Toadstools in Bedford, Texas

It will not have escaped the notice of even casual observers that a relationship of some kind appears to exist between trees and toadstools; that, for example, at certain seasons of the year toadstools are specially abundant on the ground in or about woodlands and beneath trees (Pl. 2, 4, 5).Many of these are conspicuous objects, large and often brightly coloured, and a little attention bestowed on their distribution shows that certain kinds are regularly associated with particular trees or types of woodlands, or show a constant preference for other situations.

The truffle, actually a kind of underground toadstool, is formed below the surface of the soil among roots of beech and certain other trees, and smaller structures, similar in appearance to truffles, produced by other members of the same family of fungi are found in soil near the roots of pines and other coniferous trees.Other common toadstools appear regularly, not in woodlands or among trees, but with grasses and in pastures.

It is interesting to note that the fleshy caps of these poisonous toadstools are eaten with impunity by slugs.These observations lead naturally to further inquiries. What are toadstools? What is their manner of life and how, if at all, does it differ from that of trees and other plants among which they grow? Is there any explanation for their distribution in nature; in particular, for the constant association of some kinds with certain species of trees or other plants?In the first place: what are toadstools? According to the Oxford Dictionary, a toadstool is 'a fungus having a round disk-like top and a slender stalk, a mushroom'. Enlarging upon this definition, it is explained that the term, as used popularly, is often restricted to 'poisonous or inedible fungi' to distinguish these from edible 'mushrooms'. There is some uncertainty about the origin and exact meaning of the name toadstool. Variants such as tadstoles, todestoles, todestolys and others occur in medieval literature from 1398 onwards. It is believed that toad, found in middle English as tode and toode, refers to the animal, and this view finds support in its use in the form toodys hatte in the year 1440.