_The apothecia are developed on the surface of the substratum and
are waxy or fleshy_; at the commencement closed, and covered with a
saucer- or cup-shaped, seldom flat, hymenium. The _hypothecium_ is
generally well developed. This sub-family is the richest in species of
the Discomycetes and contains forms of very different habit. They grow
upon dead wood, upon the ground, and upon dung. A few are parasites.
Order 1. =Helotiaceæ.= Apothecia with waxy envelope of colourless,
or yellowish prosenchymatous cells.--~_Chlorosplenium æruginosum_
is found on decaying wood (particularly Oak and Birch), to which it
gives a green colour. _Sclerotinia_ has sclerotia which are developed
upon the host-plant and from which, after a period of rest, the long,
brown-stalked apothecia arise. _S. ciborioides_ (_S. trifoliorum_,
Fig. 128) is parasitic on Clover; _S. sclerotiorum_, on _Daucus_-roots,
_Phaseolus_, etc.; _S. baccarum_, on the berries of _Vaccinium
myrtillus_; “_Botrytis cinerea_” is a common parasite and is probably
the conidial form of _S. fuckeliania_ (Fig. 127).--_Helotium herbarum_
lives on dry plant stems.--_Dasyscypha willkommii_ (Fig. 129) produces
Larch-canker on the bark of the Larch.~
[Illustration: FIG. 128.--_Sclerotinia ciborioides_: _a_
sclerotium with three apothecia slightly magnified; _b_ ascus
with eight ascospores; _c_ germinating ascospore.]
[Illustration: FIG. 129.--_Dasyscypha willkommii_: _a_ portion of
bark of _Larix decidua_ with sessile, cup-shaped apothecia (nat.
size); _b_ two paraphyses on either side of an ascus with eight
ascospores.]
Order 2. =Mollisiaceæ.= _Mollisia cinerea_, principally on
decaying wood.
Order 3. =Pezizaceæ.= This order contains the largest and
morphologically the highest forms of the _Discomycetes_. Apothecia
fleshy, and in the later conditions generally saucer-shaped.
_Peziza_, with sessile apothecia, growing on the ground;
_P. cochleata_ is brown, and coiled like a snail-shell; _P.
coccinea_ is scarlet; _P. aurantia_ occurs as an orange-coloured
expansion on the ground.
Order 4. =Ascobolaceæ.= Apothecia fleshy; in the later stages
flat or convex. The asci are, comparatively speaking, large,
and often contain a great number of spores which escape by the
casting off of a lid on the summit of the ascus. Generally
living on dung.--_Ascobolus furfuraceus_, etc.