1042 



MUSHROOM 



French word "mousseron," and is sometimes pronounced 

 by English-speaking 

 i\ tnndstoril are some- 



.lilli.ult, tiii-refore, to 

 11 ..f tin- wiml Mush- 

 !.■ laii^'i; "f fonns for 

 a liortk-ultiiral sense 



(Fig. 1440) in cul- 

 vith which we an? 



1 at once to a (le- 

 Inpraent, etc., and 



I'omparisons of a 

 ■ this large group. 



form of till- ci.iiiiii' 

 brella-shapi'cl. himI 

 The prominiiit pmi 

 ring(n); andtheciq 

 cap, or pilens, as i 

 expanded part, am 

 diameter. It i'* n*^n 



MUSHROOM 



color, and as the plant ages become purple-brown or 

 blackish in color, due to the immense number of spores 

 borne on the surface. One can gain a good idea of the 

 number of spores borne on a single plant by cutting a 

 cap from a Mushroom, just at maturity, and placing it, 

 gills downward, on a piece of white paper for a few 

 hours. The spores fall from the gills and pile up in 

 ridges, giving an exact print of the spaces between the 

 gills. 



The parts of the plants enumerated above 

 are easily seen. Other important structural 

 characters are seen with the aid of the mi- 

 croscope. A thin section across the gills 

 when seen with the microscope shows the 

 structure as seen in Fig. 1442. The middle 

 part of tho ffill i« tlir. tr,n::,f^ n„ .ittirr side 



of th.j tr:iiiia is tin- -"'■; -"iiii.osed 



i;f hranrli.s ri-ni il . - . : .: [..ruling 



sll.Tt rulN. Thr .-.■»• .... : : umiu 



turn give ri-.. t.. tl,,- /..,-./-.. . i ,, - i.l, .i„ i, ,-lub- 

 shapc-d bodies, which form a palisaili. layer of 

 cells over the entire snrface of the gill. This 

 palisade layer of the basidia forms the fruit- 

 ing surface, or hymenium. 



At the end of each basidium are either 2 

 or 4 slender, pointed iirocesses. the slerig- 

 tmtfii ( sing, sterigma). These bear each a sin- 

 gle spore, the basidiospore. The usual num- 

 ber of sterigmata on the basidium in the 

 Agaricini is 4; but in Agariciis i-ampcstris 

 the number seems to vary from 2 to 4. In 

 plants grown in a Mushroom house, 2 have 

 been found, while plants from the field show 4. 

 ,j. Whether the number 2 for cultivated forms 



is constant, or 4 for the field forms, has not 

 been determined. 



Dfviloi.ment of Aq.n-irus ,;n,iiu-xtri^.-'Y\u- spores of 



theMiislin."ni in tl,.. II. 1.1 |., . -1.;. 1 .1 , ..[i. i, ■,. ,i itr and 



proclil.-.. 11. ■« lii\... linn. . , ' , I ^. , ', ! '.I- is not 



inter 



. I . .nfully 

 IT. lull, 1- whit- 

 ili. 1.1 .iitached 

 ..i.N lire what 

 • .-..nis (if my- 

 :•)■ slender and 



ilelicate whitish threads. This is the vegetative portion 

 of the Mushroom. If the soil at the base of a tuft o£ 



in a majori 

 less scaly, . 

 ration of i 



ing are 

 young 



...I ih. iiii'i t I.!.. ..f the cap are of great im- 

 in sleiwiiiu' rriiiiicmship, and al.so probably in 

 tion in the case of plants propagated under 

 onditions, sinee tliey form the fruiting surface 

 isliroom. The u'ills are in the form of narrow, 

 es, shaped somewhat like a knife-blade, at- 

 y one edge to the under side of the cap and 

 ■ from a point near the stem out to the margin 

 ip. The longest gills extend for this distance 

 ■: '.tt' triiin'.nilar areas which are fill.-.i ^vitli «ii.-- 



-1....I. r L'ills, all reaching tli. ....... i.. ..t ii... 



. '. . iiiire under surface ..I , . . 

 ■ ' . 111. The surface of r. ; 



-iirf; of the plant, and tliis . .■..ii..iii\ in iln 



lent of the gills provides for a very large fruit- 



The color of the gills when the plant is very 

 white. They soon, however, become pink in 



.•ling plants in a Mushroom bed be washed away, a. 

 1 1-.- number of these cords will be exposed. This is 

 li. part of the plant which grows and spreads through 

 he siiil, absorbing solutions of the organic matter in the 

 nil for food. 

 Button *7rtf;f.-After an abundance of the mycelium, 

 r spawn, is formed there appear here and there on the 



