Through Magic Glasses and Other Lectures / A Sequel to The Fairyland of Science

by Arabella B. Buckley

m, Mycelium. b1-3, Mushroom buds of different ages. b4, Button mushroom. g, Gills forming inside before lower attachment of the cap gives way at v.

"The part which we gather and call a mushroom, a toadstool, or a puffball is only the fruit, answering to the round balls of the mould. The rest of the plant is a thick network of tubes, which you will see under the third microscope. These tubes spread underground and suck in decayed matter from the earth; they form the mycelium (m, Fig. 25) such as we found in the mould. The mushroom-growers call it 'mushroom spawn' because they use it to spread over the ground for new crops. Out of these underground tubes there springs up from time to time a swollen round body no bigger at first than a mustard seed (b1, Fig. 25). As it increases in size it comes above ground and grows into the mushroom or spore-case, answering to the round balls which contain the spores of the mould. At first this swollen body is egg-shaped, the top half being largest and broadest, and the fruit is then called a 'button-mushroom' b4. Inside this ball are now formed a series of folds made of long cells, some of which are soon to bear spores just as the tubes in the mould did, and while these are forming and ripening, a way out is preparing for them. For as the mushroom grows, the skin of the lower part of the ball (v, b4) is stretched more and more, till it can bear the strain no longer and breaks away from the stalk; then the ball expands into an umbrella, leaving a piece of torn skin, called the veil (v, Fig. 26), clinging to the stalk."

Fig. 26.

Later stages of the mushroom. (After Gautier.)

1, Button mushroom stage. c, Cap. v, Veil. g, Gills.

2, Full-grown mushroom, showing veil v after the cap is quite free, and the gills or lamellæ g, of which the structure is shown in Fig. 27.

"All this happens in a single night, and the mushroom is complete, with a stem up the centre and a broad cap, under which are the folds which bear the spores. Thus much you can see for yourselves at any time by finding a place where mushrooms grow and looking for them late at night and early in the morning so as to get the different stages. But now we must turn to the microscope, and cutting off one of the folds, which branch out under the cap like the spokes of a wheel, take a slice across it (1, Fig. 27) and examine."

Fig. 27.