FUNGI 



Besides insect pests, the fruit grower has to con- 

 tend with fungoid diseases. A fungus is a plant of the 

 lower order (C7yptoga?;is), which differ from the higher 

 plants by possessing no flowers, and by producing 

 none of the green colouring matter {cJdoropJiyll) which 

 characterises the leaves of ordinary plants. It forms 

 seeds, however, known as spores, and also roots, in 

 the form of exceedingly fine filaments, known as the 

 mycelium or hyphcBy or, more commonly, as spawn. It 

 is this mycelium by which the damage is done to 

 trees attacked by a fungus ; the hyphae make their 

 way through the wood, etc., breaking down the 

 cells of which it is composed, and thus destroying the 

 plant. This renders it practically impossible to apply 

 any remedy once a tree has been invaded by a fungus, 

 unless we can remove the whole of the part attacked ; 

 and our efforts, therefore, must be directed to preventing 

 the fungus from seeding, and propagating elsewhere. 



The seeds, or spores, which are microscopic in size, 

 are produced in several ways. The mycelium itself in 

 some cases becomes converted into a chain of spores, 

 but the more usual process is for it to send out a 

 number of branches, each bearing at its end a spore, 

 or a receptacle containing many spores {conidia spores). 

 The summer spores of a fungus are formed in this 

 way, and the masses of spore-bearing filaments or 



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