Gastromycetes is from two Greek words: gaster, stomach; mycetes, fungus. We have already seen that, in the group, Hymenomycetes, the spore-bearing surface is exposed as in the common mushroom or in the pore-bearing varieties, but in the Gastromycetes the hymenium is inclosed in the rind or peridium. The word peridium comes from peridio (I wrap around); because the peridium entirely envelops the spore-bearing portion, which, in due time, sheds the inclosed spores that have been formed inside the basidia and spicules, as will be seen in Figure 2. The cavity within the peridium consists of two parts: the threaded part, called the capillitium, which can be seen in any dried puffball, and a cellular part, called the gleba, which is the spore-bearing tissue, composed of minute chambers lined with the hymenium. The peridium breaks in various ways to permit the spores to escape. When children pinch a puffball to "see the smoke," as they say, issue from it, little do they know that they are doing just what the puffball would have them do, in order that its seeds may be scattered to the winds.
In case of the Phalloides, the hymenium deliquesces, instead of drying up.
Berkeley, in his "Outlines," gives the following characterization of this family: "Hymenium more or less permanently concealed, consisting in most cases of closely packed cells, of which the fertile ones bear naked spores in distinct spicules, exposed only by the rupture or decay of the investing coat or peridium."
The following families will be treated here:
- Phalloideæ—Terrestrial. Hymenium deliquescent.
- Lycoperdaceæ—Cellular at first. Hymenium drying up in a mass of threads and spores.
- Sclerodermaceæ—Peridium inclosing sporangia.
Phalloideæ. Fr.
Volva universal, the intermediate stratum gelatinous. Hymenium deliquescent. Berkeley's Outlines.
The following genera will be represented:
- Phallus—Pileus free around the stem.
- Mutinus—Pileus attached to the stem.