Fig. 13 The type collection (COLENSO b 563) consists of fruiting bodies up to 1 cm in diam. with an often excentrically inserted stipe, growing on rotten wood. Spores slightly amygdaliform or comma-like, neither amyloid nor dextrinoid, smooth, 7.5-9.5 X 4-5 µ. According to our knowledge M. inversus is a good species of Marasmius sensu lato.

[Type specimens Kew] Type packet empty.

Gregarious or scattered. Pileus membranaceous, dry, reniform or almost circular, brownish or dingy-ochraceous, almost even and glabrous, usually inverted, so that the gills are uppermost and the pileus in contact with the substratum 3-6 mm. across ; gills adnate, distant, rather broad, sometimes forked, shorter intermediate ones present, scarcely or not at all connected by veins, pale yellowish-buff when dry; spores elliptical, 6-7 x 4 µ; stem lateral or nearly so, short, slender, coloured like the pileus, arched and standing above the pileus when the latter is inverted.

New Zealand.

On slender branches and twigs, lying on the ground.

A minute but very interesting species, sent to Kew by Colenso (no. b, 563), and was at the time referred to Marasmius spaniophyllus, Berk., from which species it is indeedtruly distinct. The last-named species must therefore be removed from the list of New Zealand Fungi. Readily distinguished by its small size and peculiar inverted habit of growth.

Pileus almost membranaceous, convex, erect at first, then frequently upturned with the gills uppermost, rather wrinkled, mealy, whitish, or tinged brown, 0.5-1 cm. diameter; gills adnexed, rather broad, few in number, rather thick and rigid, plane, not connected by veins; spores pip-shaped, 7 x 4 µ; stem 2-3 mm. long, slender, mealy.

Pohangina River, New Zealand. Tasmania, Australia.

On dead stems of Rhipogonum.

Sometimes growing horizontally with the pileus uppermost, and standing out from the matrix like one valve of a tiny bivalve shell. Gregarious.

The type specimen at Kew has been examined and the following; description applies to it: Pileus 5-10 mm diam., pinkish sepia, furfuraceous, orbicular to reniform. Gills adnate pinkish fawn, moderately distant. Stipe 2-3 x 0.5 mm, pinkish sepia, farinaceous, excentric, curved, inserted in dead wood. Spores 8-10 x 4-5 µm, non-amyloid. Hymenophoral trama non-amyloid. Cuticle of pseudoamyloid globe cells. The New Zealand material referred to this species by Massee (1898), and preserved at Kew, is not of Marasmius but appears to belong to the Laschia complex. Massee's statement that the gills are sometimes uppermost is incorrect. The writer has no herbarium specimens of M. subsupinus, but considers that a small stalked bracket agaric, commonly seen on standing dead wood in New Zealand, is referable to this species. More collections are needed. M. inversus Massee in Trans. N.Z. Inst. 31: 343 (1898) appears to be identical, though the spores of the type, which has been examined at Kew slightly smaller, 6-8 x 4-5 µm Massee's claim that the gills are uppermost appears insupportable, and may have been due to a lack of understanding of the habit of growth.

The type specimen at Kew has been examined and the following; description applies to it: Pileus 5-10 mm diam., pinkish sepia, furfuraceous, orbicular to reniform. Gills adnate pinkish fawn, moderately distant. Stipe 2-3 x 0.5 mm, pinkish sepia, farinaceous, excentric, curved, inserted in dead wood. Spores 8-10 x 4-5 µm, non-amyloid. Hymenophoral trama non-amyloid. Cuticle of pseudoamyloid globe cells. The New Zealand material referred to this species by Massee (1898), and preserved at Kew, is not of Marasmius but appears to belong to the Laschia complex. Massee's statement that the gills are sometimes uppermost is incorrect. The writer has no herbarium specimens of M. subsupinus, but considers that a small stalked bracket agaric, commonly seen on standing dead wood in New Zealand, is referable to this species. More collections are needed. M. inversus Massee in Trans. N.Z. Inst. 31: 343 (1898) appears to be identical, though the spores of the type, which has been examined at Kew slightly smaller, 6-8 x 4-5 µm Massee's claim that the gills are uppermost appears insupportable, and may have been due to a lack of understanding of the habit of growth.