A RACE OF FLOWERLESS PLANTS— I. 



FUNGI WHAT THEV ARE AND HOW THEY LIVE. 



Fig. I. 



It is difficult to make a definition that will in- 

 clude all fungi and exclude all other organisms, 

 because of certain exceptional cases. But it may 

 be truly said that a fungus contains no leaf-green, 

 and any plant possessing this coloring matter may 

 at once be excluded. Some plants, however, which 

 are never green are not fungi, as, for example, some 

 flowering plants, such as Indian pipe and beech 

 drops. These are excluded, because they have 

 flowers, and fungi have none. Their cell structure 

 would distinguish them also, for while the substance 

 is essentially the same, the form of the cells is very 

 different. The. stem of a mushroom is made up 

 of long and slender filaments, 

 called collectively the mycel- 

 ium. Fig. I shows a highly 

 magnified portion of the mycel- 

 ium of a fungus allied to the 

 mushrooms. Figs. 3 and 6 show 

 special forms of mycelium. In 

 mushroom culture the so-called 

 spawn (Fig. 2) consists of rather 

 coarse strands, each strand be- 

 ing composed of many mycelial filaments. A por- 

 tion of spawn for planting consists of many inter- 

 woven strands contained in a mass of vegetable 

 matter or "brick." Mushroom planting is, in a 

 general way, like potato planting. Fig. 2 shows 

 young mushrooms be- 

 ing formed at various 

 points. When the 

 mushroom itself ap- 

 pears, it is also found 

 to consist of mycelium, 

 which under the micro- 

 scope looks much like 

 threads of fine linen in- 

 terwoven, lying in vari- 

 ous directions. They 

 are similar to those 

 shown in Fig. i. 



The mushroom is re- 

 presentative of a large 

 number of fungi which 

 live on dead organic mat- 

 ter, and are for this rea- 

 son called Saprophytes . 



Others, many thousands, Fig. 2. 



are parasihs, growing on living organisms. Saphrophy- 

 tic fungi grow on decaying matter in the soil, as mush- 

 rooms ; on timbers in buildings, causing decay ; dry rot 

 on logs, sticks and fallen leaves in the forest ; on bones, 

 feathers, cloth, old shoes ; causing mildew on bread. 



Fi... 3. 



canned fruit, jelly and various other articles of food, as 

 mold ; and certain peculiar fungi, known as bacteria, 

 cause fermentation and putrefaction. 



Thus many fungi which are not parasitic are injuri- 

 ous. But most of the injurious fungi are parasitic. A 

 few grow on men and animals. Ring-worm is caused 

 by a fungus ; several species have been found in the 

 human ear. 



The cultivator has most to do with those which grow 

 on living plants, and they are numerous and very varied 

 in form and mode of growth. 



Some of these grow on the surface of leaves, covering 

 them with a white mildew. Watch the oak and the 

 lilac leaves, for instance. The individual threads of 

 mycelium may be seen by careful looking, resembling a 

 very fine spider web lying close upon the leaf. 



The fruit of these fungi may also be seen as black 

 specks among the white threads. These black specks 

 are really minute spheres which contain sacks of spores. 

 In the great majority of cases, however, the mycelium is 

 inside the supporting plant, and penetrates among and 

 into its cells (Fig. 3). Often there are special "suckers" 

 to absorb nutriment, thus answer- 

 ing the purpose of root-hairs. 



A few groups of fungi have no 

 mycelium. This is illustrated in 

 the yeast plant, which consists of 

 a single egg-shaped cell. Fig. 4 

 shows some isolated )'east plants 

 and some which are united in chains. 



Fungi have no flowers. Some have organs answering 

 the purpose of flowers, but microscopic in size and in 

 structure, bearing no resemblance to them. Most fungi 

 have spores in place of seeds. A seed has a young plant 

 already formed within it ; a spore has none, and in 

 many cases consists of only a single cell. This is true 

 in the case of the mushroom. (See Fig. 5.) 



Fig. 



