The North American Slime-Moulds Part 10

1852. _Badhamia utricularis_ (Bull.) Berk., _Tr. Linn. Soc._, XXI., p. 153.

Sporangia cl.u.s.tered, spherical or ovoid, large, sessile or mounted on long, thin, strand-like stalks, blue-gray, violet-iridescent or cinereous, smooth or more often rugulose; the stipes when present poorly differentiated, as if thread-like filaments and strips of the plasmodium, often branched and always reclining or even prostrate; hypothallus none; capillitium a large-meshed open network of rather slender tubules, the nodes unequally developed, white with the enclosed lime; spores not strictly adherent though not without some tendency to stick together, delicately warted, bright violet-brown, 10-12 .

This species resembles _B. capsulifera_, but is distinguished by a more strongly rugulose less calcareous peridium and a more profuse development of filamentous stipes, but especially by the character of the spores. The spores of the present species while inclined, when mounted in a liquid, to stay together, nevertheless do not coalesce in heaps as in the related species, nor do they show any differentiation in the episporic markings, these being uniform over the entire spore.

This is one of the finest and perhaps the most beautiful species of this fine genus. It is a forest species, generally to be found on trunks of fallen _Populus_ or _Tilia_ where the fine soft gray colonies often spread for several inches along the ridges and in crevices of the bark.

Colorado (_Bethel_); Mississippi valley and east.

12. BADHAMIA CAPSULIFERA (_Bull._) _Berkeley_.

1791. _Sphaerocarpus capsulifer_ Bull., _Champ._, p. 139, t. 470, Fig. 2.

1801. _Physarum hyalinum_ Pers., _Syn. Meth. Fung._, p. 170.

1852. _Badhamia capsulifera_ Berk., _Tr. Lin. Soc._, XXI., p. 153.

1852. _Badhamia hyalina_ Berk., _Tr. Lin. Soc._, XXI., p. 153.

1875. _Badhamia hyalina_ (Pers.) Rost., _Mon._, p. 139.

1875. _Badhamia capsulifera_ (Bull.) Rost., _Mon._, p. 141.

1894. _Badhamia hyalina_ Lister, _Mycetozoa_, p. 30.

1911. _Badhamia capsulifera_ Lister, _Mycetozoa, 2nd ed._, p. 31.

Sporangia cl.u.s.tered or gregarious, sessile or sometimes stipitate, globose or obovoid, gray or greenish white, snow-white when empty; the peridium thin, translucent; the stipe, when present, as in _B.

utricularis_, although generally shorter and better developed, yellow or straw colored; capillitium a very loose, open network of white, lime-filled tubules, not much expanded at the nodes; columella none; spore-ma.s.s purplish-brown; spores adhering in cl.u.s.ters of five or six to twenty or more, globose, but affected somewhat by mutual pressure, rough throughout, the exposed surface in the cl.u.s.ter, more distinctly warted, 10-12 .

This is _Badhamia hyalina_ (Pers.) Berk., Rost., _Mon._, p. 139; but Rostafinski himself admits that the two species, here united, as he defined them, are very much alike, having "the same spores and capillitium", differing in the form of the sporangium, an inconstant feature. Bulliard's name has precedence; his descriptions of this and the preceding species are remarkable.

The peculiarly adherent spores distinguish the species from _B.

utricularis_; and the sporangia sessile or with short but strand-like stipes, distinguish it from _B. papaveracea_.

The description above is for the typical European form. Lister expresses doubt whether this occurs in the United States. The form from Iowa which is the basis for the inclusion of the species in N. A. S. is, we believe, nothing else than _B. capsulifera_ (Bull.) Berk. The form approaches _B. populina_ as this is presented in Colorado. The Iowa specimens are white, aggregate, superimposed, etc., but have the capillitium and spores exactly as described for the type. Accordingly _B. populina_ as this occurs in Colorado has been for years referred to the Berkeley species. The thicker more strongly calcareous peridia const.i.tute, as would appear, the princ.i.p.al difference in the forms from Colorado. See next species.

13. BADHAMIA POPULINA _List._

1904. _Badhamia populina_ List. _Jour. Bot._, XLII., p. 129.

1911. _Badhamia populina_ List. _Mycetozoa, 2nd ed._, p. 32.

Plasmodium white; sporangia sessile, crowded, heaped, large, 1.5 mm., rarely stipitate, globose or ovoid, white; stipe when present brown; capillitial strands broad, calcareous; spores cl.u.s.tered, 16-20 in a cl.u.s.ter, purple-brown, roughened and sometimes marked by obscure ridges and bands, 10-12 .

Generally distinguishable by its unusually large calcareous, white sporangia. The peridia are strongly calcareous, sh.e.l.l-like in texture.

In some cases the color is tinted with rose.

This species is very near _B. capsulifera_ as recognized in the United States. When white the Colorado material corresponds almost exactly with the forms collected in Iowa, and regarded as representing the species just named. The Colorado gatherings are more strongly calcareous and the spores sometimes present the variations named. "The Colorado phase of the American form."

Colorado,--_Bethel_. Europe?

14. BADHAMIA PAPAVERACEA _Berk. & Rav._

PLATE IX., Figs. 6, 6_a_, and 6_b_.

1873. _Badhamia papaveracea_ Berk. & Rav., _Grev._, II., p. 66.

1894. _Badhamia hyalina_ var. _papaveracea_ Lister, _Mycetozoa_, p. 30.

1899. _Badhamia papaveracea_ Berk. & Rav., Macbr., _N. A. S._, p. 69.

1911. _Badhamia papaveracea_ Berk. & Rav., List., _Mycetozoa, 2nd ed._, p. 32.

Sporangia gregarious, globose, large, stipitate, iridescent-gray; the peridium thin, translucent, and containing but little calcareous deposits, smooth or slightly rugulose; stipe very short, but generally distinct, black or very dark brown; hypothallus none; capillitium a network of large meshes with expanded nodes, prominent, white, persistent after the spores have been blown away; spore-ma.s.s deep brown; spores adherent as in _B. capsulifera_, marked in much the same way, and about the same size, 10-12.5

Distinguished by its short, dark, stipe and adherent spores.

Not common. New England, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, South Carolina, Wisconsin, Iowa.

15. BADHAMIA LILACINA (_Fries_) _Rost._

1829. _Physarum lilacinum_ Fries, _Syst. Myc._, III., p. 141.

1875. _Badhamia lilacina_ (Fries) Rost., _Mon._, p. 145.

1892. _Craterium lilacinum_ Ma.s.s., _Mon._, p. 271.

1894. _Badhamia lilacina_ (Fr.) Rost., Lister, _Mycetozoa_, p. 34.

1911. _Badhamia lilacina_ (Fr.) Rost., List., _Mycetozoa_, 2nd ed., p. 38.

Sporangia globose, sub-globose, or obconical, sessile, gregarious or more or less cl.u.s.tered, supported by a thin, continuous, transparent hypothallus; the peridium smooth pale, lilac-brown without, white within; stipe none, although some sporangia have a narrowed base; columella none, the pseudo-columella formed by a more densely aggregated capillitium near the base; capillitium dense, white, strongly nodulose; spore-ma.s.s black; spores dark, violaceous-brown by transmitted light, distinctly warted, or reticulate, the reticulations resembling somewhat those of some of the trichias, as _T. affinis_, 10-15 .

Easily recognizable, generally at sight, by its peculiar color. White forms, however, occur; often lilac-tinted and white from the same plasmodium. A perfectly white colony seems to be rare. Both colors are shown in specimens distributed. _N. A. F._, 2494.

Common eastward, Ontario, New England, Pennsylvania, Ohio, etc. Not reported west of the Mississippi River.

Whatever the color, the spores are in every case positively diagnostic.

The episporic markings are unlike those of any other species in the present order. Dr. Rex describes some New York forms as provided with a short but distinct stipe. Such forms resemble externally _Scyphium rubiginosum_ (Chev.) Rost. The hypothallus is also unique. V. next species.

16. BADHAMIA RUBIGINOSA (_Chev._) _Rost._

PLATE X., Figs. 1, 1_a_, 1_b_, 1_c_.

1826. _Physarum rubiginosum_ Chev., _Fl. Par._, p. 338.

1872. _Craterium obovatum_ Peck, _Rep. N. Y. Mus._, XXVI., p. 75.

1875. _Scyphium rubiginosum_ (Chev.) Rost., _Mon._, p. 148.

1876. _Badhamia rubiginosa_ (Chev.) Rost., _Mon. App._, p. 5.

1892. _Craterium rubiginosum_ Ma.s.see, _Mon._, p. 270.

Sporangia gregarious, obovoid, grayish brown, stipitate, the peridium simple, membranous, above thin, pale, more or less calcareous below, more persistent blending with the stipe; stipe erect, reddish brown or purplish, expanded below into a small hypothallus, above, prolonged within the sporangia more than half its height as a definite columella; capillitium very dense, snow white, long persistent with the lower two-thirds of the sporangial wall; spore-ma.s.s dark brown; spores by transmitted light, dark violet or purple-brown, minutely roughened or spinulose, not adherent, 12-14 .

This is probably the most common badhamia in the country and in the world. It is found every year, in the woods, on ma.s.ses of decaying leaves, especially those of various species of oak. The plasmodium is yellow. The fructifications are very distinct, not likely to be mistaken for those of any other species; the stipes const.i.tute a very prominent feature in every gathering I have seen. Sometimes these are more or less coalescent, especially toward the base, where they are apt to be also wrinkled or longitudinally striate; in other specimens the stipes are well differentiated, long, terete, with little or no hypothallus.

_Badhamia curtisii_ (Berk.) Rost. is according to Lister (Mon., p. 35) a sessile phase of this species. The only specimens known are in the herbarium of Berkeley, now at Kew. The species is based upon a gathering from S. Carolina. Berkeley thought it a didymium, called it _D.

curtisii_.

Reported from western Europe; the typical form abundant in the forested regions of eastern N. America, especially in the Mississippi valley.