Among the Mushrooms Part 11

There is another species, P. involutus, which Professor Peck says is edible. Stevenson says that P. leptopus is a remarkable species, that it is distinguished from P. involutus by having the gills simple at the base, not united by interlacing or transverse veins (anastomosing).

+Cap+ was a light brownish-yellow; it varies from 1 to 3 inches in breadth, eccentric or lateral, depressed in the middle, dry, covered with dense down, soon torn into scales, which are a dingy yellow. Flesh yellow. +Stem+ short, scarcely 1 inch, tapering downward, yellow inside.

+Gills+ decurrent, tense and straight, crowded, narrow, yellowish, then darker in color. It was growing on the ground in September.

[Ill.u.s.tration:

1. Boletus edulis.

2. Hypholoma perplexum.

3. Marasmius rotula.

4. Calostoma cinnebarinus.]

MUSHROOMS WITH PURPLE OR VIOLET-COLORED CAP.

+CORTINARIUS ALBO-VIOLACEOUS = white and violet.+ +The Violet-colored Cortinarius.+

+Cap+ whitish-violet, 2 to 3 inches broad, fleshy, convex, broadly umbonate or gibbous, dry, beautifully silky and becoming even; flesh juicy, a bluish-white color. +Stem+ 2 to 4 inches long, solid, firm, bulbous, club-shaped, to 1 inch thick. It is, both outside and inside, of a whitish violet color, often fibrillose above, with the cortina, and sometimes with the white veil, in the form of a zone at the middle.

+Gills+ adnate, 2 to 3 lines broad, somewhat distant, slightly serrulated, of a peculiar ashy violaceous color, at length slightly cinnamon from the spores. It has no odor and the taste is insipid. We found this in the woods in the month of October, growing on dead leaves; a pretty fungus from the violet tints.

DESCRIPTIONS OF SOME FAMILIAR MUSHROOMS WITHOUT REGARD TO COLOR.

Here follows a list of fungi that we constantly see, but which cannot be cla.s.sified by the color of the cap.

POLYPOREI, PORE-BEARING FUNGI.

+FISTULINA HEPATICA = liver.+ +The Beefsteak Fungus.+

This species grows on trees, oaks or chestnuts, in hot weather. +Cap+ is of a dark-red color, which probably suggested the name. It is generally 2 to 6 inches broad, but often grows to an immense size. The surface is rough, the flesh thick, viscid above, soft when young, when old tough, covered with tenacious fibres. +Stem+ short and thick. +Pores+ at first pallid or yellowish-pink when young; they become brownish ochraceous when old. It is changeable in form, is sometimes sessile (without a stem), or it has a short lateral stem.

The genus Fistulina, to which this mushroom belongs, has the under surface of the cap covered with minute hollow pores, which are separate from one another and stand side by side. The shape varies. It is sometimes long, shaped like a tongue, or roundish. It is peculiar-looking. It is considered good for food and nouris.h.i.+ng, but the taste is said to be rather acid. The specimens we found varied from 2 to 5 inches in diameter. They were of a dark-red color, and were tough and old. They grew upon a tree in a large forest, and were not found anywhere else.

+POLYPORUS BETULINUS = birch.+ +The Birch Polyporus.+

We shall meet a great many fungi on our walks that belong to the genus Polyporus. They are generally leathery (coriaceous) fungi, and many grow on wood. A few are edible, but are not recommended as food. The species P. betulinus is found on living and dead birch trees. The specimens we found grew in great quant.i.ties, of all sizes, from 1 to 6 inches broad. They were at first pure white, and then a.s.sumed a brownish tinge.

The edges were obtuse, the caps fleshy, then corky, smooth, the upper ends not regular, oblique in the form of an umbo or little k.n.o.b, the pellicles or outside layers thin and easily separated. Pores short, small, unequal, at length separating. The shape of the fungus is peculiar, a sort of semi-circular outline that may be called dimidiate.

The margins were involute. They protruded from a split in the bark of a dead birch tree which lay prostrate on the ground, several feet in length, and it was literally covered with the fungi, some an inch wide and snow white, and the largest 5 or 6 inches in width, and of a brownish-gray tinge. These specimens became as hard as wood after they had been kept for some time. The thin skin peeled off easily and disclosed the snowy flesh beneath.

+POLYPORUS PERENNIS = perennial.+ +The Perennial Polyporus.+

+Cap+ is cinnamon-colored, then of a date brown, leathery, tough, funnel-shaped, becoming smooth, zoned. +Pores+ minute, angular, acute, at first sprinkled with a white bloom, then naked and torn. +Stem+ slightly firm, thickened downward, velvety. This is a common species, and one meets with it everywhere on the ground, and on stumps, from July to January. The cap is 1 to 2 inches broad, and the stem 1 inch long.

+POLYPORUS PICIPES = pitch and foot.+ +The Black-stemmed Polyporus.+

+Cap+ pallid color, then turning chestnut, often a pale yellowish livid color, with the disc chestnut, fleshy, leathery, rigid, tough, even, smooth, depressed at disc or behind. Flesh white. +Stem+ eccentric and lateral, equal, firm, at first velvety, then naked, and dotted black up to the pores. +Pores+ decurrent, round, very small, rather slender, white, then slightly pale and yellowish. This fungus grows on the trunks of trees, and is found as late as the middle of winter.

+POLYPORUS SULPHUREUS = brimstone.+ +The Sulphury Polyporus.+

This mushroom gains its name from the color of its pores, which are of a bright sulphur color. It grows in tufted layers (caespitose), sometimes 1 to 2 feet long, and it cannot be mistaken. +Cap+ may measure 8 inches in breadth, and is of a reddish-yellow color, overlapping like the s.h.i.+ngles of a roof (imbricated). It is wavy and rather smooth. Flesh light yellowish, then white, splitting open. +Pores+ are minute, even, sulphur yellow. They retain their color much better than the pileus. The plants are generally without a stem, but there may be a short stem, which is lateral. They grow in cl.u.s.ters, all fastened together and one above the other, and of all sizes. We saw this fungus first in a dense woods, where its bright color at once attracted our notice. It was growing in a large cl.u.s.ter, closely packed one over the other. It is said to be good for food when young and tender.

+POLYPORUS LUCIDUS = bright.+ +The s.h.i.+ning Polyporus.+

One can never mistake this fungus. Its surface looks as if covered with varnish, rather wrinkled, a bright dark-red color, and its shape is varied and singular. We have seen it sometimes shaped like a fan, and like a lady's high comb, or in some fantastic form. Stevenson says it is a light yellow color and then becomes blood red chestnut. It is first corky, then woody. +Stem+ lateral, equal, varnished, s.h.i.+ning, of the same color as cap. +Pores+ are long, very small, white and then cinnamon color. It grows on and about stumps during the summer. +Cap+ is from 2 to 6 inches broad, and the stem 6 to 10 inches long, and 1 or more thick.

+POLYPORUS VERSICOLOR = changeable.+ +The Changeable Polyporus.+

This species is also common. It is found on dead wood, in all forms and colors. +Cap+ variegated with different-colored zones; leathery, thin, rigid, depressed behind, becoming velvety. +Pores+ minute, round, acute and torn, white, turning pale or yellow.

+POLYPORUS ELEGANS = elegant.+ +The Elegant Polyporus.+

+Cap+ 2 to 4 inches broad, of one color, pallid, ochraceous or orange, s.h.i.+ning, equally fleshy, and then hardened, becoming woody, flattened, even, smooth. Flesh white. +Stem+ eccentric or lateral, even, smooth, pallid at first, abruptly black and rooting at the base. +Pores+ plane, minute, somewhat round, yellowish-white, pallid. The cap differs in shape from others that have been described; it is not funnel-shaped nor streaked, and is scarcely depressed, and the flesh is thick to the margin. It grows on trunks of trees from July to November.

CLAVARIEI, OR CLUB-SHAPED FUNGI.

We now come to another order, Clavariei, of which the first genus is Clavaria, from a word meaning a club. They are fleshy fungi, not coriaceous. They have no distinct stem and generally grow on the ground.

We will mention a few of those we often see. They somewhat resemble coral in growth but not in color.

+CLAVARIA STRICTA = to draw tight.+ +The Constricted Clavaria.+

This Clavaria grows on trunks of trees. It is of a pale yellowish color, becoming a dusky brown (fuscous) when bruised. The base is about 3 lines long, thick and much branched. The branches and branchlets are tense and straight, crowded, adpressed and acute. Stevenson says that this species is uncommon in Great Britain.

+CLAVARIA FLAVA = yellow.+ +The Pale Yellow Clavaria.+

Stevenson does not mention this species, so it may be peculiar to this country. +Stem+ is short and stout, thick, and abruptly dissolves into a dense ma.s.s of erect branches nearly parallel. The tips are yellow but fade when old. It branches below and the stems are whitish. Flesh white.

It is recommended as well flavored and edible.

+CLAVARIA PISTILLARIS = a pestle.+ +The Large Club Clavaria.+

This species belongs to the largest of the unbranched kind. It is generally 3 to 5 inches high, and to ? of an inch thick at top.

Light yellow color, then reddish, and dingy brown in decay. It is smooth and the flesh soft and white. It is rounded at the top and club-shaped.

It tapers downward toward the base. Stevenson gives the height from 6 to 12 inches, but Professor Peck says he has not seen it as large in this country. It is found in open gra.s.sy places. It was late in the autumn when we discovered it. (Edible.)

+CLAVARIA INEQUALIS = unequal.+ +The Unequal Clavaria.+

This fungus is yellow and fragile. The clubs are alike in color, simple or forked, and variable. It is common in woods and pastures. We found it in September in the woods, rather wrinkled in appearance. It is not cla.s.sed among the edible species.

+TYPHULA = reed mace.+

One may sometimes see among the dead leaves in the woods, minute slender bodies with thread-like stems, springing up from the ground, 2 to 3 inches high, of a white color and cylindrical in shape. They look like slender stems from which the blossoms have been plucked. They are called Typhula. They grow on dead leaves, on mosses, or on dead herbaceous stems. The name is taken from the Cat Tail family, the Typhaceae, which they somewhat resemble in miniature.

+SCHIZOPHYLLUM COMMUNE = to split, a leaf and common.+ +The Common Schizophyllum.+

There is but one species given by Stevenson of this genus, and, as the name demonstrates, it is common, at least in this country. In Great Britain it is rare. It grows on dead wood and logs. It has zones, either of gray or white color, and it is turned up at the edge (revolute).

There is no flesh, and the pileus is dry. The gills are branched fan-wise. It is not a typical Agaric, but is more like some Polyporei.

The gills are split longitudinally at the edge, and the two lips commonly turn backward (revolute).