HONEY FUNGUS. 



433 



The edible sporocarps first come to light in great numbers 

 during damp weather in October, at or near the base of the 

 dead trees, and spring from the rhizomorphs. 



Fig. 209 represents a sporo- 

 carp. Its cap varies in colour 

 from that of honey to a 

 dirty brown, with dark, 

 hairy scales ; its lamellae are 

 yellowish-white, and become 

 later on speckled with reddish- 

 brown. The cylindrical stem 

 of the sporocarp is at first 

 dull red, and bears a flocky 

 white ring. The sporocarps 

 emit myriads of white conidia, 

 which spread the infection to 

 other coniferous plants and 

 to dead broadleaved species, 

 on which it is saprophytic. 



The brown rhizomorphs 

 grow in all directions through 

 the soil, and by means of 

 their soft apices bore into 

 the roots of neighbouring 

 plants and trees, which they 

 eventually kill. In dense 

 young growth, whole groups 

 of plants may be thus killed 

 and considerable blanks pro- 

 duced. In old woods, the 

 attack is more confined to 

 individual trees, and the 

 disease spreads several feet 

 up their stems 



Fig. 209. Fully-grown sporophore of 

 Armillarea mellea, Vahl. r Rhizo- 

 morph. (Natural size.} 



1}. Subjects of Attack. 



The fungus attacks all indigenous or exotic conifers, especi- 

 ally the Scots and Weymouth pines and the spruce ; the larch 

 not unfrequently suffers, but the black pine rarely. Plants 



F.P. F F 



