Fungales

pl. (Bot.) An alliance of plants, cla Thallogens, corresponding to the Fungi of de Ju ieu, and distinguished at certain points from the sea-weeds more by habit than by general character. They agree with them in their cellular structure and the almost constant absence of vascular ti ue; while they differ, according to our best authorities, in their scarcely ever being aquatic, in deriving nutriment from the substance on which they grow, and in the far lower degree of de velopment of the organs of impregnation. They are also nearly allied to the Lichens , the latter being dis tinguished by producing gonidia and by deriving their nourishment from the air and not from the matrix on which they grow. - The F. , observes Berkeley, may be recognized either as the creatures of corruption - i. e. springing from various bodies, whether animal or vegetable, in a more or le advanced stage of decomposition-or as parasites of living bodies, producing an injurious change. The ephemeral toadstools of the hot-bed, the mushrooms of our rich pastures, the sapballs on decaying trees, the moulds which infest our food, and even the ti ues of living animals, the mildew bunt and smut of our corn crops, with many other more or le familiar objects, are so many fungals , all agreeing in the main particulars which we have indicated; and so differing from the green scum of our brooks, and the weeds of the sea, though distinguished from each other by e ential differences of structure. In some, no indications of sexual differences have been found, while in others there are bodies which in all probability have an especial sexual function, though at present we are without actual proof of the fact. F.are divided into two great sections, characterized by the mode in which the reproductive bodies are formed. In the one, they are simply the terminal joint or joints of the component threads or cells, altered in form from those which precede them, and at length falling off and reproducing the plant, in which case they are called spores. In the other they are formed from the contents of certain sacs or asci, and are usually definite in number, in which case they are called sporidia . Both spores and sporidia may be multicellular, and in germination give rise to as many threads of spawn as there are cells. These curious plants are ranged in six principal divisions, variously regarded as natural orders, or tribes, namely: HYMENOMYCETES, q. v., of which mushrooms and sap-balls are well-known examples; Gaster omycetes, or LYCOPERDACEE, q. v., represented by the puff-balls; Coniomycetes, or UREDINACELE, q. v., of which the rust and bunt of corn afford ready instances; HYP HOMY CETES, q. v., to which belong the naked-seeded moulds; AscCOMYCETES, q.v., of which morels and the truffle are examples; and PHYSOMYCETES, q . v., represented by the common bread-mould. - The use of Fungi in the organized world is to check exuberant growth, to facilitate decomposition, to regulate the balance of the component elements of the atmosphere, to promote fertility, and to nourish myriads of the smaller members of the animal kingdom. They occur in every part of the world where the cold is not too intense to destroy their spawn, or where there is sufficient moisture, though they abound the most in moist temperate regions. A vast number of species are known, and many of these are of great importance to man, either from their useful or their mischievous properties. The mushroom (see AGARIC US), truffle, and morel, delicacies well known at table, and the ergot, so useful in obstetric practice, are illustrations of the former; the fly agaric and other poisonous species, as well as blight, mildew, rust, and brand, and the merulius and others which induce dry rot, are examples of the latter.