90 NEW ZEALAND NATURE-STUDY BOOK 
XX.—FUNGI. 
The Mushroom. The Mushroom is a common plant 
in many of our meadows in the autumn, or indeed in 
summer, if the season be damp. The plant consists of a 
stout stalk, which rises above the ground three or four 
inches and bears at its upper end a circular cap convex 
above and roughly concave on its lower surface. The base 
of the stalk ends in a mass of white threads which spread 
out into the soil for .a short distance. About half way up 
the stalk is a ragged fringe of tissue, the collar. This 
ring is the remains of a membrane which in the younger 
stages of the plant’s growth reached from the stalk to the 
. edge of the cap 
and completely 
enclosed _its 
under surface. 
As the stalk 
pA spite taes 
i" SHa Wi Increase ve 
_ CoHar t av pe sili? length, the 
ne membrane was 
\ Wa Yh in 
Ww Rs SS torn away from 
My celura et a FEES io the cap and left _ 
Fig. 66.—Mushrooms. : as the ring just 
described. 
Both the cap and ‘stalk consist of a white fleshy 
substance, really a closely packed mass of threads similar 
to those seen at the base of the stalk. On the under side 
of the cap are a number of radiating plates—the gills. 
These at first pink in colour, become dark brown or almost 
black as the plant grows older. Each gill contains a large 
number of spores, from the germination of which the 
plants are produced. If the cap of a Mushroom be placed 
on a sheet of paper so that the gills are underneath, and 
