FUNGI 203 



WARTS : irregular flecks, or patches, on the surface of the cap, formed 

 if the volva ruptures about the equator and the upper portion is 

 carried up and remains adherent to the growing pileus (not 

 the case with Amanita phalioides). 



VELUM, or VEIL : a membrane which, in some forms, attaches the 

 margin of the pileus to the stem. When, in growing, the cap 

 tears away from the velum around its margin, the velum re- 

 mains attached to the stem as the annulus, or ring. 



The presence of the three characters, white spores, ring, and cup 

 (which may be reduced to a scaly, bulbous base to the stem), 

 mark the specimen as an amanita. In collecting, why should 

 we be sure to have the base of the stem complete? Why should 

 we never mix buttons with edible mushrooms ? 



Classification. Sort the mushrooms collected, using the 

 outline given below. If you place the dried specimens in a 

 jar packed with wet paper the day before beginning the work, 

 many of them will absorb moisture and become approximately 

 like fresh specimens : 



1. All forms with gills underneath the pileus may or may not have 

 stems Agaricacece. 



2. Hedgehog mushrooms : forms whose spore-forming surface is pro- 

 duced into spines which hang downward. They may be umbrella-shaped 

 or irregularly tuberculate or branched Hydnacece. 



3. Mushrooms with a honeycomb structure of tubes in place of gills ; 

 soft and with the tubes readily separable from the cap Boleti. 



4. Fungi with fine pores underneath the pileus. Many species become 

 corky or woody, the bracket fungi of the woods PolyporL 



5. Coral mushrooms : may be simple, erect clubs or large, branching 

 masses, the branches being erect. The spores are produced over most of 

 the exposed surface Clavariacece. 



6. The morels and cup fungi. Some of these have stem and cap, but 

 produce the r spores in pits or irregular depressions 'on the outer surface 

 of the conical or cylindrical cap. Other forms are cup-shaped or saucer- 

 shaped Discomycetes. 



7. Puffballs and earthstars : mushrooms in which the spores are pro- 

 duced within a closed cavity, which may open by an apical pore or by 

 the irregular breaking of the wall (peridium) Lycoperdacece. 



