Part 15

TABLE OF GENERA OF DIDYMIACEÆ.

a. The lime on the wall of the sporangium in the form of minute stellate crystals.

1. DIDYMIUM. Sporangium simple, subglobose and stipitate, the base commonly umbilicate, or sometimes sessile and plasmodiocarp.

2. SPUMARIA. Æthalium composed of numerous elongated irregularly-branched sporangia, closely compacted together and confluent.

b. The lime on the wall of the sporangium consisting of minute roundish granules.

3. DIDERMA. Wall of the sporangium with the outer calcareous layer usually compacted into a smooth continuous crust.

4. LEPIDODERMA. Wall of the sporangium with an outer layer of large scales, consisting of bicarbonate of lime.

I. DIDYMIUM, Schrad. Sporangium simple, subglobose and stipitate, the base commonly umbilicate, or sometimes sessile and plasmodiocarp; the wall a thin membrane with an outer layer of minute stellate crystals of lime. Stipe present or sometimes wanting; the columella mostly conspicuous, sometimes thin or obsolete. Capillitium of very slender threads, straight or often sinuous, stretching from the columella to the wall of the sporangium, simple or outwardly sparingly branched at a sharp angle. Spores globose, violaceous.

Didymium, together with Spumaria, is to be distinguished from all other genera of the Myxomycetes by the covering of stellate crystals, like hoar-frost, upon the outer surface of the sporangium.

§1. CIONIUM. Columella prominent, subcentral, globose, obovoid, or turbinate; the threads of the capillitium radiating in all directions to the wall of the sporangium.

A. Sporangium stipitate.

1. DIDYMIUM SQUAMULOSUM, A. & S. Sporangium variable in form and size, small and globose, or large and much depressed, the base usually umbilicate, stipitate, or sometimes sessile, and even plasmodiocarp; the wall very thin and pellucid, with a thin, gray-white layer of stellate crystals of lime, breaking up into subpersistent scales. Stipe short, erect, snow-white, longitudinally furrowed or plicate; the columella central, snow-white, various in shape, globose, obovoid, turbinate, and stipitate or sessile. Capillitium of numerous colorless threads, radiating from the columella and separating outwardly into several branches. Spores globose, very minutely warted, dark violaceous, 8-10 mic. in diameter.

Growing on old wood, leaves, herbaceous stems, etc. Sporangium .4-.6-.8 mm. in diameter, the stipe scarcely longer than the diameter, often much shorter or nearly wanting.

2. DIDYMIUM PROXIMUM, B. & C. Sporangium globose or depressed-globose, the base more or less umbilicate, stipitate; the wall very thin and pellucid, with a loose white covering of stellate crystals of lime, the upper part breaking up and falling away. Stipe long, erect, tapering upward, yellow-brown to reddish-brown, expanding at the base into a small hypothallus; the columella central, white, turbinate, or discoid turbinate. Capillitium of slender, colorless threads, radiating from the columella, branching and often anastomosing. Spores globose, even, pale violaceous, 8-10 mic. in diameter. Plate XII, Fig. 37.

Growing on old leaves, sticks, culms, etc. Sporangium .4-.6 mm. in diameter, the stipe two or three times the diameter.

3. DIDYMIUM EXIMIUM, Peck. Sporangium depressed-globose, the base umbilicate, sometimes very much depressed and also umbilicate above, stipitate; the wall pale ocher or pale yellow, with a thin layer of minute white crystals of lime, the upper part gradually breaking away. Stipe long, erect, tapering upward, pale yellow-brown, darker below, expanding into a small brown hypothallus; the columella central, large, discoid, or sometimes rough and irregular, pale ochre or yellowish. Capillitium of much-branched colorless threads, radiating upward and downward from the columella. Spores globose, very minutely warted, dark violaceous, 9-11 mic. in diameter. Plate XII, Fig. 38.

Growing on old leaves, sticks, etc. Sporangium .5-.6 mm. in diameter, the stipe about twice the diameter.

4. DIDYMIUM MICROCARPUM, Fr. Sporangium small, globose, the base slightly umbilicate, stipitate; the wall a dark-colored membrane, covered with abundant snow-white crystals of lime. Stipe long, slender, erect, delicately striate, yellow-brown to blackish in color, expanded at the base into a small hypothallus; the columella small, globose, sessile or substipitate, pale yellow-brown. Capillitium of pale brown threads, somewhat branched and forming a loose net. Spores globose, very minutely warted, violaceous, 6-7 mic. in diameter.

Growing on old wood, leaves, mosses, etc. Sporangium .4-.5 mm. in diameter, the stipe two or three times as long. The species is more particularly distinguished by its small spores.

5. DIDYMIUM MINUS, Lister. Sporangium depressed-globose, the base umbilicate, stipitate, rarely sessile and plasmodiocarp; the wall a dark-colored membrane with a thin layer of stellate crystals of lime, breaking up gradually and falling away. Stipe erect or sometimes bent at the apex, variable in length, rarely wanting, from pale brown to blackish in color, rising from a small hypothallus; the columella reaching the center, brown or blackish, rough, convex, subglobose or pulvinate, substipitate. Capillitium of slender colorless threads, radiating from the columella and more or less branched outwardly. Spores globose, very minutely warted, violaceous, 8-10 mic. in diameter. Plate XII, Fig. 39.

Growing in vast abundance in Spring on old leaves, bark, wood, etc. Sporangium .4-.6 mm. in diameter, the stipe scarcely longer but usually shorter than the diameter of the sporangium rarely absent. It is considered by Lister to be a variety of D. farinaceum; it differs from this species in its smaller and less-depressed sporangium and in its smaller nearly smooth spores.

B. Sporangia sessile.

6. DIDYMIUM EFFUSUM, Link. Sporangia gregarious or scattered, sessile on a flattened base, convex above, various in shape, subrotund or by confluence effused and venosely creeping; the wall very thin and pellucid, invested with a thin flocculose layer of minute crystals of lime. The columella hemispheric, rugulose, usually snow-white. Capillitium of very slender colorless threads, furnished with numerous minute protuberances, much branched and combined into a dense net. Spores globose, very minutely warted, dark violaceous, 10-11 mic. in diameter.

Growing on old leaves, wood, etc. Sporangium about .5 mm. in diameter or thickness, sometimes confluent and more or less elongated as a plasmodiocarp. This species is reported from the United States, but I have seen no specimens.

7. DIDYMIUM PHYSAROIDES, Pers. Sporangia roundish or hemispheric, more or less irregular and deformed, sessile or with a very short stipe, and closely crowded together upon a strongly-developed common hypothallus; the wall a dark colored membrane, with a thin layer of stellate crystals of lime. The columella large and thick, divided into cells which are filled with irregular lumps of lime, common to all the sporangia. Capillitium of stout threads, usually simple, only rarely branched, furnished with numerous fusiform swellings. Spores globose, minutely warted, dark violaceous, 12-14 mic. in diameter.

Growing on old wood, bark, moss, etc. Reported from Carolina by Curtis. It is said superficially to resemble somewhat Physarum didermoides.

§2. PLACENTIA. Columella basal, much depressed, very thin or quite obsolete, connate with the base of the sporangium; the threads of the capillitium ascending to the wall of the sporangium.

A. Sporangium stipitate.