The Agaricaceae of Michigan - v. 1 Author:Unknown Author Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE CLASSIFICATION OF AGARICS The plant kingdom consists of two large groups; the seed-bearing plants or Phanerogams and the spore- form ing plants or Cryptog... more »ams. The latter are sometimes referred to as "the lower plants" although they include also the large, tree-like ferns. The Cryptogams include the green plants like the Algae, Mosses and Ferns; they also include an enormous number of plants which do not possess the ordinary green color and these are the FUNGI. In the following outline of the fungi the grouping is given in a scientific manner, since this is the only arrangement sufficiently accurate. For the terms which are strange to the beginner, reference must be made to the glossary. Consistent perseverance and the use of elementary7 books on botany are the only self-helps that can be advised when one is first plunged into the subject. The best way to begin the study is by the help of a teacher or of a companion who is already somewhat informed and is enthusiastic enough to help others. Mycological clubs are of great value in this respect. This work treats only of a single one of the many families of Fungi, and for others the student is referred to the books dealing with the other groups. The Keys The arrangement of the species of each genus in the form of keys or synopses is entirely artificial and arbitrary; hence these keys are merely guide-boards to point the student in the right direction by the use of selected characteristics of each species. A specimen is not to be considered identified when it is "run down" in the key, but the name so obtained should be referred to in the text and the description of the plant carefully applied to the specimen in hand. Such keys cannot be constructed so as to be perfect since plants of this class are quite variable and one o...« less