FUNGI 



383 



for growth become unfavorable, mycelia of saprophytic 

 fungi appear to pass into a condition of suspended anima- 

 tion ; when the conditions are right again, they renew their 

 activity. 



a. Difference between Toadstools and Mushrooms. — These 

 plants belong to the same group of true fungi. The differ- 

 ence between them is simply 

 that mushrooms are edible and 

 toadstools are not. There is 

 no single way by which you 

 always can tell a mushroom 

 from a toadstool. Some of 

 them look much ahke. Yet it 

 is not at all difficult to become 

 so well acquainted with a num- 

 ber of the common mushrooms 

 that you are in no danger of 

 mistaking toadstools for them. 

 Mushrooms which are good are 

 very good indeed, and it is a 

 great pleasure to collect them 

 in the woods and fields. The 

 best way to learn them is to 

 go into the field with some 

 one who already knows them. 

 They are most abundant in 

 early fall, especially just after rains, and they are found in 

 pastures as well as in timber. One of the best mushrooms, 

 and one which you can easily recognize, is the morel. (See 

 Figure 180.) It is usually found in the woods late in April 

 or early in May. 

 Puffballs, and the bracket fungi (see Figures 181 and 182) 



Fig. 1 80. — Morchella. The morel, a 

 common edible mushroom which 

 appears in early spring. The morel 

 does not belong to the same botani- 

 cal group as true mushrooms, but 

 it is commonly called a mushroom. 

 It has the advantage of being very 

 easily recognized. 



