Studies of Some Tremellaceae. III. The Genus Bourdotia

SUMMARY

1.	The genus Bourdotia is treated as a distinct genus composed of eleven known species, with three species, which have been included in the group by other authors, excluded, and one species treated as doubtful, since authentic material was not examined.
2.	Bourdotia is characterized by a resupinate habit; horizontal and vertical indeterminate growth; possession of tremellaceous basidia formed in close acropetal series by the proliferation of the fertile hyphae beneath the youngest basidium, forming an essentially straight strand of fertile hyphae which is surrounded by the collapsed basidia; and a structure composed of a prostrate basal hyphal layer giving rise to gloeocystidia with a yellow-granular content, fertile hyphae, and, in some cases, dikaryophyses.
3.	Most of the specimens examined were collected in North and South America; however, a number of collections were available from Europe and certain Pacific Islands. Collections of most species are yet too few to accurately determine the geographic range; nevertheless, it appears that B. petiolata is restricted to tropical and subtropical regions, whereas B. eyrei and B. cinerea are probably cosmopolitan in distribution.