Pharmaceutical botany - Lighthouse Survival Blog

THE LICHENS 63
Sub-class B.— Autobasidiomycetes
(Basidium one-celled within which either four spores or four nuclei are formed)
Division a.—^Hymenomycetes
(Hymenium or spore-bearing surface exposed)
Order i. Thelephorales, forms appearing on tree trunks as leathery
incrustations or as bracts on the ground, old logs, etc.
Order 2. Clavariales, the coral fungi. Fleshy coral or club-shaped
forms. Ex.: Clavaria.
Order 3. Agaricales, the mushroom or toadstool alliance. Alike
with the other members of the Basidiomycetes the plant body consists
of the mycelium, ramifying through the substratum, but the part which
rises above the surface (the Sporophore) is differentiated into a stalk-
like body called a stipe bearing upon its summit a cap or pileus, the
latter having special surfaces for the hymenium.
Family I. Hydnace^ or tooth fungi. Ex.: Hydnum.
Family 2. Polyporace^, or pore fungi. Ex. : Polyporus.
Family 3. Agaricace^, the gill family in which the hymenium
covers blade-like plates of the pileus, called gills, generally occurring
on the under surface of the same. Ex.: Agaricus campestris, the
common edible mushroom of fields; Anamita muscaria and Anamita
phalloides, both of which are poisonous.
Division b.—Gasteromycetes
(Hymenium inclosed)
Order i. Lycoperdales, or puff balls. Ex.: Geaster, the earth
star and Lycoperdon.
Order 2. Nidulariales, the nest fungi.
SUBDIVISION v.—LICHENES, THE LICHENS
Lichens are variously colored, usually dry and leathery plants,
consisting of symbioses of algae and fungi. They are found on the
bark of trees, on rocks, logs, old fences, etc.
According to structure and mode of growth of the thallus, the