THE HONEY FUNGUS 145 
other parasitic agent. It attacks not only the larch but all 
other species of conifers, and several species of broad- 
leaved trees become subject to it, especially when weakened 
by other causes. It is thus of exceptional interest to 
foresters, and its life-history has been studied in considerable 
detail. This chapter contains most of what is known about 
the fungus, and enough has been discovered to give us 
a pretty clear idea of the way in which the parasite grows 
and spreads. But before going into the details of the disease 
I shall give in this first section a summary of the external 
features of the fungus and the means by which it may be 
recognized. 
The toadstool itself is the only part which grows above 
ground, and it is thus the most familiar portion of the 
fungus. Its sole function is reproduction, and in every 
detail it is constructed so as to advance the formation and 
dissemination of the spores. At the same time it is an 
ephemeral growth, found only in one or two months of the 
year, whereas the vegetative part of the fungus grows on 
through all the months underground, visible only in its 
effects. This toadstool has much the same size and shape 
as a mushroom : rather larger, though, at times and always 
slimmer in stipe and pileus, and honey yellow in colour. 
The stipe or stalk is 3 to 8 in. long, of dull orange or brown, 
but varying much in tone. At the base it is usually very 
dark brown or even black, and about three-quarters of the 
way up is an annulus which is white and rather thick, 
though in old specimens it often shrinks to a few whitish 
scales. Below the annulus the stipe is roughly grooved, 
but above it is smooth and pale in colour. In the button 
state the annulus is continuous from the stipe to the margin 
of the pileus, as in the mushroom, but it soon becomes 
ruptured at its circle of attachment to the pileus. 
The upper expanded portion is known as the pileus. 
This is honey coloured above, with dark-brown scales 
which are clustered near the swollen centre but more 
scattered farther out. They are particularly conspicuous 
in young fructifications, but with age they become more 
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