&&000 How and Why Wonder Book of Mushrooms Ferns and Mosses p3
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All living matter is divided into two main groups, the animal kingdom and
the plant kingdom. Mushrooms, ferns and mosses belong to the plant kingdom.
They are old members of the plant community; their direct ancestors go back
to the very beginnings of life.  As they do not have seed-producing flowers,
they are called flowerless plants. Before examining them closely, lets have
a general look at the family tree of the plant kingdom.

The history of plants is an ancient one. The first plants came into being
about two billion years ago, and nobody is sure exactly how they looked or
precisely how they developed. But there are theories about it which are
more or less generally accepted today.

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Of all flowerless plants today, fungi have the most species. There are five times
as many different fungi as there are lichens or mosses, and almost ten times
as many fungi as there are ferns. Scientists have named more than =70_000
different fungi. Some are visible only under the microscope, others are a
couple of feet high, some are poisonous or harmful, and still others are
edible or of some use to man. The mold on old bread, the yeast used to make
bread rise, the bacteria that causes diseases, and the penicillin that cures
diseases are all fungi. Mildew are fungi and so are mushrooms and toadstools,
the largest of the fungi. You will read more about them later in this book.

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Let's not forget that the use of mushrooms -- beyond eating them -- was not always
based on superstition. The Brackets once served as tinder, razor strops, cork,
chest-protectors, dyes, and snuffs; and artists still like to draw on the Sketcher's
Mushroom, or Drawing Pad, as it is also popularly called. They sketch on the creamy
underside or cut sculptural scenes on the upper surface. As the plant turns hard
and woody, the sketch or the sculpture is preserved and gives a special effect.
Try it if you find this kind of mushroom and it is in the right stage, not too
soft yet not too woody.

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At certain points on this tangled web, the fibers pack together and a swelling forms
at one side. It is a white tissue-like knob the size of a pinhead. This knob
increases in size until it becomes a button with a stem. As the button enlarges,
a small pocket develops at the tip. Some of the thread grow into this little opening
and become gills. A veil of threads extends from the stem to the edge of the cap
and protects the gills until the spores are ripe. More nourishment is supplied, and
now the button grows rapidly.
Some months later, on a warm muggy summer day, the mushroom stretches up and comes
through the ground as a white marble-sized blob. As it grows, it looks more like a
dumbbell. The veil protecting the delicate gills breaks as the cap expands. A part of
it is left as a ring on the thick-set stem. It tapers at its base; the rest of it
hangs like a fringe from the smooth, skin-covered cap. The gills now become pink in
color.

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Contrary to popular belief, mushrooms do not pop up overnight. In fact, some require years
to reach their full maturity. Much of their development takes place where it cannot
be seen -- under soil, in wood, or in vegetable matter. This is its true growth when it
makes new tissue. The stem and fruit, which are really a continuation of the interwoven
threads of the mycelium, grow rapidly, but they re only parts of the whole plant.
Their rapid growth is really the expansion of already formed tissue.
Thousands of threads absorb water when the plants are fruiting. This system may become
inactive in winter or dry weather. When conditions are right for growth again, it
begins its work once more. Unlike other plants that have only a few layers, mushrooms
have a number of expansion points. Their organs can be filled quickly with water to
stretch at the right time. Because of this power obtained with the plants' absorption
of food and water, certain kinds of mushrooms have been known to displace paving
blocks weighing several pounds, break up sidewalks, push stones from their resting places,
and perform other Herculean feats of strength as a clump expands.

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Other legends tell about Seed Ferns. They were reputed to have had dainty blue flowers
that bloomed only one night a year. Just at the stroke of midnight on Midsummer's Eve,
these blossoms ripened, and their shining seed dropped to the ground. If one could catch
some of this seed on a white cloth, he would henceforth possess magical powers. If a pinch
were put on the shoes, their wearer was supposed to be invisible and able to travel anywhere
without being seen. It was also thought that fern seed gave second sight to look into the
past and future, find lost things, and know where to hunt for buried treasure.

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Ferns have an alternation of generations. The young fern does not resemble the parent plant,
but their young resembles the grandparent. An asexual plant, the sporophyte, alternates with
a sexual one. On the lower side of a fertile fern (sporophyte generation), tiny green
specks appear. Soon, these dots turn dark brown. They have a white covering to protect them
while young. Each dot is really a mass of tiny, nearly globular spore-cases made of a layer
of skin fastened to the frond by little stems. These capsules contain many cells, or spores.
when the spores are ripe, a jointed ring of elastic heavy-walled cells extending around the
spore-case opens with a snap. The spores are then discharged into the air and the wind
scatters them about.

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A fern needs from three to seven years to become a mature, reproductive plant. Because so much
danger threatens the young sporelings during this time, many may never reach their full growth.
However, they have a number of methods of reproductions, and devise ways of avoiding peril.
The Brackens produce new plants all along their branching rootstocks; these woody rootstocks,
deep in the ground, are protected against dryness and cold.
The Bladder Fern produces not only a great number of spores, but also grows little bulblets on
the under-surface of its fronds. Many of its spores may never find a good place to start growing,
but the fleshy bulblets drop into the soil around the parent plant and sprout roots and leaves.
New plants form to continue the species. The first fronds of the bulblets are much more mature
than those from the prothallus and will produce spores much sooner, as they start life practically
grown-up.

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It would be an omission if we failed to include some information about the liverworts, first cousin
to the mosses. They are, like the mosses, mostly fairly small and are, like the mosses, among the
simplest land plants. Both belong to the same group of plants, the Bryophyta (from a Greek word
used to describe a moss). Both liverworts and mosses, just as the ferns, have an alternation of
generations, a sexual generation (gametophyte) alternating with an asexual (sporophyte generation)
one. Though often confused with the mosses, the liverworts show distinct differences from them.
Their plant body is not differentiated into stem and leaves but consists of a flattened frond
(thallus); or, if there are leaves in the so-called Scale Mosses, which are actually Leafy Liverworts,
the leaves are divided into segments and have no midrib or nerve. The mosses, on the other hand, have
true stems and leaves; the leaves, never lobed or divided, have a midrib.

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Mosses with make the peat used as fuel in =Ireland and Northwestern Europe are the most valuable kinds.
Their pale sponge-like leaves, filled with hollow cells, quickly absorb water. The spongy growth
fills whole areas in damp meadows, bogs, swamps, or on the shores of lakes or ponds. New plants are
continually springing from old shoots so that the top remains growing while the under-layers die.
The ones down deeper change into peat. Layers of such moss have accumulated for thousands of years.
Peat moss is also used by nurseries. Gardeners pack stock in it because it holds moisture and keeps
roots fresh during shipment from one place to another.  When chopped, this moss makes an excellent cover
for a seed bed, and when added to soil, it keeps it most and porous.