76 



Minnesota Plant Life. 



is saddle-shaped ; in another somewhat urn-shaped ; in a third 

 the whole fruit-body is club-shaped and closely resenibles some 

 forms of the club-fungi which have l)ccn described above. In 

 some the cap is peculiarly coiled and twisted, looking like a 

 knot of angleworms. The colors of these plants are various — 

 white, brown, slate-colored, yellowish, pinkish or red. They 

 occur sometimes upon much decayed logs, but the majority of 

 them are terrestrial. A few arc of an almost gelatinous con- 

 sistency but a greater numl)cr have, to the touch, rather the feel- 

 ing of cartilage. Several of them besides the morel are edible 



Fic. 27. Ciip-fimt;! ijiouiiii; on dt-caying twig. .-^ftL-r I.loyd. 



and I do not know of any that are violently poisonous, although 

 from their texture, a number of them would scarcely be attrac- 

 tive. 



Cup-fungi. X(tt a distant relative of the morel is the cup- 

 fungus, which in its numerous varieties is doubtless familiar to 

 many of tlie readers of tl.is volume. .\ dark slate-colored spe- 

 cies of cu])-fungus is abundant in Minnc-ota woods in early 

 spring and produces cups an inch or uK.re in diameter. If one 

 cuts such, a cup in two and lodks at the cut siu'facc it will be 

 found tli.'il the whole fi"uit body li;is .a distinct lining like a por- 



