274 PHARMACEUTICAL B OT AN Y 



Order 5. Agaricales, the mushroom or toadstool alliance. Alike 

 with the other members of the Basidiomycetes, the plant body con- 

 sists of the mycelium, ramifying through the substratum, but the 

 part which rises above the surface (the Sporophore) is in most cases 

 differentiated into a stalk-like body called a stipe bearing upon its 

 bummit a cap or pileus, the latter having special surfaces for the 

 hymenium. 



Family I.^-Hydnaceae, or tooth fungi. This group is charac- 

 terized by the hymenium being placed over purple-like, spiny or 

 long digitate projections of the pileus. Many of the species of the 

 genus Hydnum are edible. 



Family II. Polyporaceae, or pore fungi. The sporophores or 

 fruiting bodies of these fungi are various. They may be entirely 

 supinate with pores or shallow depressions on their upper surfaces 

 (Merulius), or mushroom-like (Boletus), or of the nature of woody 

 (Fomes) or fleshy (Fistulina) brackets. In all cases the hymenium 

 or basidial layer lines the inner surface of pores. 



The sporophore of Polyporus officinalis, when deprived of its outer 

 rind and dried, constitutes the official N.F. drug AGARICUS. This 

 species grows abundantly on various species of pines, spruces and 

 larches. 



Family III. Agaricaceae, the gill family, in which the hymenium 

 covers blade-like plates of the pileus, called gills, generally occurring 

 on the under surface of the same. Examples: Agaricus campestris, 

 the common edible mushroom of fields; Amanita muscaria and 

 Amanita phalloides, both of which are poisonous. 



Agaricus Campestris (Common Mushroom). This plant is an 

 edible gill fungus which grows in open, grassy fields during late sum- 

 mer and early autumn. It is never found in the forest or on trees or 

 fallen trunks, seldom in the mountains. The cultivated form grows 

 in specially constructed houses made of boards. A corridor runs 

 through these houses so that the mushroom beds can be easily 

 reached. In the growth of mushrooms tons of horse manure are 

 used. This is covered with loamy soil i^ inches thick. The whole 

 mass is compacted together. Into the resultant beds is introduced 

 English-grown spawn, which comes in flat brick-shaped masses (horse 

 manure through which mycelium has grown). Pieces of these 



