476 



A TEXTBOOK OF BOTANY 



[Cn. X 



Less prominent but equally interesting are the Bird's 

 Nest Fungi (Nidularia). In these the different hymenium- 

 lined chambers of the gleba separate from one another and 

 develop each its own envelope, in such manner that the 

 opened fructification suggests a nest with several eggs. 



Finally, we have the Carrion Fungi, or 

 Stink Horns, best known in the common 

 Phallus impudicus (Fig. 338). These remark- 

 able sporophores differ from those of other 

 Gasteromycetes in the fact that when ripe 

 the gleba, which is conical in shape, breaks 

 out from the peridium, and is pushed upward 

 on the end of an elongated stalk. This gleba 

 is fleshy and foul smelling, but thereby is 

 attractive to carrion insects, which on their 

 visits help to disseminate the spores. 



Some of the Basidiomycetes, like Ascomy- 

 cetes, form mycorhiza with higher plants (page 

 244), presumably to mutual benefit. 



FUNGI IMPERFECTI 



To complete our synopsis of the Fungi, 

 we must note the existence and nature of 

 the great group, containing not less than some 

 16,000 to 17,000 kinds, included under this 

 name. It is not a natural, but an artificial, 

 (From stras- assemblage, constituted for convenience to 

 contain Fungi of which only fragments of 

 the life history are known. Usually only conidia with 

 associated mycelium have been found, and while in some 

 cases this may represent the entire organism, in others there 

 must exist additional stages which when discovered will 

 transfer these plants to some one or the other of the 

 recognized groups, probably to Ascomycetes for the most 

 part. 

 With the Fungi, as with so many other phases of botanical 



FIG. 338. 

 Phallus impu- 

 dicus; X J. 



