Flowerless-Plant Study 



711 



CaporPileos 



--Gills 



The common edible mushroom <Agaricns campestris), showing button stage, 



vanishing ring and gills. 



Photo by George F. Atkinson. 



8. Look at the stem. What is its length? Its color? Is it slender 

 or stocky? Is its surface shiny, smooth, scaly, striate or dotted ? Has it 

 a collar or ring around it near the top? What is the appearance of this 

 ring? Is it fastened to the stem, or will it slide up and down? Is the 

 stem solid or hollow? Is it swollen at its base? Is its base set in a sac or 

 cup, or is it covered with a membrane which scales off? Do you know 

 that the most poisonous of mushrooms have the sac or the scaly covering 

 at the base of the stem 2 



g. Examine with a lens the material 

 on which the mushroom was growing; 



o o ' 



do you see any threads in it that look 

 like mold? Find if you can what these 

 threads do for the mushroom? If you 

 were to go into the mushroom business 

 what would you buy to start your beds? 

 What is mushroom "spawn?" 



10. If you can find where the com- 

 mon edible mushrooms grow plentifully, 

 or if you know of any place where they 

 are grown for the market, get some of 

 the young mushrooms when they are not 

 larger than a pea and others that are 

 larger and older. These young mush- 

 rooms are called "buttons." Find by 

 your own investigation the relation be- 

 tween the buttons and the threads. Can you see the gills in the button? 



.--- -Cup or Volvo 



ffl ye e 1 i u rw 



Mushroom with parts named. 



