268 



Science of Plant Life 



and burning the plants as soon as evidence of the disease 

 appears. 



Mushrooms and toadstools. The largest and most com- 

 plex of the fungi are the mushrooms and toadstools. They 

 are common in fields and woods and for the most part live on 

 decaying wood and on humus in the soil. There is no real 

 distinction between mushrooms and toadstools. Some of 

 them are edible, others are indigestible, and some are deadly 

 poisonous. Edible forms are cultivated on a large scale in 

 caves and abandoned mines, and on a smaller scale in cellars. 

 Wild forms should not be eaten unless they are gathered by 

 persons competent to distinguish the different species, many 

 of which are similar in appearance but very different in their 

 effects when eaten. 



The mushrooms as they are gathered are only the fruiting 

 bodies of the fungi. The real plant consists of bundles of 

 filaments extending in all directions throughout a large mass 



Fig. 159. Stages in the development of the common edible pink-jjilled mush- 

 room. Note the underground vegetative body of the plant. 



