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PHARMACEUTICAL BOTANY 
fungi division of this order the Ergot fungus, Claviceps purpurea, 
belongs. 
Life History of Claviceps Purpurea. — Through the agency of 
winds or insects the spores (ascospores or conidia) of this organism 
are brought to the young ovaries of the rye ( Secale cereale). 
They germinate into long filaments called hyphae, which, becoming 
entangled to form a mycelium, spread over the ovary, enter it super- 
ficially, secrete a ferment, and cause decomposition of its tissue and 
the resultant formation of a yellow-mucus substance called honey- 
dew, which surrounds chains of moniliform reproductive bodies 
known as conidia. The honey-dew attracts certain insects which 
disseminate the disease to other heads of grain. 
The mycelial threads penetrase deeper and deeper into the ovary 
and soon form a dense tissue which gradually consumes the entire 
substance of the ovary and hardens into a purple somewhat curved 
body called a sclerotium, or official ergot — the resting stage of the 
fungus, Claviceps. 
The ergot falls to the ground and in the following spring sprouts 
into several long stalked, globular heads called stromata or ascocarps. 
Each (fruiting) head or ascocarp has imbedded in its surface nu- 
merous flask-shaped invaginations called perithecia, from the bases 
of which several sacs or asci develop. Within each ascus are 
developed eight filiform spores ( ascospores ) which, when the ascus 
ruptures, are discharged and are carried by the wind to other fields 
of grain, there to begin over a new life cycle. 
Class III. — Basidiomycetes, or Basidia Fungi 
This large class of fungi, including the smuts, rusts, mushrooms, 
gill and tooth fungi, etc., is characterized by the occurrence of a basid- 
ium in the life history. A basidium is the swollen end of a hypha 
consisting of one or four cells and giving rise to branches called 
sterigmata, each of which cuts off at its tip a spore, called a 
basidiospore. In addition to the basidiospores, some forms also 
produce spores termed chlamyd os pores. 
