THE HONEY FUNGUS 145 



other parasitic agent. It attacks not only the larch but all 

 other species of conifers, and several species of broad- 

 leaved trees become subject to it, especially when weakened 

 by other causes. It is thus of exceptional interest to 

 foresters, and its life-history has been studied in considerable 

 detail. This chapter contains most of what is known about 

 the fungus, and enough has been discovered to give us 

 a pretty clear idea of the way in which the parasite grows 

 and spreads. But before going into the details of the disease 

 I shall give in this first section a summary of the external 

 features of the fungus and the means by which it may be 

 recognized. 



The toadstool itself is the only part which grows above 

 ground, and it is thus the most familiar portion of the 

 fungus. Its sole function is reproduction, and in every 

 detail it is constructed so as to advance the formation and 

 dissemination of the spores. At the same time it is an 

 ephemeral growth, found only in one or two months of the 

 year, whereas the vegetative part of the fungus grows on 

 through all the months underground, visible only in its 

 effects. This toadstool has much the same size and shape 

 as a mushroom : rather larger, though, at times and always 

 slimmer in stipe and pileus, and honey yellow in colour. 

 The stipe, or stalk is 3 to 8 in. long, of dull orange or brown, 

 but varying much in tone. At the base it is usually very 

 dark brown or even black, and about three-quarters of the 

 way up is an annulus which is white and rather thick, 

 though in old specimens it often shrinks to a few whitish 

 scales. Below the annulus the stipe is roughly, grooved, 

 but above it is smooth and pale in colour. In the button 

 state the annulus is continuous from the stipe to the margin 

 of the pileus, as in the mushroom, but it soon becomes 

 ruptured at its circle of attachment to the pileus. 



The upper expanded portion is known as the pileus. 

 This is honey coloured above, with dark-brown scales 

 which are clustered near the swollen centre but more 

 scattered farther out. They are particularly conspicuous 

 in young fructifications, but with age they become more 



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