Lloyd Mycological Writings V4.pdf - MykoWeb

LETTER No. 55.
By C. G. LLOYD, Cincinnati, Ohio, March, 1915.
OVERHOLTS' POLYPORACEAE OF OHIO.
There appeared about one year ago in the Annals of the Missouri Bo-
tanical Garden (March, 1914), a paper by L. O. Overholts on the Polyporaceae
of Ohio. We have seen notices of the paper, but as a separate
issue was not sent to me, and as I was not favorably impressed with a
previous paper by the same author, I did not take the trouble to go over
to the library and look it up. It has therefore really just come to my attention
and I was agreeably surprised to find it to be a very valuable and true
presentation of the subject, and I am gi-atified that Mr. Overholts has gotten
back into the realms of rational mycology. I presume this is due to the
conservative influence of Professor Burt. In his previous paper he was
no doubt largely influenced by Professor Bruce Fink, who does not know
enough about fungus to form an opinion of the merits of such things, and
Overholts' previous nomenclature was about as intelligible as a Chinese
laundry ticket.
The present paper I consider the best and most valuable paper on the
classification of our native Polyporaceae that has yet been printed. The
names used are the usually accepted names for the plants, and the articles
impressed me as being well and accurately drawn up. They are original
descriptions, drawn in most cases from the growing plants, and if I were
publishing a work on American Polypores I should probably use them bodily,
of course, giving due credit. Mr. Overholts records and describes 105 species,
and while the paper is restricted to those occurring in Ohio, the fungi
are such widely distributed plants that it is practically a manual of the
fungi of the United States. There are relatively few of our native plants
that are not included. Mr. Overholts has employed the names that are currently
used in American mycology, corrected in some cases as a result of
recent historical studies, and it is gratifying that so many species finally
take definite shape so the names mean the plants. If mycology ever reaches
the stage where a binomial will have some definite meaning, then the
greater part of the trouble will have passed away. The excellent work that
is being done by Professor Burt at the Missouri Botanical Gardens on the
Thelephoraceae and by Mr. Overholts on the Polyporaceae gives promise
that this may some day be reached.
Of the 105 species that Mr. Overholts has described we would have no
criticisms or suggestions to offer as to most of them. There are a few
species for which Mr. Overholts has used American names that are exactly
the same plants as grow in Europe, and while Mr. Overholts has given the
current American names, having, of course, no way of knowing regarding
the foreign plants, it is only a question of time when in our American mycology
they will acquire the 'same names as in Europe. We append a list
of a few corrections we would make, as follows:
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
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