160 



PRACTICAL BOTANY. 



Carpenter's " The Microscope," pp. 565, 566 ; Vines' " Text-Book of 

 Botany," pp. 303-308 ; Bennett and Murray's " Cryptogamic Botany," 

 pp. 383-386; Cooke's "Introduction to the Study of Fungi," pp. 

 242-250. 



CLASS VI. The Toadstools and their Allies (Basidiomy- 

 cetes~). This is a large class and contains a great variety 

 of forms, including some of the largest and handsomest of 

 the Fungi. They are for the most part saprophytes ; a 



few are parasites. The 

 portion of the plant that 

 appears above the ground 

 or other substratum on 

 which it grows is the fruc- 

 tification. The plant itself 

 consists of delicate white 

 threads, the mycelium, 

 which ramify through the 

 substratum. Popularly the 

 principal members of this 

 class are divided into 

 Toadstools and Mushrooms. 

 Under the latter name are 

 included those forms that 

 may be used as food, and more particularly the species 

 that is largely cultivated for food, the Agaricus campestris. 

 From the botanical standpoint, there is no such classifica- 

 tion. The cultivated forms are propagated by placing 

 masses of humus containing the mycelium, which the 

 gardener calls spawn, in beds of prepared humus. The 

 mycelium spreads and bears repeated crops of Mushrooms. 

 The fructification of Toadstools is at first a more or less 

 egg-shaped body, the button, which is some days in forming 

 under the substratum. Then, if conditions are favorable, 

 it shoots up very quickly into the fully formed Toadstool. 

 A large number of Toadstools are edible, and many of 



FIG. 93. A typical gill-bearing 

 Toadstool. (Weed.) 



