PHARMACEUTICAL BOTANY 
274 
Order 5.— Agaricales, the mushroom or toadstool alliance. Alike 
with the other members of the Basidiomycetes, the plant body con¬ 
sists of the mycelium, ramifying through the substratum, but the 
part which rises above the surface (the Sporophore) is in most cases 
differentiated into a stalk-like body called a stipe bearing upon its 
summit a cap or pileus, the latter having special surfaces for the 
hymenium. ..... 
Family I. —Hydnaceae, or tooth fungi. This .group is charac¬ 
terized by the hymenium being placed over purple-like, spiny or 
long digitate projections of the pileus. Many of the species of the 
genus Hydnum are edible. 
Family II.— Polyporaceae, or pore fungi. The sporophores or 
fruiting bodies of these fungi are various. They may be entirely 
supinate with pores or shallow depressions on their upper surfaces 
(Merulius), or mushroom-like (Boletus), or of the nature of woody 
(Fomes) or fleshy (Fistulina) brackets. In all cases the hymenium 
or basidial layer lines the inner surface of pores. • 
The sporophore of Polyporus officinalis, when deprived of its outer 
rind and dried, constitutes the official N.F. drug Agaricus. This 
species grows abundantly on various species of pines, spruces and 
larches. 
Family III.— Agaricaceae, the gill family, in which the hymenium 
covers blade-like plates of the pileus, called gills, generally occurring 
on the under surface of the same. Examples: Agaricus campestris, 
the common edible mushroom of fields; Amanita muscaria and 
Amanita phalloides, both of which are poisonous. 
Agaricus Campestris (Common Mushroom). —This plant is an 
edible gill fungus which grows in open, grassy fields during late sum¬ 
mer and early autumn. It is never found in the forest or on trees or 
fallen trunks, seldom in the mountains. The cultivated form grows 
in specially constructed houses made of boards. A corridor runs 
through these houses so that the mushroom beds can be easily 
reached. In the growth of mushrooms tons of horse manure are 
used. This is covered with loamy soil 1}^ inches thick. The whole 
mass is compacted together. Into the resultant beds is introduced 
English-grown spawn, which comes in flat brick-shaped masses (horse 
manure through which mycelium has grown). Pieces of these 
