384 



THE NON-VASCULAR PLANTS 



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which grow on stumps and logs are relatives of the mush- 

 rooms. Puffballs are edible. The giant puffball, which 

 sometimes gets as big as a watermelon, is, when fresh, one of 



the best of the edible fungi. 

 The puff of dust which rises 

 when you step on an old puff- 

 ball is a cloud of spores. Some 

 of the large bracket fungi be- 

 come hard with age and may 

 endure for years. The brackets 

 are sporophores. The spores 

 are borne inside the many 

 pores which are on the under 

 surface. 



b. Bread Mold. — Moist bread 

 kept where it is fairly warm 

 will soon begin to be covered 

 with a white, furry growth. 

 This is the mycelium of bread 

 mold. Branches of the myce- 

 lium grow into the bread and 

 absorb food from it. Hyphae 

 which branch away from the 

 mass of the mycelium in this 

 manner and absorb food are 

 called haustoria, in this or in 

 any other fungus. (See Figure 

 183.) After the mold has be- 

 come well developed, little ver- 

 tical branches appear, and the swollen tips of these branches 

 turn black. These branches are sporophores, and the 

 blackness of their tips is the color of the ripe spores which 





Fig. 181. — Young puffballs. When 

 in this condition, puffballs are good 

 to eat, the only drawback being 

 the worms which may be found in 

 the firm white meat inside. The 

 wormy parts may be cut away, 

 and sometimes large puffballs are 

 found quite free from worms. 

 The puffball is a sporophore. The 

 white tissue within becomes a mass 

 of spores, and the tough skin turns 

 brown. Trillions of spores may be 

 contained in one puffball. When 

 the ball is kicked the spores rise 

 from it like a puff of dust. — After 

 Gibson. 



