Toadstools, Mushrooms, Fungi, Edible and Poisonous

Sub-Class Ascomycetes

The reproductive bodies consisting of sporidia mostly definite, contained in asci—mother cells or sacs—springing from a naked or enclosed stratum of fructifying cells and forming a hymenium or nucleus. The sporidia are often accompanied by simple or branched threads, which are abortive asci, called paraphyses.

In Hymenomycetes the spores are entirely unenclosed and are borne on stalk-like processes on the gills of Agaricaceæ, in the tubes of Polyporaceæ, on the spines of Hydnaceæ, etc. In Ascomycetes they are enclosed in sacs springing from the external layer of the fruit-bearing surface, which may be on the outer surface of the plant or enclosed.

Cohort DISCOMYCETES. Gr—a sac; Gr—a fungus.

The most important distinctive feature of Discomycetes consists in the disk or hymenium being fully exposed at maturity. It includes families which contain choice edible species.