288 



PLANT STUDIES 



These spores, called basidiosjjores, shower down from the 

 gills when ripe, germinate, and produce new mycelia. The 

 peculiar cell called the basidium gives name to the group 

 Basidiomycetes. 



191. Other forms. — Mushrooms display a great variety of 

 form and coloration, many of them being very attractive 



Fig. 261. 



A toadstool of the bracket form which has grown about blades of grass 

 without interfering with their activity.— Caldwell. 



(Figs. 257, 258, 259). The " pore-fungi " have pore-like de- 

 pressions for their spores, instead of gills, as in the very 

 common "bracket-fungus" {Polyporiis)^ which forms hard 

 shell-like outgrowths on tree-trunks and stumps (Figs. 260, 



