394 



NATURE-STUDY 



the stem. Compare with younger plants. In these there 

 is a membrane stretched across the gills from the cap to the 

 stem which later tears away from the cap, and adheres as a 

 ring to the stem. The spores and gills are at first white, 



then, as the mushroom becomes 

 older, turn pink, then brown. In 

 the field agaric there is no mem- 

 branous cup at the base of the 

 stalk. Note this by carefully digging up a 

 plant so as to get all of the stem. This 

 species and hundreds of other fungi are edi- 

 ble. Their nutritive value, however, is not 

 very great. 



Technically there is no distinction between 

 "mushroom" and "toadstool." The unsci- 

 entific, however, generally limit the term 

 mushroom to the edible forms, and the lat- 

 ter term to the non-edible and poisonous. 

 A number of fungi are very poisonous, and 

 many people are killed by carelessly gather- 

 ing and eating them. One should not at- 

 tempt to gather mushrooms for eating, un- 

 less thoroughly acquainted with the common 

 FIG. 170. Amanita. edible and dangerous kinds. There are 

 only a few poisonous mushrooms. A com- 

 mon very poisonous form, the deadly amanita (Amanita phal- 

 loides) usually grows in the woods, though it may occur in pas- 

 tures and fields with edible mushrooms. This fungus looks 

 much like the edible field agaric, but may be distinguished 

 from it by the fact that its spores are white, not brown, in ma- 

 turity. Moreover, it has a cup-like envelope around the stem 



