Toadstools, etc

Usage examples of fungi.

There is one great group of fungi called Basidiomycetes, so named from having their stalked spores produced on basidia.

The Basidia-bearing fungi, or Basidiomycetes, are divided into three classes, as has been already stated.

There are many books on British fungi for students, but we want some popular work easy to understand, with no technical expressions.

We procured a list of works on fungi, and looked for some volume not too deep for our comprehension nor too costly for our purse.

We could go on prolonging our search, and describe many wonderful fungi, so easily found on a summer day, but as our object is to excite curiosity and interest and not fatigue the reader, we will here pause, and afterward arrange the descriptions of mushrooms in a separate section.

The peculiarity of growth first arises from a tendency of certain fungi to assume a circular form.

Before we begin our list of fungi, let us learn what a mushroom is, and know something of its component parts.

There is a group of fungi called Polyporei, which have tubes or pores instead of gills.

The study of fungi has only begun in this country, and there is an immense vista for future students.

Stevenson, in his book on British Fungi, has given the original words and also their meanings.

The plants grow on the outside of wood and leaves, even on fungi, but are often rooted on the ground, and do not dry up.

We have described several species in our list of fungi, and will only say that these are fleshy fungi, either simple or branched.

The third class, Hymenomycetes, or Membrane fungi, has been described, but there remain two other groups of which we will now speak more fully.

The first class, called the Gasteromycetes, or Stomach fungi, matures its spores on the inside of the plant.

The distinction between this class and that of the Membrane fungi, which ripens its spores on the outside, may be more readily understood by one familiar with the structure of the fig, whose flowers are situated on the interior of its pear-shaped, hollow axis, which is the fruit.