230 



BROADLY OPENED ASCOCARPS 



91. Order g. Pezizales or the Cup Fungi. — These plants are 

 characterized by the formation of fieshy, leathery or gelatinous 

 cup-like ascocarps that range in size from mere specks to forms 

 four or five inches in diameter (Fig. 156). The mycelium lives 

 upon the humus in the ground or on decaying plants and ap- 

 parently in this and the next order frequently develops the asco- 



FiG. 155. 



Fig. 156. 



Fig. 155. The stroma of Cordyceps emerging from the pupa of a moth 

 and forming a club-lilce organ with numerous ascocarps, as, in its apical 

 region. 



Fig. 156. One of the common cup fungi, order Pezizales, with broadly 

 opened ascocarps. Common upon rich humus soil and decaying wood. 



carps directly without a reproductive process. In Pyronema, 

 however, Harper has shown that reproductive organs are formed 

 that are more suggestive of those of the red algae than was the 

 case in the blue moulds and downy mildews previously noted. 

 The female gametangium has a long tubular outgrowth that 

 curves over and becomes closely applied to the male (Fig. 157, 

 A). The dissolution of the separating walls permits the fusion 

 of the gametes, after which, the gametospore develops a number 

 of erect sac-like hyphae or asci (Fig. 157, B). Adjoining hy- 

 phae of the mycelium grow up among the asci and around them, 

 forming a cup-like structure resembling that shown in Fig. 156. 

 A section through one of these cups reveals the asci intermingled 

 with hyphae, also called paraphyses, in the form of a layer or 

 stratum. Such an association of spore-bearing organs and para- 

 physes is called a hymenium. The spores are discharged to con- 



