. Botany for high schools. Botany. 132 GROWTH AND WORK OF PLANTS and forms the well-known bracket fungi so common in the forests, or in the case of other species forms the toadstools or mushrooms often seen growing from the wounds of trees. Some of these same still other species and by a similar series of fungus forms are reduced to humus. 216. The molds w^hich are also fungi, are, many of them, saprophytic also. They grow on fruits, preserves, old bread and isolated plant parts which are not humus (see the bread mold in Chapter XXVI). 217. Decay.;—All decay is due to the action of living orga
. Botany for high schools. Botany. 132 GROWTH AND WORK OF PLANTS and forms the well-known bracket fungi so common in the forests, or in the case of other species forms the toadstools or mushrooms often seen growing from the wounds of trees. Some of these same still other species and by a similar series of fungus forms are reduced to humus. 216. The molds w^hich are also fungi, are, many of them, saprophytic also. They grow on fruits, preserves, old bread and isolated plant parts which are not humus (see the bread mold in Chapter XXVI). 217. Decay.;—All decay is due to the action of living organisms, chiefly fungi and bacteria. If these organisms could be excluded from fruits, vegetables, preserves, meats, or any plant or animal part, these organic substances would be preserved indefinitely and if exposed to the air would simply dry out. Dried beef is rendered safe from decay because the percentage of moisture is insufficient for the growth of bacteria. Fruits which are first heated to kill the germs of fungi and bacteria and then sealed in cans " to shut out the air and the entrance of germs, are pre- * The mycelium of some of the bracket fungi {Polyporus mollis, for ex- ample) dissolves only the cellulose of the wood leaving the xylogen, while others {Trametes pint, for example) dissolve only the xylogen, leaving the pure cellulose intact in which the xylogen was Fig. loo. Spawn of the poh'porus as it makes its way through the wood of the tree. wood-destroying fungi grow on the dead logs, stumps and branches forming the brackets or mushrooms which are the fruiting bodies. The myce- lium disintegrates the cellulose and wood.* After these have finished their work, other spe- cies come in and carry the disintegration farther, and so on until the wood is reduced to humus when still other species grow on this. The dead leaves are attacked by. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced f
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