Studies of American Fungi. Mushrooms, Edible, Poisonous, etc. Part 20

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 173.--Boletus luteus. Cap viscid when moist, dull yellowish to reddish brown, tubes yellowish, stem punctate both above and below the annulus (natural size). Copyright.]

The =pileus= is convex, becoming nearly plane, viscid or glutinous when moist, dull yellowish to reddish brown, sometimes with the color irregularly distributed in streaks. The flesh is whitish or dull yellowish. The =tube= surface is plane or convex, the tubes set squarely against the stem (adnate), while the tubes are small, with small, nearly rounded, or slightly angular mouths. The color of the tubes is yellowish or ochre colored, becoming darker in age, and sometimes nearly brown or quite dark. The =stem= is pale yellowish, reddish or brownish, and more or less covered with glandular dots, which when dry give a black dotted appearance to the stem. In the case of descriptions of _B. luteus_ the stem is said to be dotted only above the annulus, while the description of _B. subluteus_ gives the stem as dotted both above and below the annulus. The =spores= are yellowish brown or some shade of this color in ma.s.s, lighter yellowish brown under the microscope, fusiform or nearly so, and 7--10 2--4 . The =annulus= is very variable, sometimes collapsing as a narrow ring around the stem as in Fig. 173, from plants collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., September, 1899 (_B. subluteus_ Pk.), and sometimes appearing as a broad, free collar, as in Fig. 174. The veil is more or less gelatinous, and in an early stage of the plant may cover the stem as a sheath. The lower part of the stem is sometimes covered at maturity with the sheathing portion of the veil, the upper part only appearing as a ring. In this way, the lower part of the stem being covered, the glandular dots are not evident, while the stem is seen to be dotted above the annulus. But in many cases the veil slips off from the lower portion of the stem at an early stage, and then in its slimy condition collapses around the upper part of the stem, leaving the stem uncovered and showing the dots both above and below the ring (_B. subluteus_).

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 62, FIGURE 174.--Boletus luteus. Cap drab to hair-brown with streaks of the latter, viscid when moist, tubes tawny olive to walnut-brown, stem black dotted both above and below the broad, free annulus (natural size). Copyright.]

An examination of the figures of the European plant shows that the veil often slips off from the lower portion of the stem in _B. luteus_, especially in the figures given by Krombholtz, T. 33. In some of these figures the veil forms a broad, free collar, and the stem is then dotted both above and below, as is well shown in the figures. In other figures where the lower part of the veil remains as a sheath over the lower part of the stem, the dots are hidden. I have three specimens of the _B.

luteus_ of Europe from Dr. Bresadola, collected at Trento, Austria-Hungary: one of them has the veil sheathing the lower part of the stem, and the stem only shows the dots above the annulus; a second specimen has the annulus in the form of a collapsed ring near the upper end of the stem, and the stem dotted both above and below the annulus; in the third specimen the annulus is in the form of a broad, free collar, and the stem dotted both above and below. The plants shown in Fig. 174 (No. 4124, C. U. herbarium) were collected at Blowing Rock, N.

C., during September, 1899. They were found in open woods under Kalmia where the sun had an opportunity to dry out the annulus before it became collapsed or agglutinated against the stem, and the broad, free collar was formed. My notes on these specimens read as follows: "The =pileus= is convex, then expanded, rather thick at the center, the margin thin, sometimes sterile, incurved. In color it runs from ecru drab to hair-brown with streaks of the latter, and it is very viscid when moist.

When dried the surface of the pileus is s.h.i.+ning. The =tubes= are plane or concave, adnate, tawny-olive to walnut-brown. The tubes are small, angular, somewhat as in _B. granulatus_, but smaller, and they are granulated with reddish or brownish dots. The =spores= are walnut brown, oblong to elliptical, 8--10 2--3 . The =stem= is cylindrical, even, olive yellow above, and black dotted both above and below the annulus."

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 175.--Boletinus pictus. Cap reddish, tinged with yellowish between the scales, stem same color, tubes yellow, often changing to reddish brown where bruised (natural size). Copyright.]

=Boletinus pictus= Pk.--This very beautiful plant is quite common in damp pine woods. It is easily recognized by the reddish cottony layer of mycelium threads which cover the entire plant when young, and form a veil which covers the gills at this time. As the plant expands the reddish outer layer is torn into scales of the same color, showing the yellowish, or pinkish, flesh beneath, and the flesh often changes to pink or reddish where wounded. The tubes are first pale yellow, but become darker in age, often changing to pinkish, with a brown tinge where bruised. The stem is solid, and is thus different from a closely related species, _B. cavipes_ Kalchb. The stem is covered with a coat like that on the pileus and is similarly colored, though often paler.

The spores are ochraceous, 15--18 6--8 . The plants are 5--8 cm.

high, the caps 5--8 cm. broad, and the stems 6--12 mm. in thickness.

Figure 175 is from plants collected in the Blue Ridge mountains, Blowing Rock, N. C., September, 1899.

=Boletinus porosus= (Berk.) Pk.--This very interesting species is widely distributed in the Eastern United States. It resembles a _Polyporus_, though it is very soft like a _Boletus_, but quite tenacious. The plants are dull reddish-brown, viscid when moist, and s.h.i.+ning. The cap is more or less irregular and the stem eccentric, the cap being sometimes more or less lobed. The plants are 4--6 cm. high, the cap 5--12 cm. broad, and the short stem 8--12 mm. in thickness. It occurs in damp ground in woods.

The =pileus= is fleshy, thick at the middle, and thin at the margin. The =tubes= are arranged in prominently radiating rows, the part.i.tions often running radiately in the form of lamellae, certain ones of them being more prominent than others as shown in Fig. 176. These branch and are connected by cross part.i.tions of less prominence. This character of the hymenium led Berkeley to place the plant in the genus _Paxillus_, with which it does not seem to be so closely related as with the genus _Boletus_. The stratum of tubes, though very soft, is very tenacious, and does not separate from the flesh of the pileus, thus resembling certain species of _Polyporus_. Figure 176 is from plants collected at Ithaca.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 63, FIGURE 176.--Boletinus porosus. Viscid when moist, dull reddish brown (natural size). Copyright.]

=Strobilomyces strobilaceus= Berk. =Edible.=--This plant has a peculiar name, both the genus and the species referring to the cone-like appearance of the cap with its coa.r.s.e, crowded, dark brown scales, bearing a fancied resemblance to a pine cone. It is very easily distinguished from other species of _Boletus_ because of this character of the cap. The plant has a very wide distribution though it is not usually very common. The plant is 8--14 cm. high, the cap 5--10 cm.

broad, and the stem 1--2 cm. in thickness.

The =pileus= is hemispherical to convex, s.h.a.ggy from numerous large blackish, coa.r.s.e, hairy, projecting scales. The margin of the cap is fringed with scales and fragments of the veil which covers the tubes in the young plants. The flesh is whitish, but soon changes to reddish color, and later to black where wounded or cut. The =tubes= are adnate, whitish, becoming brown and blackish in the older plants. The mouths of the tubes are large and angular, and change color where bruised, as does the flesh of the cap. The stem is even, or sometimes tapers upward, often grooved near the apex, very tomentose or scaly with soft scales of the same color as the cap. The =spores= are in ma.s.s dark brown, nearly globose, roughened, and 10--12 long. Figs. 177--179 are from plants collected at Ithaca, N. Y. Another European plant, _S. floccopus_ Vahl, is said by Peck to occur in the United States, but is much more rare.

The only difference in the two noted by Peck in the case of the American plants is that the tubes are depressed around the stem in _S.

floccopus_.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 64, FIGURE 177.--Strobilomyces strobilaceus. Scales of cap dark brown or black, flesh white but soon changing to reddish and later to black where wounded, stem same color but lighter (natural size). Copyright.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 178.--Strobilomyces strobilaceus. Sections of plants. Copyright.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 179.--Strobilomyces strobilaceus. Under view.

Copyright.]

FISTULINA Bull.

In the genus _Fistulina_ the tubes, or pores, are crowded together, but stand separately, that is, they are not connected together, or grown together into a stratum as in _Boletus_ and other genera of the family _Polyporaceae_. When the plant is young the tubes are very short, but they elongate with age.

=Fistulina hepatica= Fr. =Edible.=--This is one of the largest of the species in the genus and is the most widely distributed and common one.

It is of a dark red color, very soft and juicy. It has usually a short stem which expands out into the broad and thick cap. When young the upper side of the cap is marked by minute elevations of a different color, which suggest the papillae on the tongue; in age the tubes on the under surface have also some such suggestive appearance. The form, as it stands outward in a shelving fas.h.i.+on from stumps or trees, together with the color and surface characters, has suggested several common names, as beef tongue, beef-steak fungus, oak or chestnut tongue. The plant is 10--20 cm. long, and 8--15 cm. broad, the stem very short and thick, sometimes almost wanting, and again quite long. I have seen some specimens growing from a hollow log in which the stems were 12--15 cm.

long.

The =pileus= is very thick, 2 cm. or more in thickness, fleshy, soft, very juicy, and in wet weather very clammy and somewhat sticky to the touch. When mature there are lines of color of different shades extending out radially on the upper surface, and in making a longitudinal section of the cap there are quite prominent, alternating, dark and light red lines present in the flesh. The =tubes=, short at first, become 2--3 mm. long, they are yellowish or tinged with flesh color, becoming soiled in age. The =spores= are elliptical, yellowish, and 5--6 long.

The plant occurs on dead trunks or stumps of oak, chestnut, etc., in wet weather from June to September. I have usually found it on chestnut.

The beef-steak fungus is highly recommended by some, while others are not pleased with it as an article of food. It has an acid flavor which is disagreeable to some, but this is more marked in young specimens and in those not well cooked. When it is sliced thin and well broiled or fried, the acid taste is not marked.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 65.

FIG. 1.--Fistulina hepatica.

FIG. 2.--F. pallida.

Copyright 1900.]

=Fistulina pallida= B. & Rav. (_Fistulina firma_ Pk.)--This rare and interesting species was collected by Mrs. A. M. Hadley, near Manchester, New Hamps.h.i.+re, October, 1898, and was described by Dr. Peck in the Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, =26=: 70, 1899, as _Fistulina firma_. But two plants were then found, and these were connected at the base. During August and September it was quite common in a small woods near Ithaca, N. Y., and was first collected growing from the roots of a dead oak stump, August 4 (No. 3227 C. U. herbarium), and afterward during October. During September I collected it at Blowing Rock, N. C., in the Blue Ridge mountains, at an elevation of nearly 5000 feet, growing from the roots of a dead white oak tree. It was collected during September, 1899, by Mr. Frank Rathbun at Auburn, N. Y. It was collected by Ravenel in the mountains of South Carolina, around a white oak stump by Peters in Alabama, and was first described by Berkeley in 1872, in =Grev. 1=: 71, Notices of N. A. F. No. 173. Growing from roots or wood underneath the surface of the ground, the plant has an erect stem, the length of the stem depending on the depth at which the root is buried, just as in the case of _Polyporus radicatus_, which has a similar habitat. The plants are 5--12 cm. high, the cap is 3--7 cm. broad, and the stem 6--8 mm. in thickness.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 66, FIGURE 180.--Fistulina pallida. Cap wood-brown to fawn or clay color, tubes and lower part of the stem whitish (natural size). Copyright.]

The =pileus= is wood brown to fawn, clay color or isabelline color. It is nearly semi-circular to reniform in outline, and the margin broadly crenate, or sometimes lobed. The stem is attached at the concave margin, where the cap is auriculate and has a prominent boss or elevation, and bent at right angles with a characteristic curve. The pileus is firm, flexible, tough and fibrous, flesh white. The surface is covered with a fine and dense tomentum. The pileus is 5--8 mm. thick at the base, thinning out toward the margin. The =tubes= are whitish, 2--3 mm. long and 5--6 in the s.p.a.ce of a millimeter. They are very slender, tubular, the mouth somewhat enlarged, the margin of the tubes pale cream color and minutely mealy or furfuraceous, with numerous irregular, roughened threads. The tubes often stand somewhat separated, areas being undeveloped or younger, so that the surface of the under side is not regular. The tubes are not so crowded as is usual in the _Fistulina hepatica_. They are not decurrent, but end abruptly near the stem. The =spores= are subglobose, 3 in diameter. The stem tapers downward, is whitish below, and near the pileus the color changes rather abruptly to the same tint as the pileus. The stem is sometimes branched, and two or three caps present, or the caps themselves may be joined, as well as the stems, so that occasionally very irregular forms are developed, but there is always the peculiar character of the attachment of the stem to the side of the cap.

Figure 180 is from plants (No 3676, C. U. herbarium) collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., September, 1899. Figures on the colored plate represent this plant.

=Polyporus frondosus= Fr. =Edible.=--This plant occurs in both Europe and America, and while not very common seems to be widely distributed.

It grows about old stumps or dead trees, from roots, often arising from the roots below the surface of the ground, and also is found on logs.

The plant represents a section of the genus _Polyporus_, in which the body, both the stem and the cap, are very much branched. In this species the stem is stout at the base, but it branches into numerous smaller trunks, which continue to branch until finally the branches terminate in the expanded and leaf-like caps as shown in Figs. 181--182. The plants appear usually during late summer and in the autumn. The species is often found about oak stumps. Some of the specimens are very large, and weigh 10 to 20 pounds, and the ma.s.s is sometimes 30 to 60 cm. (1--2 feet) in diameter.

The plant, when young and growing, is quite soft and tender, though it is quite firm. It never becomes very hard, as many of the other species of this family. When mature, insects begin to attack it, and not being tough it soon succ.u.mbs to the ravages of insects and decay, as do a number of the softer species of the _Polyporaceae_. The caps are very irregular in shape, curved, repand, radiately furrowed, sometimes zoned; gray, or hair-brown in color, with a perceptibly hairy surface, the hairs running in lines on the surface. Sometimes they are quite broad and not so numerous as in Plate 67, and in other plants they are narrow and more numerous, as in Plate 68. The tubes are more or less irregular, whitish, with a yellowish tinge when old. From the under side of the cap they extend down on the stem. When the spores are mature they are sometimes so numerous that they cover the lower caps and the gra.s.s for quite a distance around as if with a white powder.

This species is edible, and because of the large size which it often attains, the few plants which are usually found make up in quant.i.ty what they lack in numbers. Since the plant is quite firm it will keep several days after being picked, in a cool place, and will serve for several meals. A specimen which I gathered was divided between two families, and was served at several meals on successive days. When stewed the plant has for me a rather objectionable taste, but the stewing makes the substance more tender, and when this is followed by broiling or frying the objectionable taste is removed and it is quite palatable. The plants represented in Plates 67 and 68 were collected at Ithaca.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 67, FIGURE 181.--Polyporus frondosus. Caps hair-brown or grayish, tubes white (1/3 natural size, ma.s.ses often 20--40 cm. in breadth). The caps in this specimen are quite broad, often they are narrower as in Fig. 182. Copyright.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 68, FIGURE 182.--Polyporus frondosus. Side and under view of a larger cl.u.s.ter (1/3 natural size). Copyright.]

There are several species which are related to the frondose polyporus which occur in this country as well as in Europe. =Polyporus intybaceus= Fr., is of about the same size, and the branching, and form of the caps is much the same, but it is of a yellowish brown or reddish brown color.

It grows on logs, stumps, etc., and is probably edible. It is not so common at Ithaca as the frondose polyporus.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 183.--Polyporus umbellatus. Caps hair-brown (natural size, often much larger). Copyright.]

=Polyporus umbellatus= Fr.--This species is also related to the frondose polyporus, but is very distinct. It is more erect, the branching more open, and the caps at the ends of the branches are more or less circular and umbilicate. The branches are long, cylindrical and united near the base. The spreading habit of the branching, or the form of the caps, suggests an umbel or umbrella, and hence the specific name _umbellatus_.

The tufts occur from 12--20 cm. in diameter, and the individual caps are from 1--4 cm. in diameter. It grows from underground roots and about stumps during summer. It is probably edible, but I have never tried it.

Figure 183 is from a plant (No. 1930, C. U. herbarium) collected in Cascadilla woods, Ithaca.

=Polyporus sulphureus= (Bull.) Fr. =Edible.= (_Boletus caudicinus_ Schaeff. T. 131, 132: _Polyporus caudicinus_ Schroeter, Cohn's Krypt.

Flora, Schlesien, p. 471, 1899).--The sulphur polyporus is so-called because of the bright sulphur color of the entire plant. It is one of the widely distributed species, and grows on dead oak, birch, and other trunks, and is also often found growing from wounds or knot-holes of living trees of the oak, apple, walnut, etc. The mycelium enters at wounds where limbs are broken off, and grows for years in the heart wood, disorganizing it and causing it to decay. In time the mycelium has spread over a considerable area, from which nutriment enough is supplied for the formation of the fruiting condition. The caps then appear from an open wound when such an exit is present.

The color of the plant is quite constant, but varies of course in shades of yellow to some extent. In form, however, it varies greatly. The caps are usually cl.u.s.tered and imbricated, that is, they overlap. They may all arise separately from the wood, and yet be overlapping, though oftener several of them are closely joined or united at the base, so that the ma.s.s of caps arises from a common outgrowth from the wood as shown in Fig. 184. The individual caps are flattened, elongate, and more or less fan-shaped. When mature there are radiating furrows and ridges which often increase the fan-like appearance of the upper surface of the cap. Sometimes also there are more or less marked concentric furrows.

The caps may be convex, or the margin may be more or less upturned so that the central portion is depressed. When young the margin is thick and blunt and of course lighter in color, but as the plant matures the edge is usually thinner.

In some forms of the plant the caps are so closely united as to form a large rounded or tubercular ma.s.s, only the blunt tips of the individual caps being free. This is well represented in Fig. 185, from a photograph of a large specimen growing from a wound in a b.u.t.ter-nut tree in Central New York. The plant was 30 cm. in diameter. The plants represented in Plate 69 grew on an oak stump. The tree was affected by the fungus while it was alive, and the heart wood became so weakened that the tree broke, and later the fruit form of the fungus appeared from the dead stump.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 69, FIGURE 184.--Polyporus sulphureus, on oak stump. Entirely sulphur-yellow (1/6 natural size). Copyright.]