The Mushroom, Edible and Otherwise Part 43

The stem is two to four inches long, solid, fibrillose, sooty, often streaked or striate, as will be seen in Figure 169, page 212.

The spores are 107-8.

These plants grow in pine woods in company with H. fuligineus and H.

flavodiscus. The specimen on the right in Figure 169 was found near West Gloucester, Ma.s.s., by Mrs. Blackford. It is found from September till hard frost.

_Hygrophorus Laurae. Morg._

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 170.--Hygrophorus Laurae.]

This is a beautiful plant, found among leaves, and so completely covered with particles of leaves and soil that it is hard to clean them off.

They are very viscid, both stem and cap. They are only occasionally found in our state.

The pileus is two to three inches broad; reddish-brown in the center, shading to a very light tan on the edges; very viscid; convex; margin at first slightly incurved, then expanded.

The gills are adnate, slightly decurrent, not crowded, unequal, yellowish.

The stem is stuffed, tapering downward, whitish, furfuraceous near the cap.

I have found this plant in Poke Hollow, near Chillicothe, on several occasions, also in Gallia county, Ohio. I have not found it elsewhere in this vicinity. While I have not found it in sufficient quant.i.ty to try it I have no doubt of its edible qualities. I have found it only about the last of September and the first of October. It grows in rather dense woods on the north sides of the hills, where it is constantly shaded and damp. Named in honor of Prof. Morgan's wife.

_Hygrophorus micropus. Pk._

SHORT-STEMMED HYGROPHORUS. EDIBLE.

Micropus means short-stemmed. The pileus is thin, fragile, convex or centrally depressed, umbilicate; silky, gray, often with one or two narrow zones on the margin; taste and odor farinaceous.

The gills are narrow, close, adnate or slightly decurrent, gray, becoming salmon color with age.

The stem is short, solid or with a slight cavity, often slightly thickened at the top, pruinose, gray, with a white, mycelioid tomentum at the base. The spores are angular, uninucleate, salmon color, .0003--.0004 of an inch long, .00025--.0003 broad. _Peck._

This is a very small plant and not frequently found, but widely distributed. I have always found it in open gra.s.sy places during damp weather. The caps are thin, often markedly depressed. Its silky appearance and narrow zones on the margin of the cap, together with its rather close gills, broadly attached to the stem, gray at first, then salmon color, will identify the species. July to September.

_Hygrophorus miniatus. Fr._

THE VERMILION HYGROPHORUS. EDIBLE.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 171.--Hygrophorus miniatus. Cap and stems vermilion-red. Gills yellowish and tinged with bright-red.]

Miniatus is from minium, red lead.

This is a small but a very common species, highly colored and very attractive. The pileus and the stem are bright red and often vermilion.

The pileus is at first convex, but, when fully expanded, it is nearly or quite flat, and in wet weather it is even concave by the elevation of the margin, smooth or minutely scaly, often umbilicate. Its color varies from a bright red or vermilion or blood-red to pale orange hues.

The gills are yellow and frequently strongly tinged with red, distant, attached to the stem, and sometimes notched.

The stem is usually short and slender, colored like, or a little paler, than the cap; solid, when young, but becoming stuffed or hollow with age. The spores are elliptical, white, 8 long.

The Vermilion mushroom grows in woods and in open fields. It is more plentiful in wet weather. It seems to grow best where chestnut logs have decayed. It can be found in such places in sufficient quant.i.ties to eat.

Few mushrooms are more tender or have a more delicate flavor. There are two other species having red caps, Hygrophorus coccineus and H.

puniceus, but both are edible and no harm could come from any mistake.

They are found from June to October. Those in Figure 171 were found in Poke Hollow September 29.

_Hygrophorus miniatus sphagnophilus. Pk._

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate XXV. Figure 172.--Hygrophorus miniatus sphagnophilus.

Natural size.]

Sphagnophilus means sphagnum-loving, so called because it is found growing on sphagnum.

The pileus is broadly convex, sub.u.mbilicate, red.

The gills are adnate, whitish, becoming yellowish or sometimes tinged with red, occasionally red on the edge.

The stem is colored like the pileus, whitish at the base, both it and the pileus are very fragile.

This is more fragile than the typical form and retains its color better in drying. _Peck_, 43d Rep.

This is a beautiful plant growing, as Figure 172 shows, on the lower dead portion of the stems of bog moss or sphagnum. It grows very abundantly in Buckeye Lake. The photograph was made by Dr. Kellerman. It is found from July to October. These plants cook readily, have an excellent flavor and because of their color make an inviting dish. I have eaten heartily of them several times.

_Hygrophorus marginatus. Pk._

MARGINED HYGROPHORUS. EDIBLE.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 173.--Hygrophorus marginatus.]

Marginatus, so called from the frequent vermilion edged gills.

The pileus is thin, fragile, convex, subcampanulate or nearly plane, often irregular, sometimes broadly umbonate, glabrous, s.h.i.+ning, striatulate on the margin, bright golden-yellow.

The gills are rather broad, subdistant, ventricose, emarginate, adnexed, yellow, sometimes becoming orange or vermilion on the edge, inters.p.a.ces venose.

The stem is fragile, glabrous, often flexous, compressed or irregular, hollow, pale-yellow; spores broadly elliptic, .00024--.0003 of an inch long, .00024--.0002 broad. _Peck_, N. Y., 1906.

This plant has the most beautiful yellow I have ever seen in a mushroom.

This bright golden yellow and the orange or vermilion color on the margin or edge of the gills will always characterize the plant.

The specimen in Figure 173 were sent to me by Mrs. Blackford, of Boston, Ma.s.s., the last of August. They were not in the best condition when photographed.

_Hygrophorus ceraceus. Fr._

THE WAX-LIKE HYGROPHORUS. EDIBLE.