The Mushroom, Edible and Otherwise Part 94

They are simple, large, stuffed, fleshy, everywhere smooth, three to ten inches high, attaining to one inch in thickness; light yellow, ochraceous, brownish, chocolate, club-shaped, ovate-rounded, puckered at the top; flesh white, spongy. The spores are white, 105.

They are found in the leaf-mold of mixed woods, and you will sometimes find several growing together. They are found from July to frost.

The dark variety, which is frequently vertically wrinkled, is slightly acrid when raw, but this disappears upon cooking. The plant is widely distributed but abundant nowhere in our state. I found it occasionally in the woods near Chillicothe. The plants in Figure 396 were found near Columbus, and were photographed by Dr. Kellerman of Ohio State University.

_Clavaria fusiformis. Sow._

SPINDLE-SHAPED CLAVARIA. EDIBLE.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 397.--Clavaria fusiformis. Natural size.]

Fusiformis is from _fusus_, a spindle, and _forma_, a form.

The plant is yellow, smooth, rather firm, soon hollow, caespitose; nearly erect, rather brittle, attenuated at each end; clubs somewhat spindle-shaped, simple, toothed, the apex somewhat darker; even, slightly firm, usually with several united at the base.

The spores are pale yellow, globose, 4-5.

They are found in woods and pastures. The plants in the figure were in the woods beside an untraveled road, on Ralston's Run.

They strongly resemble C. inaequalis. When found in sufficient quant.i.ties they are very tender and have an excellent flavor.

_Clavaria inaequalis. Mull._

THE UNEQUAL CLAVARIA. EDIBLE.

Inaequalis means unequal.

Somewhat tufted, quite fragile, from one to three inches high, often compressed, angular, often forked, ventricose; yellow, occasionally whitish, sometimes variously cut at the tip. The spores are colorless, elliptical, 9-105.

One can readily distinguish it from C. fusiformis by the tips, these not being sharp pointed. It is found in cl.u.s.ters in woods and pastures from August to October. As delicious as C. fusiformis.

_Clavaria mucida. Pers._

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 398.--Clavaria mucida.]

Mucida means slimy, so named from the soft and watery condition of the plants.

The plants are quite small, usually simple yet sometimes branched, club-shaped, one-eighth to an inch high, white, sometimes yellowish, frequently pinkish or rose-tinted.

These plants are very small and easily overlooked. It is found on decayed wood. I have found it late in the fall and early in the spring.

You can look for it at any time of the year after warm rains or in damp places, on well decayed wood. The specimens in Figure 398 were photographed by Prof. G. D. Smith, Akron, Ohio.

_Calocera. Fr._

This plant is gelatinous, somewhat cartilaginous when moist, h.o.r.n.y when dry, vertical, simple or branched, caespitose or solitary.

The hymenium is universal; the basidia round and two-lobed, each lobe bearing a single one-spored sterigma. The spores are inclined to be oblong and curved.

This genus resembles Clavaria, but is identified by being somewhat gelatinous and viscid when moist and rather horn-like when dry, but especially by its two-lobed basidia.

_Calocera cornea. Fr._

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Photo by C. G. Lloyd._

Figure 399.--Calocera cornea.]

This is unbranched, caespitose, rooting, even, viscid, orange-yellow or pale yellow; clubs short, subulate, connate at the base. The spores are round and oblong, 7-85.

Found upon stumps and logs, especially upon oak where the timber is cracked, the plants springing from the cracks. When dry they are quite stiff and rigid.

_Calocera stricta. Fr._

These plants are unbranched, solitary, about one inch high, elongated, base somewhat blunt, even when dry, yellow.

Its habitat is very similar to C. cornea but more scattered. C. striata, Fr., is very similar to C. cornea, but is distinguished by its being solitary, and striate or rugose when dry.

_Typhula. Fr._

Epiphytal. Stem filiform, flaccid; clubs cylindrical, perfectly distinct from hymenium, sometimes springing from a sclerotium; hymenium thin and waxy.

This is distinguished from Clavaria and Pistillaria by having its stem distinct from the hymenium. It is a small plant resembling, in miniature, Typha, hence its generic name.

_Typhula erythropus. Fr._

Simple; club cylindrical, slender, smooth, white; stem nearly straight, dark red, inclining to be black, springing usually from a blackish and somewhat wrinkled sclerotium. The spores are oblong, 5-62-2.5.

This plant has a wide distribution, and is found in damp places upon the stems of herbaceous plants.

_Typhula incarnata. Fr._

Simple; club cylindrical, elongated, smooth; whitish, more or less tinged with pink above; one to two-inches high, base minutely strigose, springing from a compressed brownish sclerotium. The spores are nearly round, 54.

This is a common and beautiful little plant and easily distinguished both by its color and the size and form of its spores. If the collector will watch the dead herbaceous stems in damp places, he will not only find the two just described, but another, differing in color, size, and form of spores, called T. phacorrhiza, Fr. It has a brownish color and its spores are quite oblong, 8-94-5.

_Lachnocladium. Lev._

Lachnocladium is from two Greek words meaning a fleece and a branch.