yellowish.
The tubes are very regular in arrangement.

Figure 186 represents well this species, three plants being grouped
rather closely on the same stick; two show the under surface and one
gives a side view. The upper portion of the plate represents two of the
plants enlarged, the three lower ones being natural size. The plant is
very common and widely distributed over the world. Those illustrated in
the plate were collected at Ithaca. This species is too tough for food.

Many of the thin and pliant species of _Polyporus_ are separated by some
into the genus =Polystictus=. The species are very numerous, as well as
some of the individuals of certain species. They grow on wood or on the
ground, some have a central stem, and others are shelving, while some
are spread out on the surface of the wood. One very pretty species is
the =Polystictus perennis= Fr. This grows on the ground and has a
central stem. The plant is 2--3 cm. high, and the cap 1--4 cm. broad.
The =pileus= is thin, pliant when fresh and somewhat brittle when dry.
It is minutely velvety on the upper surface, reddish brown or cinnamon
in color, expanded or umbilicate to nearly funnel-shaped. The surface is
marked beautifully by radiations and fine concentric zones. The =stem=
is also velvety. The =tubes= are minute, the walls thin and acute, and
the mouths angular and at last more or less torn. The margin of the cap
is finely fimbriate, but in old specimens these hairs are apt to become
rubbed off. The left hand plant in Fig. 187 is _Polyporus perennis_.

=Polystictus cinnamomeus= (Jacq.) Sacc., (_P. oblectans_ Berk. Hook.
Jour. p. 51, 1845, Dec. N. A. F. No. 35: _P. splendens_ Pk., 26th Report
N. Y. State Mus., p. 26) is a closely related species with the same
habit, color, and often is found growing side by side with _P.
perennis_. The margin of the cap is deeply and beautifully lacerate, as
shown in the three other plants in Fig. 187. _Polystictus connatus_
Schw., grows in similar situations and one sometimes finds all three of
these plants near each other on the ground by roadsides. _P. connatus_
has much larger pores than either of the other two, and it is a somewhat
larger plant. Figure 187 is from a photograph of plants collected at
Blowing Rock, N. C., during September, 1899.

[Illustration: FIGURE 187.--Left-hand plant Polystictus perennis;
right-hand three plants Polystictus cinnamomeus. All natural size.
Copyright.]

=Polystictus versicolor