CHAPTER III : FROM SPORE TO MUSHROOM 



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, '^ O (^y 



(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 (a). 



(b) The pinheads grov/ to the size 



of bird-shot. 



(c) The bird-shot increase to the size 

 of shoe-buttons. 

 (5) 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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