FLOWERLESS PLANTS 



395 



at the base. Though there are exceptions to these rules, the 

 beginner at collecting fungi for the table should not take 

 immature fungi whose true character cannot be told. 



Reject fungi with enveloping cups at the base of the stem. 

 Reject brightly colored fungi. Do not take fungi with gills 

 white at maturity. Do 

 not lake toadstools that 

 ha\e tubes or pores on 

 the under side. Do not 

 take fungi with a milky 

 juice. Before eating the 

 fungi the novice should 

 show them to an expert 

 collector. 



Puff-balls are globu- 

 lar fungi whose spores 

 develop inside the mass 

 and escape when the 

 ball ruptures. Some attain a large size, a foot or more in 

 diameter. One form has a thin rind which bursts at the 

 lop and, when pressed, emits a cloud of fine spores. Puff- 

 balls are found in fields and pastures and are edible in the 

 white stage. 



Some fungi form shelf-like projections on trees and fallen 

 logs, and on slumps. Some of these have gills (shelf agarics) ; 

 others have myriads of small pores or tubes in which the 

 spores form (Poly pores'). Others again have numerous 

 fine teeth on the under side on which the spores form (as in 

 Hvdniim of the hedgehog fungi) ; in others the spores are borne 

 upon branching surfaces, as in the coral-like Clavaria. Some 

 fungi spread out on stumps and logs in gelatinous masses. 



Fig. 171. W(jod-dcstroying Toadstool. 



