198 



MANUAL OF POISONOUS PLANTS 



germ tubes are male and produce only male spores, others are female and produce on] 

 female spores in the germ sporangium. The sporophyte as well as the gametophyte, theri 

 fore is unisexual. 



"Raggi," used in the manufacture of Arrack, contains Mucor Oryza 

 (Rhizopus) which transforms rice starch into dextrose, the latter being the 

 fermented by yeasts forms blackish brown sporangia and has a pear-shapei 

 columella. Mucor Rouxii of Calmette is commonly grown in China, where it i 

 found on rice husks and is made from these into Chinese yeast. It changes ric 

 starch into sugar and has been used to some extent for manufacture of alco 

 holic drinks. 



M. racemosus, common in decaying fruit, produces alcoholic fermentation 

 Mucor fusiger is parasitic on species of Collybia; M. Melittophtorus was foum 



Fig. 41. Common Black Mould {Mucor stolonifer or Rhizopus nigricans). 1. Sporangia 



and method of spreading by stolons. 2. Same, showing rhizoids, conidiophore, colomellj, 



sporangium and spore. 3. Zygospore, showing method of conjugation. 4. Zygospore 

 germinating; k, conidiophore. 



in the stomachs of bees; M. nigricans was found by Neumann (1892) and.later 

 ■by Artanet (1893) in the eye of poultry but Barthelat does not consider it 

 pathogenic. 



Mucor corymbifer, F. Cohn. 

 Delicate, white mycelium spreading over the surface of the substratum; 

 conidiophores appressed, spreading; branched sporangia in umbellate clusters, 

 the lower sporangia smaller than the upper, the latter 70 diameter; wall 



