86 



Minnesota Plant Life. 



smaller than the others. An explanation of this peculiarity may 

 be obtained from the behavior of the blue mould. It will be 

 remembered that in the latter kind of mould, spores were ordi- 

 narily formed on branches loosely distributed over the plant, 

 while at other times tiny orange truffle-like fruit-bodies arose 

 after the method of sac-fungi. Now if it can be imagined that 

 the loosely formed spores of the blue mould are aggregated to- 

 gether in a bottle-shaped structure, they lining the interior of 

 the bottle, there would arise a fruit-body like the peculiar cen- 

 tral one of the 

 plant in question. 

 The name of a 

 plant, which 

 forms these two 

 kinds of fruit- 

 bodies is Falsa. 

 Plants somewhat 

 related to the Val- 

 sas are found on 

 butternut twigs 

 where they form 

 little low black 

 mounds. 



Staghorn-fungi. 

 The last black 

 fungus that needs 

 consideration in 

 this general 

 survey of the im- 

 portant types is 

 sometimes called 



the staghorn-fungus. It grows upon stumps, decaying timbers, 

 sometimes on rafters in cellars, or in damp places about barns 

 or granaries, and is a very curious looking object indeed. It 

 is often three or four inches in height and shaped much like one 

 of the antlers of a moose. Its whole surface is warty and black, 

 each pustule marking the position of a fruit-body The interior 

 of the plant is white and consists of a very densely tangled skein 

 of threads. A smaller species is unbranched but stands up like 



FIG. 32. Fungus spot-disease on pear. After Duggar. Bull. 

 145, Cornell Ag. E)xpt. Station. 



