Part 31

Fistulina hepatica (Beef-steak Fungus), has a red, fleshy, edible fruit-body, with red juice. The tubes are individually distinct; conidia are also developed. Grows on old Oaks.

Merulius lacrymans (“Dry-rot”) has a resupinate fruit-body with white, cotton-like border, and the remaining portions covered by reticulate, ramified veins of a rust-brown colour. In favourable vegetative conditions it is fleshy and exudes large drops of water--hence its specific name and also the name “Tear Fungus.” The mycelium is at first colourless, and then yellow-brown; when dry it is tough and leathery. It destroys the timber in damp houses, extends far and wide over boards and beams and even over the masonry, giving rise to a disagreeable smell in the rooms in which it lodges. In woods the Fungus lives on Pine-stems. It is brought from the forest on the logs of timber, and is distributed from log to log by the mycelium and the basidiospores. The living mycelium can be recognised by the clamp-connections shooting out branches. The basidiospores are often ejected a distance of a metre; they are elliptical (10–11µ long and 5–6µ broad), and germinate easily on damp wood, or in fruit-juice which has been neutralized with urine or alkaline carbonates.

Dædalea (Labyrinth Fungus), has bracket-like, corky fruit-bodies with irregularly-folded plates or discs on the under side. It forms a transition to the Agaricaceæ. D. quercina is frequent on Oak-stumps.

Order 6. =Agaricaceæ= (=Mushrooms=, =Toadstools=). The hymenophore consists of knife-like plates (lamellæ, gills), which are situated on the under side of the umbrella-like pileus of the fruit-body, and radiate from the central stalk. Those which are first formed extend from the edge of the pileus to the stalk; those formed later reach only a longer or shorter portion of this distance, according to their age. In structure the lamellæ (Fig. 174) consist of a central mass of hyphæ, the trama, continuous with the hyphæ of the pileus; these terminate in a layer of shorter cells, the subhymenial layer, immediately beneath the hymenium which is composed of basidia and paraphyses. In a few species, but not in the majority, the lamellæ are branched, and in some they are decurrent. A few have the stalk placed excentrically, or it may be entirely absent.

In the early stages of its development the fruit-body is more or less enclosed in a hyphal tissue--the “veil” (velum universale, or volva). The veil at first completely encloses the young fruit-body, but is afterwards ruptured as the latter grows, part remaining at the base of the stalk as the “sheath” (annulus inferus), and part on the pileus as scales or warts. In the “Fly Mushroom” (Amanita muscaria) the remains of the veil are especially conspicuous as white patches on the bright red ground of the upper surface of the pileus, and as a sheath at the base of the stalk (Fig. 178 v.). Another veil--the velum partiale--a hyphal tissue (Figs. 178 a; 173) stretches from the edge of the pileus to the stalk, and encloses the lamellæ. This veil is ruptured as the pileus expands, a portion attached to the stalk remaining as the “upper ring” (annulus superus) (Figs. 173, 178 a), or a part attached to the pileus hanging down as a fringe round its edge.--Some genera have no veil, the under side of the pileus being exposed from the first (gymnocarpic Agaricaceæ). Those which have a veil (hemiangiocarpic A.) afford a transition to the angiocarpic Gasteromycetes.

The mycelium mostly grows in soils rich in humus or dung, on decaying trees and similar objects. Many species, e.g. Tricholoma personatum and Marasmius oreades, form the so-called “fairy rings.” The fruit-bodies in these species are confined to a larger or smaller surface on which they are very regularly arranged in a ring. The reason for this is found in the radial growth of the mycelium, so that the oldest portion, or the starting point, is found at the centre of the ring, and the younger ones, on which the fruit-bodies are formed, at the circumference. The older hyphæ gradually die, and at the same time, the radial growth continuing, the ring of fruit-bodies becomes larger and larger. The “fairy-rings” are marked not only by the fruit-bodies, but also by the more vigorous growth and darker colour of the grass upon these spots.

Some species are parasites. An example is presented by Armillaria mellea, a remarkable and very destructive Fungus in woods and forests (Figs. 176, 177). ~In addition to the filamentous, white mycelium, it has also black, or black-brown, horny, root-like mycelium-strands (rhizomorpha) which were formerly considered to belong to a special genus of Fungi described under the name “Rhizomorpha.” The mycelium lives parasitically on the Conifers and other trees, forcing its hyphæ into the bark and between the bark and wood, and thence penetrating into the wood so that the tree is very severely attacked. It may also live saprophytically, and clusters of fruit-bodies are often found on old stumps and stems, on old timber, and in the rich soil of woods. The rhizomorpha, living underground, can extend for considerable distances and infect the roots of neighbouring trees, and spreads in this way the diseases known as “Harzsticken” and “Bark-Canker,” which are very destructive to young trees.~

The chief characteristics by which the numerous genera are separated are the presence or the absence of the two kinds of veils, the nature of the fruit-body, the form, branching of the lamellæ, and their position and relation with respect to the stem, the shape of the pileus, the colour of the spores, etc., etc. A knowledge of the colour may be obtained by placing the pileus with the lamellæ turned downwards on a piece of white or coloured paper, so that the spores, as they fall off, are collected on the paper, and the arrangement of the lamellæ can then be clearly seen.

About 4,600 species belonging to this order have been described.

On account of the large number of species the order is divided into several sections:

1. =Agaricinei=; fruit-body fleshy; lamellæ membranous, knife-like, with sharp edge; basidia crowded together. The FOLLOWING HAVE WHITE SPORES:--Amanita (Fly Mushroom), with volva, and generally also the upper ring on the stalk; many are poisonous, such as A. muscaria (Fig. 178) which has bright red pileus with white spots, A. pantherina and A. phalloides; A. cæsarea is edible.--Lepiota procera (Parasol Fungus) is one of the largest Mushrooms; it has a scaly pileus and moveable ring (edible).--Armillaria mellea has been mentioned above (Figs. 176, 177).--Tricholoma, lamellæ indented near the stalk; T. gambosum (Pomona Fungus) belongs to the best of edible Fungi; T. personatum often forms fairy rings (see above).--Clitocybe, lamella decurrent; C. nebularis is edible.--Pleurotus, stalk eccentric; P. ostreatus (Oyster Mushroom) grows in clusters on tree-stems (edible).--Collybia and Mycena, species numerous, small.--SPORES ROSE-RED: Volvaria and Hyporhodius.--SPORES BROWN: Cortinarius, with cobweb-like veil; Pholiota, membranous veil and ring; P. squarrosa in clusters on tree-stems; P. mutabilis, on tree-stumps (edible).--SPORES VIOLET-PURPLE: Hypholoma, Psalliota; to this section the common edible Mushroom (Fig. 172–174) belongs, with annulus and chocolate-coloured lamellæ; it is cultivated for the sake of the fine flavour.--SPORES BLACK: Coprinarius.

2. =Marasmiei.= Fruit-body tough, almost leathery, and persistent; spores white. Marasmius oreades forms large, regular fairy-rings on pastures and commons; it is used as seasoning in food.--Panus stipticus with eccentrically-placed stalk, in clusters on tree-stumps.--Schizophyllum has the edge of the lamellæ divided longitudinally, and the split portions revolute.--Lentinus affords a transition to Dædalea among the Polyporaceæ.

3. =Russulei.= Fruit-body fleshy and fragile, in which two different systems of hyphæ may be distinguished; spores thorny, white, or pale-yellow. Many are poisonous.--Russula has generally fragile and thick lamellæ reaching from stalk to edge of pileus; pileus frequently red.--Lactarius has white or yellow milky juice, which often is very acid. L. deliciosus has red-yellow milky juice, and is of a pleasant flavour. L. torminosus is poisonous.

4. =Hygrophorei.= Lamellæ thick and waxy, widely separated; spores white. Many species of Hygrophorus have brightly-coloured pileus and grow among the grass on moors and commons.--Nyctalis is parasitic on larger Toadstools. It is remarkable for its abundant formation of chlamydospores, whilst the basidiospores are little developed.

5. =Coprinei.= Fruit-bodies very soft, quickly perishable; lamellæ membranous and deliquescent. The basidia are separated from each other by paraphyses. Coprinus has coal-black spores, grows on manure, and sometimes developes sclerotia.

6. =Paxillei.= Fruit-body fleshy; lamellæ easily detached from the pileus and reticulately-joined near the stalk. They form a connecting link between the Agaricaceæ and Boletus.

7. =Cantharellei.= Lamellæ reduced to dichotomously-divided folds, decurrent on the stalk. Cantharellus cibarius (Fig. 175) is yolk-yellow, and grows on the ground in woods (edible). It is allied to Craterellus.

Family 3. =Phalloideæ.=

The fruit-bodies before they are ripe are spherical or ovoid, and enclosed by a fleshy covering, the peridium, which is perforated at maturity and remains as a sheath (Fig. 179); the fruit-bodies are hemiangiocarpic.

Order 1. =Phallaceæ= (=Stink-horns=). The peridium has a complicated structure and is composed of three layers, the intermediate one being thick and gelatinous. The gleba (the tissue which bears the hymenium) is situated upon a peculiar receptacle which expands into a porous stalk and by its sudden distension, rupturing the peridium, elevates the gleba and hymenium above the peridium, which remains as a sheath. The gleba becomes gelatinous and dissolves away as drops. To this order belong many peculiar and often brightly coloured forms, which are natives of the Southern Hemisphere.

Phallus impudicus (Stink-horn) (Fig. 179), has a fruit-body which at first is white, heavy, and soft, and resembles a hen’s egg in shape and size. The peridium is divided into three layers (Fig. 179 e, g, f) of which the external and internal are membranous, and the middle one very thick and gelatinous; each of these has again a laminated structure. The peridium when ruptured remains as a sheath (k) at the base of the stalk. The receptacle at first is strongly compressed (h) but afterwards expands into a long stalk (l) which bears the conical gleba (m). Prior to the rupture of the peridium the gleba consists of a greenish mass (i) which, when exposed, emits a carrion-like stench serving to attract flies, by whose agency the spores are distributed. It is found commonly in hedgerows and in woods, growing on the ground. The much smaller and less common P. caninus is found on rotten tree-stumps.--In Clathrus cancellatus the receptacle expands into a bright red, reticulate structure. A native of the South of Europe. Colus, Aseroë, Mitromyces.

Order 2. =Sphærobolaceæ.= An intermediate layer of the peridium swells when ripe, becomes convex, and ejects the remaining spherical portion of the fruit-body which contains the spores. Sphærobolus carpobolus has small, spherical fruit-bodies which open in the form of a star.

Family 4. =Gasteromycetes.=

The fruit-body is angiocarpic, fleshy at first, and later generally more or less hard and continues closed after the spores are ripe. The tissue lying immediately inside the peridium is termed the gleba; it is porous, containing a larger or smaller number of chambers lined with the hymenium, which is either a continuous layer of basidia or else it fills up the entire cavity. The basidia as a rule bear four spores, sometimes eight (Geaster), or two (Hymenogaster). The tissue of the walls (trama) consists often (Lycoperdaceæ) of two kinds of hyphæ, some thin and rich in protoplasm, divided by transverse septa and bearing the basidia; others thicker and thick-walled which do not dissolve like the former on the ripening of the spores, but continue to grow and form a woolly, elastic mass, the capillitium, which may be regarded as highly developed paraphyses. The peridium may be either single or double, and presents many variations in its structure and dehiscence. The mycelium is generally a number of string-like strands, living in soils rich in humus.

Order 1. =Tylostomaceæ.= Capillitium present. After the rupture of the peridium the remaining part of the fruit-body is elevated on a long stalk. Tylostoma mammosum, on heaths.

Order 2. =Lycoperdaceæ.= The fruit-body has a double peridium; the external one at length breaks into fragments (Lycoperdon, Bovista), or it has a compound structure of several layers (Geaster) and detaches itself as a continuous envelope from the inner layer, which is membranous and opens at its apex. The interior of the fruit-body consists either solely of the fertile gleba (Bovista, Geaster), or, in addition, of a sterile tissue at the base (Lycoperdon). A capillitium is also present.

Lycoperdon (Puff-ball) has a sterile part at the base of the fruit-body which often forms a thick stalk. The surface of the peridium is generally covered with warts or projections. When young this Fungus is edible, but when ripe it is dry, and used for stopping the flow of blood. L. giganteum, which is often found growing in meadows, attains a considerable size, its diameter reaching as much as eighteen inches. L. gemmatum (Fig. 180) is covered with pyramidal warts; in woods.--Bovista has no sterile basal part; the external peridium is smooth, and falls away in irregular patches. B. plumbea, on links near the sea.--Geaster (Earth-star) has an external peridium composed of several layers, which when the fruit-body opens, split into several stellate segments. These segments are very hygroscopic, and in dry weather bend backwards and so raise the inner peridium into the air. The inner peridium contains the spores and capillitia. G. coliformis has several apertures in the inner peridium. The other species have only one regular aperture at the apex. G. striatus has a pedicellate inner peridium, with conical, striped peristome. G. fornicatus has an external peridium split into four segments. This last and several other species produce “mycorhiza” on the roots of Conifers.

Order 3. =Sclerodermataceæ.= Capillitium wanting. The peridium is simple and thick, gleba with round, closed chambers, which are filled with basidia.