32 



OUTLINES OF PLANT LIFE. 



profuse branching is the rule ; in others, the branches are 

 few. 



43. Mycelium. — When branching is profuse, or when a 

 considerable number of individuals grow near together, the 

 filaments often become interwoven and entangled in so com- 

 plex a web that it is impossible to follow a single hypha for 



Fig. 30.— a single plant of Mucor Mucedo, showing the mycelium as it developed from 

 a single spore. It bears a single erect reproductive branch rising above the fluid. 

 Magnified 25 diam.— After Brefeld. 



any distance. Such a mat of hyphae is called a mycelium, a 

 term which is also used to designate the vegetative hyphae 

 collectively, whether forming a felted mass or not (figs. 30, 

 31). The mycelium may be formed wholly upon the surface 

 of the object upon which the fungus lives ; or part of it may 



