Some Troubles of the Trees 15 



of them live on from year to year and may be 

 seen even in winter woods. 



One sometimes sees such outgrowths on the 

 ends of railroad ties, and other exposed wood. 

 These belong to a fungus which has woven 

 innumerable fine threads all through the timber 

 it destroys. 



In the deep woods, late in summer, there are 

 strange growths on the ground — big toadstools 

 of brilliant colors. These are fruit-bearing por- 

 tions of other kinds of fungus. They belong to 

 plants which are growing underground in molder- 

 ing roots or in buried wood. 



One fungus which lives in dead wood is familiar 

 to most country boys. The fine threads with which 

 it interlaces the wood are phosphorescent: they 

 shine in the dark. The moldering sticks they live 

 in are " touchwood." These fungi do no harm, 

 but those which grow in living wood have earned 

 the evil name of " tree-killers." 



On the under sides of many toadstools dotting 

 the forest ground there are great numbers of gills, 

 and on others there are little soft thorns. Many 

 of the brackets clinging to the trees have all their 

 lower surface picked full, as it were, of pin holes. 

 In late summer the gills and soft thorns are cov- 

 ered, and the pin holes are lined with fine powder. 

 The grains of this powder are spores, from which 

 other fungi will grow. 



A spore corresponds to a seed, but is differently 



