THE SPLASH-CUPS OF POLYPORUS CONCHIFER

Abstract

The cup-shaped structures produced by Polyporus conchifer are splash-cups from which oidia are thrown to a distance of four feet by raindrops. The oidia are developed on the inner surfaces of the cups in gelatinous masses. The jelly swells at once on being wetted and the cup is filled with oidia which germinate readily and give rise to dikaryotic mycelium. The cups are developed in late summer. From one rim of each cup the flat pore-bearing pileus grows out as the season advances and basidiospores are discharged from the pore layer. During winter, the flat pileus becomes detached from the cup and the latter persists until spring or longer and occasionally may regenerate a new pileus.The dispersal by rain of oidia from the cups of P. conchifer prolongs the reproductive period of the fungus.