112 



THE WOODLANDS. 



until softened. In this condition they constitute 

 what is called Amadou, or " German tinder." Warm 

 and comfortable chest-protectors, caps, and other 

 articles are made of this prepared fungus, which was 

 at one time a more important article of trade than 

 now. Not a single species, amongst the one hun- 

 dred found in the British Islands, has been applied 

 to any practical use. 



Looking from the erect trunks to old stumps or 

 prostrate trunks of fallen trees, and we shall be sure 

 to find another fungus, of an ochry-orange colour, 

 either extending in irregular flat patches for some 

 inches, or with the edges projecting nearly an inch 

 from the back,, or with a series of these projections 

 one above another, at 

 slight distances apart, for 

 six inches or a foot up- 

 wards of the stump. When 

 so reflexed, the upper sur- 

 face is greyish-ochre and 

 hairy, the under - surface 

 smooth and orange, with a 

 frost-like bloom. The chief 

 interest which attaches to 

 this Orange Stereum, 1 be- 

 sides its being really very 

 when well grown, is that 

 It is one of the few fungi 

 which is sure to be found on old stumps all the year 

 round, but in its greatest beauty in the autumn. 



ORANGE STEREUM. 



beautiful and attractive 

 it is extremely common. 



1 Stereum hirsutum. 



