Arcyria incarnata

Arcyria incarnata (Pers.) Pers. Obs. Myc. 1: 58. 1796
Stemonitis incarnata Pers.; J. F. Gmel. Syst. Nat. 2; 1467. 1791. Trichia Jlexuosa Schum. Enum. PL Saell. 2: 209. 1803. Arcyria lilacina Schum. Enum. PI. Saell. 2: 212. 1803. Arcyria adnata Rost. Monog. Append. 36. 1876. Arcyrella irregularis Racib. Rozp. Akad. Umiej. 12: 83. 1884. Arcyrella incarnata Racib. Hedwigia 24; 170. 1885.
Sporangia crowded, cylindric, stalked or nearly sessile, 1-2 mm. tall, 0.5-0.8 mm. broad, becoming greatly expanded, rosaceous to crimson, weathering to brown; peridium evanescent except for the shallow, saucer-like, inwardly roughened, usually plicate calyculus; stalk usually short, sometimes merely a point, concolorous or darker, filled with spore-like cells, arising from a dull red, inconspicuous, but often continuous hypothallus ; capillitium loose, very elastic, expanding to twice the original height of the fructification or more, consisting of a network of rosy threads 3-5 n in diameter, marked with transverse plates, cogs, and half -rings arranged in an open spiral, attached to the calyculus at the center only and breaking away freely ; spores rosy in mass, colorless by transmitted light, marked with a few scattered warts, 7-8 /x in diameter; Plasmodium white.
Type locality: Germany. Habitat: Dead wood.
Distribution: Throughout North America; cosmopolitan.