148 Minnesota Plant Diseases. 



ground among grasses and are not at all conspicuous or very 

 large. Another relative of the morels is the spathula fungus 

 which is so common on the mossy floors of our northern 

 woods. Here the cup is drawn out and flattened like a spathula 

 and is yellowish in color. Very common on the ground and 

 amongst moss in summer and fall, can be found a peculiar little 

 gelatinous fungus of a light to dark green color. The fungus 

 has a stalk and a bent back cup similar to the saddle fungi, to 

 which it is closely related, but its cup is neither wrinkled nor 

 ridged. (Figs. 10, 66, 67.) 



Fig. 67.— Saddle fungi (HelvcUa lacunosa). The saddle is an everted cup with the edges 

 turned back. Original. 



True truffles (TuberinecB). At first sight the truffles would 

 not be recognized as relatives of the cup fungi, but such they 

 are nevertheless. The cup remains closed, however, and the 

 plants are found underground, never coming to the surface as 

 do many pufif balls to discharge their spores. The spores, 

 therefore, are only distributed after the decay of the cup by 

 being washed away in rainwater or are scattered by the scratch- 

 ing or burrowing of animals. They are sought after by animals 

 as food and they are also much prized for food by man. Euro- 

 pean truffles furnish the most highly prized mushrooms known. 

 The closed cup of the truffles has a sac-bearing area, which is 

 usually greatly convoluted, so that the interior of the truffle 



