322 



GENERAL MORPHOLOGY OF PLANTS 



broad. Others use it for all the fleshy larger fungi, including 

 the morel, one of the sac fungi. This appears to be a better use of 

 the word. The word toadstool is used by some to denote the 

 poisonous species, while mushroom is applied by the same persons 

 to denote the edible fungi. But few of the advocates of this dis- 

 tinction between mushroom and toadstool know what constitutes 

 a toadstool, and call many edible fungi, toadstools. Most bot- 

 anists make no distinction between the words but use them 

 synonymously, and speak of edible and poisonous mushrooms. 



Fig. 281. 

 An edible "toadstool" (Amanita caesareaX Caesar's agaric. 



These higher members of the basidium fungi we will treat under 

 the following heads: ist, the Gill Fungi; 2nd, the Bracket Fungi 

 or Pore Fungi; 3rd, the Coral Fungi, or Fairy Club Fungi; 4th, 

 the Hedgehog Fungi, or Tooth Fungi; 5th, the Puffballs, etc. 



The Gill Fungi. 



474. The gill fungi. The gill fungi are provided with thin 

 narrow leaf -like outgrowths on the underside of a " cap." These 

 gills, or lamellae, stand close together and radiate from the central 

 part of the under surface of the cap, or from its point of attach- 

 ment with a stem, or wood when the fungus lacks a stem and the 



