Fig. 128.—Sclerotinia ciborioides: a sclerotium with three apothecia slightly magnified; b ascus with eight ascospores; c germinating ascospore.
Fig. 129.—Dasyscypha willkommii: a portion of bark of Larix decidua with sessile, cup-shaped apothecia (nat. size); b two paraphyses on either side of an ascus with eight ascospores.
Order 2. Mollisiaceæ. Mollisia cinerea, principally on decaying wood.
Order 3. Pezizaceæ. This order contains the largest and morphologically the highest forms of the Discomycetes. Apothecia fleshy, and in the later conditions generally saucer-shaped.
Peziza, with sessile apothecia, growing on the ground; P. cochleata is brown, and coiled like a snail-shell; P. coccinea is scarlet; P. aurantia occurs as an orange-coloured expansion on the ground.
Order 4. Ascobolaceæ. Apothecia fleshy; in the later stages flat or convex. The asci are, comparatively speaking, large, and often contain a great number of spores which escape by the casting off of a lid on the summit of the ascus. Generally living on dung.—Ascobolus furfuraceus, etc.
Family 6. Helvellales.
These Fungi have the appearance of clubs, bells, or mushrooms, consisting of an upright stalk bearing a large and fleshy head, on the exterior surface of which the hymenium is spread. The ascocarps are probably gymnocarpic from the beginning, and on this account these plants are placed in a separate family. The development of the ascocarps is unknown. The Morchella (Morell) grows on the ground; some species are edible. 1 order.