S P H Æ R I A C I R C U M S C I S S A. original: Circumcised Sphæria

G E N E R I C C H A R A C T E R.

Receptaculum receptacle of varied form. Sphærulæ small spheres or capsules, sub-round; hollow when dried; when moistened, stuffed with a jelly filled with oblong thecis cases/sporangia (visible under a lens) or spores.

E I G H T H S E C T I O N. Simple.

S P E C I F I C C H A R A C T E R.

Sphæria simplex Simple Sphæria, from ash-colored to slightly reddish, with sphærulæ small spheres covered by the bark of branches, the upper part villous covered with soft, fine hairs and membranous, vanishing. Synopsis of the method of fungi, p. 115.

Inhabits rarely, under the bark of branches on hedges.

OBS. Too similar to Sph. Tiliæ Linden Sphæria (synopsis of fungi, p. 87), but it seems different regarding internal structure and the nature of the jelly.

E X P L A N A T I O N O F F I G U R E S.

TAB. II. (fig. 4.) offers this sphæria fungus of the genus Sphæria delineated under a lens: one part of the wood bark, under which the sphærulæ small spheres nest, has been removed: on the other part, oval, black spores are seen, protruding from the ostiolo small opening/mouth of the capsules. To fig. 5. the bark is shown from below, to which the upper part of the sphærulæ small spheres adheres.

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C I R C U M C I S E D S P H É R I E.

Simple, of a reddish ash-color, capsules covered by the bark of wood; upper part of a membranous, villous tissue, tearing easily.

It is encountered, though rarely, under the bark of branches in hedges.

If one removes the epidermis of the bark that covers it, one removes at the same time the upper, villous half of the capsules; then the lower half, which remains fixed, presents the shape of a small cup. These capsules open to the surface of the wood by a small orifice, from which flows a slimy juice, blackish in the dry state, retaining elongated seeds (spores). The characters that we have just mentioned are represented by figure 4 of plate 2.

OBS. It has much in common with the linden sphérie sphæria; but it nevertheless appears sufficiently distinct by its internal structure, and the nature of the slimy juice that it contains, as one can be convinced according to the observation cited on the occasion of the linden sphérie sphæria, p. 84.