CHAPTER III : FROM SPORE TO MUSHROOM 



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The way in which a spore grows into a fungus plant is very 

 simple : 



(i) The spore is a single cell, and when it is in a warm, 

 moist place it swells. 



(2) The cell absorbs food through 

 its cell wall and divides into two cells. 



(3) Each new cell absorbs food and 

 divides until long chains of cells are 

 formed, looking to the unaided eye like 

 threads. Each thread is a hypha, and a 



tangle of threads is a mycelium. 



(4) In the soil the mycelium nour- 

 ishes itself on decaying vegetable 

 matter, and grows ; then, at certain 

 points, the threads mat together to 

 form little balls the size of pin- 

 heads (j). 



{b) The pinheads grow to the size 

 /^ of bird-shot. 



{c) The bird-shot increase to the size 

 of shoe-buttons. 



(s) If the ball 

 * * ' is to become a 



stemmed toadstool, a minute stem ap- 

 pears on the button. The stem and 

 button increase in size. The button is 

 lifted above the soil and expands into a 

 mushroom. 



(6) If the button is to become a puff- 

 ball, no stem appears on the button ; but 



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