364 THE BOOK OF USEFUL PLANTS 



the Malay Peninsula, or near it. The Balata, or 

 bullet tree, is Mimusops bullata y whose rich, sweet 

 fruit is found regularly in the West Indian 

 markets. 



MUSHROOMS 



The decay of plants keeps the surface of the 

 earth littered with debris of fallen leaves and 

 branches, and underground stems and roots. 

 Swarms of microscopic plants, called bacteria, are 

 at work reducing the tough, woody substances to 

 their original elements — making vegetable mold, 

 upon which living plants can subsist. Earth- 

 worms are helping, by consuming this mold, to 

 mix the surface mulch with the mineral, earthy 

 soil below. They are the natural plows that re- 

 duce clay and plant mold to that rich, productive 

 mixture the farmer wants — a live, porous loam. 



Among the other plant organisms that feed 

 upon the broken and decaying parts of dead plants 

 is a group of flowerless plants called fungi. They 

 multiply unseen, in the moist warmth of decaying 

 roots, under the bark of fallen logs, everywhere 

 that stored plant food is available. Decaying 

 plant tissues present the richest possible pasturage 

 to fungi. 



Finally, when their bodies are fat with nourish- 



