. in diameter, very thin and delicate. The margin is fimbriate, white; the pores scarcely visible to the naked eye, shallow, angulate. The whole plant has a waxy, white appearance. It grows on very much decayed wood. Poria vitellina Schw Widely effused, loosely adnate, thick, uneven, soft and fleshy, vi- telline, with a byssine margin. Pores very large, elevated, unequal, thin, angular. Morgan (18, VI, p. 175) says of this species: ‘‘A soft and fleshy fungus of unequal thickness and large and unequal pores. The color is very elegant and persists even in drying. The egg-yellow pervades the whole mass. The long pores vary from round to angular and even sinuous. Strings of yellow mycelium penetrate the rotten wood be- neath.”’ Specimens from the underside of sidewalks at Madison are not quite as thick as described for the species; the margin is thin and cob- webby, like that of Polyporus bombycinus. Specimens from Horicon on poplar are perhaps more typical. The whole substance is: soft-brittle. The pores are thin-walled, nearly 3mm. long with a diameter of about 0.75 mm. The species looks very much like Polyporus bombycinus and like ‘tthe large-pored forms of Portia mollusca. Poria radula (Pers.) Fr. Effused, thin, white, formed entirely from the loose, dry mycelium, villous below; pores medium sized, angular, dissepiments toothed, pubescent when young. One specimen was found growing on the under side of a box in the greenhouse at the University of Wisconsin. The whole bottom of the box was covered by strands of dryish flocculose white mycelium which 48 THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. radiated in every direction. Here and there they combined to form a thin separable pileus upon which the irregular thin-walled pores were formed. The hymenium is very uneven, due to the fact that the older and central pores become somewhat elongated as in P. mol- lusca. On drying the whole fungus shrinks and becomes a tawny- yellow color. When the plant body is peeled off from the substratum it feels soft and velvety. This species seems to be very closely related to P. mollusca and may be distinguished from it by its larger pores, its looser substance and its loose radiating fibres. Dudley (22, 41, p. 86) says that this species produces much of the rot found in lumber piles. ‘When dry the pileus is thin and soft, almost like white tissue paper. The pores vary from 0.4 to 1mm. in diameter; from 0.3 mm. to 3mm. in length. Syn.: Polyporus radula (Pers.); 28, p. 407. Poria mollusca (Pers.) Fries. Fructification effused, thin, soft, white and a byssoid, radiating- fibrillose border; pores developed from various centers, small, thin, round, unequal, lacerate. This is a thin soft form more or less easily separable from the sub- stratum, the soft white mycelium creeping over the substratum forms centers for the development of the small very thin-walled pores, and makes the so called ‘‘fibrillose-radiating’’ margin. The pores at length become elongated and torn into teeth. Comparatively common. Specimens were found on the under side of a sidewalk, on pine chips and running over dead leaves in the woods, at Madison; on an old, partly decayed boat at Sparta; and one specimen in a growing condition on December 28, 1899, under a poplar log at Horicon. It seems abundant in fall and early winter. One specimen collected by Professor Cheney near Brule river in 1897 is perhaps the finest and most representative I have seen, and agrees pretty well with no. 1706 North American Fungi and no. 1013 Fungi Columbiani. The pores have a slightly pinkish tinge. They are short, slightly angular, and shallow with very thin walls. The radi- ate-fibrillose margin is especially well marked and beautiful. This margin and the thin-walled pores are the distinctive features of the species. The largest specimen collected was 30 cm. long, 10 to 12 em. broad, and the subiculum very thin. The pores vary in diameter as well as THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. 49 in length. The longest ones measured 3mm. The younger pores are mere depressions in the subiculum. Syn.: Polyporus molluscus (Pers.) ; 28, I, p. 408. Poria viridans Berk. and Br. Effused, crustaceo-adnate, thin, at first white, later pale-greenish, with the margin pulverulent tomentose; pores small; angular, dis- sepiments thin. On decayed wood, with the habit of P. vulgaris ‘‘On rotten wood. Effused, forming patches a few inches long, per- fectly white at first, but in drying assuming a delicate pale green, with honey-like tinge in parts; border pulverulento-tomentose, very thin; pores minute, angular, dissepiments thin. This pretty species has the habit of P. vulgaris (B. & Br.) (17, p. 204.)”’ Specimens of this species were found near Madison, October 5, 1901, on very rotten wood. It was very thin, dirty-yellowish with a pale- greenish tinge. The margin is very thin, lighter in color. The pores are small; if oblique they are irregular, sinuous; when not oblique they are angular, small. The species may be known by its thin substance and pale-greenish tinge. Syn. Polyporus viridans. Berk. & Br.; 28, I, p. 410. Poria attenuata Peck (Plate IV, fig. 19). Resupinate, effused, very thin, separable from the matrix, pinkish- ochre, the margin whitish; pores minute, subrotund, with thin acute dissepiments. Comparatively common on bark, sticks and fence rails. Specimens have been found near Madison, Oakfield, Horicon and Sparta. The largest are about 20 em. long and 10 em. wide; the subiculum is less than 1 mm. thick. The pores are 1 mm. or less in length and are ex- tremely small. The margin is irregular, white, and somewhat tomentose, as is also the subiculum. This is only slightly separable from the substratum. The color of the pores is pinkish or yellowish-pink when fresh; in some cases verging towards lilac. In drying it changes to a reddish-tan. The surface is smooth and even, the pores being round, regular and sometimes oblique. Easily recognized by the thin even substance, the white border and the color of the pores. 4 50 THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. Poria violacea Fries. Effused, determinate, usually orbicular, thin, smooth and glabrate, adnate, without much subiculum; violet; pores short, cellular, as if formed by upraised veins, entire. ‘* Allied to Merulius, for which a young specimen might be taken.’’ Very thin, closely adnate; pores small, irregular, shallow, soft. Color varying from violet to violet purple. When young the violet, moist mycelium which is sometimes almost gelatinous, covers the sub- stratum very closely and the pores seem to be formed by upfoldings as in Merulius, to which it is said to be related. The young specimens may indeed be mistaken for resupinate forms of Merulius tremellosus, the color and structure being much the same. Mature specimens may be confounded with resupinate forms of Polystictus abietinus. From Merulius this species may be separated by the smaller pores with acute dissepiments and the innate thin pileus. Polyporus abietinus has longer, more torn pores and a firmer body. (It is also closely related to Poria purpurea, but this is usually darker in color and has a white floc- culose border. Our specimens were collected near Palmyra on very rotten wood. The specimens are not large—being about 8—9 cm. long; 2—4 em. wide; diameter of pores varying from .38to 2mm. The mature speci- mens have a reddish-violet color and the younger ones turned a darker purple-violet on drying. Syn: Polyporus violaceus Fries 28, I, p. 412. Poria purpurea Fries. Broadly and irregularly effused, the white flocculuse mycelium creeping over the surface of the rotten wood and producing here and there groups of minute, unequal, purple-lilae pores about one line deep. Morgan (18, VIII, p. 106) says that it occurs on the bark of sugar maple; that it is thin and delicate, occurring in straggling patches, with groups of purple pores on the white mycelium. Some of the dried specimens bleach out white. He also says that this species is the same as Polyporus lilacinus Schw. This is more broadly and irregularly effused than the preceding species. It is very thin, closely innate, with a more or Jess white- floceulose border, the white mycelium creeping over the rotten wood producing here and there groups of minute unequal purple-lilac pores. The color is decidedly darker than the preceding species; the pores THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. 51 are the same in size, very irregular, almost sinuous when old, because of the breaking down of the thin dissepiments. Quite rare. A few specimens were collected at Horicon in 1899 on a rotten willow; and some specimens were collected near Blue Mounds. The largest specimens are about 16 em. long, 3cm. wide; the whitish Inargin is very thin and sometimes even obsolete. This species is closely related to P. violacea, but is darker in color and is distinguished by the white margin. The color is well preserved in our specimens, Syn. Polyporus purpureus Fries; 28, I, p. 412. Poria crocipora Berk. Curt. Effused, pulvinate, thick in drying blackish-rufous; margin obtuse; tubules elongate, medium, dissepiments thin, flaccid, saffron. On decayed wood. The specimen referred to here was found near Blue Mounds on very much decayed wood. It is about 10 em. long and 4 cm. wide. In color it is dark-red; the pores short and very small; the flesh thick. It is darker in color than P. rufa Schrad., and has thicker flesh. This spe- cies was identified by Bresadola. Poria marginella Peck. Resupinate, effused, forming extensive patches 2—6 mm. thick; subiculum distinct, firm, subcinnamon, the extreme margin white, be- coming dark-ferruginous with age; pores at first short sunk in the to- mentum of the subiculum, then longer, minute, rotund, often oblique, brownish ferruginous; glaucous within; dissepiments thick, obtuse. Not common. Some specimens were found under old pine logs near Ladysmith in August 1905. Specimens collected on Picea mariana, in September, were remarkable for, and very distinct by reason of the narrow downy white margin that borders the growing plant. The largest are 8 em. long, 3 em. wide and about 3 mm. thick. When fresh they are soft, moist, pale cinnamon except the margin which is white or pale yellowish-white, tomentose. The pores are very small equal, pale cinnamon and pruinose. When old and while drying they become dark brown. The species is easily recognized by the cinnamon-colored pores and substance surrounded by the bright white or pale-yellowish margin. 52 THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. Poria subacida Pk. (Plate IV, fig. 18.) Effused, separable from the matrix, tough, flexible, unequal, deter- minate; margin pubescent, narrow, white; pores minute, subrotund | 2—6 mm. long, often oblique, white, verging toward tawny, flesh be- coming dirty-yellow; dissepiments thin, minutely dentate; odor strongly subacid. This is perhaps our commonest Poria, and is found everywhere un- der decayed logs. I have specimens from Madison, Sparta, Elkhorn, Horicon, Bangor, Crandon, Hazelhurst, Star Lake, Brule, Ladysmith and Shanagolden, on poplar, maple, tamarack and pine logs. The color varies from snow white to cream, dirty-yellow and tawny. It always deepens on drying. The surface is always uneven, the mar- gin very narrow and irregular. One large-pored specimen has a broad, soft tomentose sterile margin from which the white mycelium ereeps over the surface of the substratum on the leaves and grass. The pores cannot always be called minute—they are more often me- dium and sometimes quite large and irregular, varying from 0.3 to 0.9 mm. in diameter. The length varies from 2 to 6mm. The dissepi- ments are thin, slightly dentate but often becoming torn. The subicu- Jum is thin and brittle when dry. The odor is quite strong and dis- agreeable when fresh but becomes less strong and sweeter on drying. One specimen found under a much decayed tamarack log near Hazel- hurst had a strong anise-like odor, which is quite persistent. Old weathered forms have been found almost entirely covered by new growths. The old portions varied in color from dirty-yellow to cinnamon. The tubes in these were unusually long. Most of my specimens were found on much decayed wood—usually poplar, or oak. The white felt-like mycelium was found everywhere in the cavities of the wood and looks like that of Polyporus adustus, but is less firm. Von Schrenk (Bull. 25, U. S. Dept. Agric.) gives an extended ac- count of the destruction caused by this fungus. It appears that it at- tacks living trees and its mycelum grows through the soil to infect the roots. Von Schrenk says it is very destructive especially to dead wood. Poria medulla-panis (Pers.) Fries. Effuse, determinate, subundulate, firm, smooth, white; slightly mar- gined with a sterile border almost the entire thickness of the plant made up of the rather long pores which are of medium size and entire. THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. 53 On rotton wood in a greenhouse, also on the underside of a pine drain cover at Madison. Probably fairly common in the state. The specimens found were very well developed forming broad soft almost doughy masses which peel off from the substratum very readily. Poria crassa Karst. (Plate IV, fig. 17.). Corky, about 1 em. thick, pores very small stratose, white, yellowish on drying. Not very common but the specimens from Shanagolden and between Carr Lake and Little Tomahawk are abundant and well developed on very rotten wood. The largest specimens from Shanagolden are about 2em. thick and form massive crust like expanses which are quite plainly stratified. The pores are very minute and the surface and outer strata of old specimens are distinctly yellowish-tawny while the deeper layers are white and chalky. Poria sinuosa Fries. Effused, innate, partly separable from the substratum, coriaceous, persistent, arising from a subradicating evanescent mycelium, at first white, then yellowish; beneath naked, brownish; the margin slightly pubescent when young. Pores wide, usually elongated, bent, of differ- ent shapes; dissepiments acute, torn. The specimens agree with no. 2408 North American Fungi, but dit- fer from the above description in that they are not ‘‘brownish’’ under- neath, but rather a dirty yellow, as is also the whole piant. At first sight, these forms might be taken for Irpex tulipifera, and for this rea- son, perhaps, they are not collected; but the polyporoid characters are quite distinct. The few specimens collected were found near Madison growing on oak bark. They were broadly effused and thin, about 15 em. long and 10 em. wide. The subiculum which is slightly separable near the mar- gin is about 0.5 mm. thick, and the pores vary from .5 to 1.5 mm. in di- ameter and are about 2mm. deep. The dissepiments are thin and toothed at first then torn. The pores are irregular and evenly sinuous. Old specimens are nearly emarginate. The very young ones which start as small papilliform bodies have a wide margin made‘up of white almost membranaceous mycelium, the pubéscence being scarcely per- ceptible. The color of the fungus is at first white but becomes a dirty-yellow on drying or maturing. The fungus is leathery and tough when fresh but is brittle when dry. 54 THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. Poria vaporaria (Pers.) Fries. Effused, innate, the white fiocculent mycelium creeping in the wood; pores large, angulate, whitish-pallid, crowded in a firm persistent stra- tum. This is one of the thinnest of our white Porias. The pileus is often so thin that it appears as if the pores grow directly from the substra- tum. The pores are comparatively large, irregular, shallow, seldom more than 1 mm. deep, the dissepiments often breaking down. The in- nate myclium starts in little patches here and there. Not very common. 6 2B pathy 4 3 THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. 185 PLATE XV 186 THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. PLATE XV. Polyporus, Boletinus. Fig. 51—Polyporus squamosus (Huds.) Fr. a, pileus. Madison, May. Fig. 54.—Polyporus radicatus. Forest Hill Cemetery, Madison, September. Much reduced. Fig. 55.—Boletinus paluster. Dorward’s Gorge, August. Fig. 56.—Boletinus pictus Peck. a, entire, showing veil. WISCONSIN SURVEY. BULLETIN XXXIII, PLatE XV. THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. 187 PLATE XVI 188 THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. PLATE XVI. Boletinus, Boletus. Fig. 56.—Boletinus pictus Peck. b, pileus; c, pores. d@ and e, young forms. a, Sand Lake, August. 06, c, d, and e, Parfrey’s Glen, August. Fig. 57.—Boletus viscidus Fr. a, Entire; b, pileus; c, young pores; d, older pores. Madison. Fig. 58.—Boletus spectabilis. a, entire; b, pileus; c, section. Fig. 59.—Boletus Clintonianus Peck. a, mature form entire; b, younger form, veil still attached to edge of pileus. WISCONSIN SURVEY, BULLETIN XXXIII, PuatE XVI. THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. 189 PLATE XVII 190 THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. PLATE XVII. Boletus. Fig. 59.—Boletus Clintonianus Peck. c, narrow form. Madison campus. 4d, pores. Crandon, August. e, section, old specimen; f/f, pores. The Dells, September. Fig. 60.—Boletus Americanus Peck. a, mature thinner type; b, thicker type, showing tufts of fibrils at margin of pileus; c, younger speci- men, showing remnants of veil on margin of pileus and splotches of gluten on stipe; d, pores of mature specimen. Dorw- ard’s Gorge, September. e, pores of younger specimen. Madi- son, August. WISCONSIN SURVEY, BuLLeTIN XXXIII, Puatn XVII. THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. 191 PLATE XVIII 192 THE POLYPORACHAE OF WISCONSIN. PLATE XVIII. Boletus. Fig. 61.—Boletus subaureus Peck. a, pair of specimens; 0, pores. Devil’s Lake, August. Fig. 62.—Boletus sphaerosporus Peck. a, entire; 6, section. Devil’s Lake, August. WISCONSIN Survey. BULLETIN XXXIII, Plate XVIII. THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. PLATE XIX 18 193 194 Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. Fig. THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. PLATE XIX. Boletus. . 68.— Boletus hirtellus Peck. Cap showing clearly the fine tufts of fibrils. The Dells, September. . 64.—Boletus punctipes Peck. The Dells, September. 65.— Boletus granulatus Linn. a, entire young; c, entire form showing ring, e, pores. Dorward’s Gorge, September. stipe. pores. 66.—Boletus brevipes Peck. Typical section showing flesh, pores and The Dells, September. 67.— Boletus Ravenelii B and C. a, entire; b, section showing veil and Ladysmith, August. BULLETIN XXXIII, Puate XIX. WISCONSIN SURVEY. see % id THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. 195 PLATE XX 196 THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. PLATE XX. Boletus. Fig. 65.—Boletus granulatus Linn. 0, entire, mature; d, pileus, showing glutin- ous scales, Fig. 68—Boletus collinitus Fr. Pair of specimens. Stone Lake, August. Fig. 69.—Boletus bicolor Peck. a, entire, mature; 6, pores; c, group of three young specimens. Devil’s Lake, August. BouLuetin XXXIII, Puarn XX. WISCONSIN SURVEY. THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. 197 PLATE XXI 198 THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISOONSIN. PLATE XXI. Boletus. Fig. 70.—Boletus alutaceus Morg. a, section showing flesh and pores. The Dells, 6, pores; c, pileus, younger specimen. Dorward’s Gorge, September. Fig. 71.—Boletus auriporus Peck. Ladysmith, August. Fig. 72.—Boletus pallidus Frost. a, entire plant; b, pores. Fig. 73.—Boletus chrysenteron. a, pileus; b, pores, Ladysmith, August. BULLETIN XXXIII, PLate XXI. WISCONSIN SURVEY, THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. 199 PLATE XXII 200 THE POLYPORAOEAE OF WISOONSIN. PLATE XXII. Boletus. Fig. 74.—Boletus subtomentosus Linn. a, stipe and section of pileus; 6b, pores. Fig. 75.—Boletus radicans Pers. a, entire plant; b, pores. Devil’s Lake, Aug- ust. Fig. 76.—Boletus Russellii Frost. a, entire plant reduced; b, pores. Fig. 77.—Boletus separans, Peck. Crandon, August. Fig. 78.—Boletus edulis Bull., var. clavipes. Rather small specimen. Devil’s Lake, August. BULLETIN XXXIII, Puate XXII. WISCONSIN SURVEY. ees \ ae Ss os yy THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. 201 PLATE XXIII 202 THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. PLATE XXIII. Boletus. Fig. 79.—Boletus eximius Peck. a, entire plant; b, pores. Devil’s Lake, Aug- ust. Fig. 80.—Boletus vermiculosus Peck. Entire plant, young. Crandon, August. Fig. 81—Boletus versipellis Fr. a, form with narrow cap; b, mature plant, normal shape. Parfrey’s Glen, August. WISCONSIN SURVEY. BULLETIN XXXIII, Puatn XXIII. THE POLYPORAOGEAE OF WISCONSIN. 203 PLATE XXIV 204. THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. PLATE XXIV. Boletus. Fig. 82.—Boletus indecisus Peck. a, entire plant; b. pores. gust. Fig. 83.—Boletus felleus Bull. Devil’s Lake, Au- a, entire, and b, section of half-grown form; hymenium connected to stipe by cords of hyphae; massive type; d, mature and far less massive type; surface dry and cuticle scaling off in spots in characteristic fashion. Parfrey's Glen. August. ULLETIN XXXIII, Prater XXIV. B WISCONSIN SURVEY. THE POLYPORACEAE OF WISCONSIN. ‘205 PLATE XXV 206 THE POLYPORAOEAE OF WISOONSIN. PLATE XXvV. Boletus, Strobilomyces. Vig. 83.—Boletus felleus Bull. c, pores; e, smaller form growing on rotten wood. Hazelhurst, August. Fig. 84.—Boletus castaneus. a, median longitudinal section; 0, pores. Madi- son, July. Fig. 85.—Strobilomyces strobilaceus Berk. a, entire. Madison, August. WISCONSIN SURVEY. BULLETIN XXXIII, Puate XXV. ; +, tle se PN Wat Es ani SERRE NO: TNR Ba ANNE ae fe ONT Beleriiae ce an ea a se . , , ye we : Ht 7 Dini ie Na i Waa ae NA MRAM si 1 Tanah 7 fi DSP a Pay Nae hy, PAH MP i oe Poss eee iisbs LSipayy he “k ions