to have been used in traditional Chinese medicine as a styptic to staunch bleeding, and also as a "violent purgative". Fruit body development Fruit bodies first appear as tiny white knobs less than a cubic millimeter in size. In a day or two the knobs grow into a horizontal pyramidal mass, increasing in height as the hyphae lengthen. This is soon followed by the formation of a minute cap, and lengthening of the stem. The stem is about 1 mm long when the cap first begins to form. The hyphae that comprise the stem gradually cease to grow at their ends, and then start to branch, with many of the branches growing in a horizontal direction. This growth, indicated by the flattening and broadening out of the top of the stem, gives rise to the cap. The horizontally aligned hyphae grow vertical branches which remain more or less parallel, ultimately forming the dorsal tissue of the cap. Other similar downward-growing branches form the fertile hymenium, which can be seen when the cap is about 2 mm in diameter.The young cap is spherical and its growth is at first epinastic, its margin being curved inwards and pressed against the stem. In this way, the hymenium begins its development within a special enclosed chamber. As the hymenial surface increases and keeps pace with the growth of the dorsal tissue of the cap, the latter expands and exposes the gills. The gills are formed by the continual downward growth of some of the hyphae. The gills are exposed before the cap is completely developed, and before the spores are mature. Spores can be produced by fruit bodies as small as broad, and liberation of the spores continues until the fruit body is fully grown—a period of one month to three months, depending on the conditions of temperature and moisture. The mature spores are disseminated by the wind. When the fruit body is nearing maturity, some of the terminal portions of the hyphae of the dorsal surface of the cap separate, and as a consequence, the upper surface of the fruit body becomes granular in appearance. The fruit body projects out horizontally from the growing surface. If the position of a log is altered after young fruit bodies with the beginnings of gills have appeared, the stems of these attempt to readjust themselves in order to place the cap in a horizontal position. The