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Show ( 34 The Hiflory of P L A N T S. not open at their bafes. Thefe coats are all of the fame pure white colour :ith ~E~ external one, and their perforations are fo ~egula~, that they ·fr~kefc a v;ry ~autt u a earance in autumn. On cutting into th1s fpecies, there WI ~ oun ant erre ~n b~fh the fudaces of every coat ; and, in winter, feeds are found m great numbers m ever ore or tubule, adhering to the fides in form of a_fine .Powder. I yh~ve only met with this fp~cies in one place, whtch IS the ~oo~ above mount Sorrel in Leicefierfhire. There it grows to the old trees of all kmds m confiderable plenty. Thelc are all the known fpecies of this very fingular genus of Fungus. FUN G L Cla}s the Fi?ft. Genus tbe Fifth. S T ERE U M. S T ERE U M is a genus of Fungu~'s, of a fol_id and uniform ll:r~Cl:ure, neither divided into lamellre, nor pierced with holes, enher externally or mternall~, but whofe upper and under furfaces are the fame, and both apparently fmooth and umform. The fructifications of thefe Fungus's are produced on the furface, and confifi: of antherce and feeds. 1. Stereum tenuius villofum. Thin, hairy .Stereum. This is a frnall but a very beautiful Fungus. It grows to old trees by a broad bafe, and ufually a duller of the plants grow together. It creeps l~n~thwife to. three or four inches, often ~ore, and fends out from fpace to fpace fem1ctrcula: bodies, .o~ an inch or more in diameter. Thefe fometimes grow fingle, eacl~ froiT_lltS own dilb_nct bafe; but more frequently the bafe is continuous, and extends Itfelf_m length, as JUfi: obferved. The colour is very beautiful, often a deep purple, fomet1mes a paler, and fometimes yellow. The colour, be it what it will, is always palefl: about the bafe of the Fungus and deeper at the edges, and is ufually il:ronger and deeper on the under fide, than ~n any part of the upper. T~e bafe ~s often whitifb; ~nd the w?ole upper furface in this cafe is ufually variegated, e1ther Wlt~ purple and white, o: w1tb yellow and white. The Fungus is not in any place fo thick as a half-crown, ~~ moil: not fo thick as a Q1illing. It has no pores nor lamell~ o~ any pa.rt, but both Its upper a.nd under furfaces are in February and M<trch covered With a m1xt powder, part confiflmg of oblong and part of roundi{h granules, which are apparently the firft the anthe_rce, the latter ~he feed. The upper furface is covered with a foft kind of down, wh1ch retains tbefe granules of both kinds, much longer than th~y at:e found _on the. othe~. This fpecies is frequent on old trees about Chel~ea. D!llenms calls It Agancus. vtll~fus tenuis, infernc la:::vis. Ray, Fungus arboreus villofus, mferne planus; an.d Mich~IJ , Agaricum Alpinum fquammofum membranaceum, fuperne obfcurum & fenceum, mferne rufefcens. 2. Stereum crajjitts lceve oblongum. 'The thick, fmooth, oblong Sterettm. This is one of the moO: elegant of all the Fungus kind. It ri~es from a bafe equ~l to any part of it in breadth, and ufually of a fomewhat greater thlckne.(c. From this it grows in an horizontal direCtion, to the length of thr:~, four, or five .1?ches. or more. It's breadth is three or four inches, nearly as much as It s length, and It s thickne~s ~bout a quarter of an inch or more; in ~11 this, howevei> it ~ar!es extreamly;. 1t IS fometimes much narrower, and much thmner, and fomet1mes It IS almofi: as t!Hck as broad. It never, however, affumes a femicircular figure, and it's mofi: perfeCt one feems oblong, broad, and flat. It is perfeCtly finooth both on the upper and under furfaces, and is of an elegant bright red colour, variegated in a very beautiful man?er with black and yellow ; thefe colours are difpofed in veins and fpots in a beautiful manner, and the whole furface is fmooth and gloffy. It fometimes grows fingle, but Tbe Hi.ftory of P L A N T S. 35 but ~ore ufuaUy ten or twenty plants of it grow in a clull:er, in which cafe it is very confpiCUOUS. There _is n~t the fmallefi: pore vifible in any part of it 1 yet at a certain feafon every year, which IS about Augufl:, the whole plant is covered with a fine powder which is evidently compofed of two kinds of granules, oblong and round ones: th; former are the farina, the latter the feeds. It grows to the rotten fiumps of trees, and to rotten wood of any kind, but it is n?t very common. I once found a?ove forty_Plants of it on an old gate-poll: near Paddmgton, and have. two o: thre~ ~Imes feen_It about the ftumps of trees in Charlton for:ft. Ray calls It, Agancus dJg!_tatus ~ax1mus ex luteo, coccineo, & nigra eleganter vanegatus. Merret, Fungus corallu rubn colore, multis lineis nigricantibus & maculis luteis infignitus. 3. Sterettm crajjijjimttm durum. Hard and very thick Stereum. This is a very large Fungus, but has little elfe remarkable about it. It grows to old trees by a. broad and extreamly ~rm_ bafe, w?i~h often is fo well fixed , that a part of the wood IS eafier pulled away with tt, than It IS feparated . From this bafe it extends itfelf_ irregularly into fomewhat of a circular, or partly circular form. We often fee it makmg ~early a. ';hole round, it~s bafe appearing like a kind of very thick and very ilion pedicle at Its fide ; often I_t grows only femicircular, it's bafe extending fo far, a_s to make t~e. br~adeft p~rt of It. It 's diameter is often eight or ten inches, fometHI_ Ies more; It .s th1cknefs IS from two to four or fix inches. It is extreamly hard and foltd, and remams many years; but, when very old, it fometimes cracks on the furface.. It's colour is w~ite, fometimes very pure and clear, fometimes brownifh or greytfh. It's fubfiance IS almoil woody, it's furface fmooth and uniform with no marks of lamellce ?r pores on it. Toward autumn, however,' it is found d~fiy in feveral parts, and thts du~y matter, when e~amined, is found to be partly the antherce, partly the feeds, as m the others of this genus. This kind of dull wipes off very eafily from them all. This fjJecies is very common on old elms and other trees about London. J. Bauhine calls it, Fungus denfus ad ellychnia; and others, Fungus ig-niarius. . The other fpecies _of the .Stere~m are, I. The gelatinous, membranous, and finuatecl Stereum .. 2. The ltchen-hke viilofe Stereum. 3. The little white, trilobate Stereum. 4· The little red lobated Stereum. 5· The thick brown Stereum, growing in the fiffures of old wood, and called oak leather. 6. The tufred hollowed thin Stereum. 7· The blue, lichen-like Stereum. 8. The reddilh, thicker Iiche'n-like Stereum. 9· The white, very thin, and dry lichen-like Stereum. 1 o. The brown, di~ hotomous, wood Stereum. 11. The yellow, fibrofe Stereum. 12. The black, reticulated Stereum. 13. The white, hairy, reticulated Stereum. 14. The fine velvety, greenifh Stereum. FUNGI Ciafi the Second. Such as grow erefl, and conft}J of pedicles crowned with Heads. Genus the F irjJ. L E PI 0 T A. L ~~I 0 T A is a genus of Fungus's ~ c?nfi~i?g o~ a pedicle fupporting at 1t s top a head, the under part of whtch IS dtvided mto mnumerable thin and fine lamellce .. The Lep~otce are the moll: common of all the fpecies of Fungi. They ~ave _wah us acqutred the name of mulhroom, in preference to all the others~ and Micheli, who h~s given peculiar names to the reft, calls thefe Fungi, as if that name belonged peculiarly to them. The common efculent mulhroom is of this kjnd and there are almo~, innumerable others, wh~ch approach to it in figure and ftrutture: though they want Its pleafant flavour, all whtch are of this genus .. The |