Part 1

Our Edible Toadstools and Mushrooms and How to Distinguish Them

_A Selection of Thirty Native Food Varieties_ _Easily Recognisable by their Marked Individualities,_ _with Simple Rules for the_ _Identification of Poisonous Species_

BY W. HAMILTON GIBSON

WITH THIRTY COLORED PLATES AND FIFTY-SEVEN OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS BY THE AUTHOR

NEW YORK HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS 1895

THE WORKS OF W. HAMILTON GIBSON.

_ILLUSTRATED BY THE AUTHOR._

SHARP EYES. A Rambler's Calendar among Birds, Insects, and Flowers. 8vo, $5.00. HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS; or, Saunterings in New England. 4to, $7.50. STROLLS BY STARLIGHT AND SUNSHINE. Royal 8vo, $3.50. HAPPY HUNTING-GROUNDS. A Tribute to the Woods and Fields. 4to, $7.50. PASTORAL DAYS; or, Memories of a New England Year. 4to, $7.50. CAMP LIFE IN THE WOODS, and the Tricks of Trapping and Trap-making. 16mo, $1.00.

PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS, NEW YORK. Copyright, 1895, by HARPER & BROTHERS. _All rights reserved._

Dedication

To the Reader kind, gentle, or other, to whom, in the hopes of continued grace and well-being

The Frontispiece and the chapter on "The Deadly Amanita" is herewith particularly referred with the Author's Solicitude

"Forewarned is Forearmed"

"_For those who do hunger after the earthlie excrescences called mushrooms_."--GERARDE.

[ Transcriber's notes:

(1) Underscores "_" in text indicate italics.

(2) Equal signs "=" in text indicate bold font.

(3) Throughout the dialogues, there were words used to mimic accents of the speakers. Those words were retained as written.

(4) The illustrations have been moved so that they do not break up paragraphs and so that they are next to the text they illustrate.

(5) Sidenote labels have all been moved to the top of the paragraph that they refer to, even when the paragraph has two sidenote labels. ]

Contents Page

INTRODUCTION 1 THE DEADLY AMANITA 43 THE AGARICACEÆ 77 THE POLYPOREI 181 MISCELLANEOUS FUNGI 231 SPORE-PRINTS 277 RECIPES 299 BIBLIOGRAPHY 325 INDEX 329

List of Plates Page

1. The Deadly "Amanita" _Frontispiece_ 2. Mycelium, and early vegetation of a mushroom 45 3. Amanita vernus--development 49 4. Agaricus (Amanita) muscarius 55 5. Agaricus campestris 83 6. Agaricus campestris--various forms of 89 7. Agaricus gambosus 99 8. Marasmius oreades. "Fairy-ring" 105 9. Poisonous Champignons. _M. urens--M. peronatus_ 111 10. Agaricus procerus 117 11. Agaricus (Russula) virescens 123 12. Edible Russulæ. _R. heterophylla--R. alutacea--R. lepida_ 131 13. Russula emetica 139 14. Agaricus ostreatus 145 15. Agaricus ulmarius 151 16. Coprinus comatus 157 17. Coprinus atramentarius 163 18. Lactarius deliciosus 169 19. Cantharellus cibarius 175 20. Boletus edulis 187 21. Boletus scaber 193 22. Edible Boleti. _B. subtomentosus--B. chrysenteron_ 199 23. Strobilomyces strobilaceus 205 24. Suspicious Boleti. _B. felleus--B. alveolatus_ 211 25. Fistulina hepatica 217 26. Polyporus sulphureus 225 27. Hydnum repandum 235 28. Hydnum caput-medusæ 241 29. Hydnum caput-medusæ--habitat 243 30. Clavaria formosa 251 31. Various forms of Clavaria 253 32. Morchella esculenta 259 33. Helvella crispa 265 34. A group of Puff-balls 271 35. Spore-surface and spore-print of Agaricus 283 36. Spore-surface and spore-print of Polyporus (_Boletus_) 285 37. Spore-print of Amanita muscarius 289 38. Action of slight draught on spores 291

The Spurned Harvest

"_Whole hundred-weights of rich, wholesome diet rotting under the trees; woods teeming with food and not one hand to gather it; and this, perhaps, in the midst of poverty and all manner of privations and public prayers against imminent famine._"

C. D. BADHAM

Introduction

A prominent botanical authority connected with one of our universities, upon learning of my intention of perpetrating a popular work on our edible mushrooms and toadstools, was inclined to take issue with me on the wisdom of such publication, giving as his reasons that, owing to the extreme difficulty of imparting exact scientific knowledge to the "general reader," such a work, in its presumably imperfect interpretation by the very individuals it is intended to benefit, would only result, in many instances, in supplanting the popular wholesome distrust of all mushrooms with a rash over-confidence which would tend to increase the labors of the family physician and the coroner. And, to a certain extent, in its appreciation of the difficulty of imparting exact science to the lay mind, his criticism was entirely reasonable, and would certainly apply to any treatise on edible mushrooms for popular circulation which contemplated a too extensive field, involving subtle botanical analysis and nice differentiation between species.

[Sidenote: =Identification of fatal species=]

But when we realize the fact--now generally conceded--that most of the fatalities consequent upon mushroom-eating are directly traceable to one particular tempting group of fungi, and that this group is moreover so distinctly marked that a _tyro_ could _learn_ to distinguish it, might not such a popular work, in its emphasis by careful portraiture and pictorial analysis of this deadly genus--placarding it so clearly and unmistakably as to make it readily recognizable--might not such a work, to that extent at least, accomplish a public service?

[Sidenote: =Conservative mycology=]

Moreover, even the most conservative mycologist will certainly admit that out of the hundred and fifty of our admittedly esculent species of fungi there might be segregated a few which bear such conspicuous characters of outward form and other unique individual features--such as color of spores, gills, and tubes, taste, odor, surface character, color of milky juice, etc.--as to render them easily recognizable even by the "general reader."

It is in the positive, affirmative assumption of these premises that the present work is prepared, comprising as it does a selection of a score or more, as it were, self-placarded esculent species of fungi, while putting the reader safely on guard against the fatal species and a few other more or less poisonous or suspicious varieties which remote possibility might confound with them.

[Sidenote: =Popular interest in mushrooms=]

Since the publication of a recent magazine article on this topic, and which became the basis of the present elaboration, I have been favored with a numerous and almost continuous correspondence upon mushrooms, including letters from every State in the Union, to say nothing of Canada and New Mexico, evincing the wide-spread interest in the fungus from the gustatory point of view. The cautious tone of most of these letters, in the main from neophyte mycologists, is gratifying in its demonstration of the wisdom of my position in this volume, or, as one of my correspondents puts it, "the frightening of one to death at the outset while extending an invitation to the feast." "Death was often a consequence of toadstool eating," my friend continued, "but I never before realized that it was a _certain_ result with _any_ particular mushroom, and to the extent of this information I am profoundly thankful."

[Sidenote: =Caution at the threshold=]

While, then, from the point of view of desired popularity of my book, the grim greeting of a death's-head upon the frontispiece might be considered as something of a handicap, the author confesses that this attitude is the result of "malice prepense" and deliberation, realizing that he is not offering to the "lay public," for mere intellectual profit, this scientific analysis of certain fungus species. Were this alone the _raison d'être_ or the logical outcome of the work--mere _identification_ of edible and poisonous species--the grewsome symbol which is so conspicuous on two of my pages might have been spared. But when it is remembered that with the selected list of esculent mushrooms herein offered is implied also an invitation and a recommendation to the feast thereof, with the author as the host--that the digestive functions of his confiding friends or guests are to be made the final arbiters of the correctness of his botanical identification--the ban of bane may as well be pronounced at the threshold. Let the too eager epicurean be "scared to death at the outset," on the general principle _pro bono publico_, and to the conciliation of the author's conscience.

[Sidenote: =To correspondents=]

The oft-repeated queries of other correspondents suggest the wisdom of a clearer definition of the limitations of the present work. Several individuals have written in surprise of their discovery of a new toadstool which I "did not include in my pictured magazine list," with accompaniment of more or less inadequate description and somewhat enigmatical sketches, and desiring the name of the species and judgment upon its esculent qualities. Such correspondence is a pleasing tribute to an author, and is herewith gratefully acknowledged as to the past and, with some mental reservations, welcomed as to the future. The number of these communications--occasionally several in a day, and with consequent rapid accumulation--renders it absolutely impossible for a busy man to give them the prompt personal attention which courtesy would dictate. My "mushroom" pigeon-hole, therefore, is still plethoric with the unhonored correspondence of many weeks; and inasmuch as the continual accession more than balances the number of my responses, a fulfilment of my obligations in this direction seems hopeless in contemplation. I would therefore beg the indulgence of such of my friends as have awaited in vain for my reply to their kind communications, even though the future should bring no tidings from me. All of these letters have been received, and are herewith acknowledged: many of them, too, if I may be pardoned what would seem to be a most ungracious comment, for which the "dead-letter" office would have been the more appropriate destination.

[Sidenote: =Consider the recipient=]

I refer to the correspondence "with accompanying specimens," the letter occasionally enclosed in the same box with the said specimens, which, upon its arrival, arouses a protest from the local postal authorities, and calls for a liberal use of disinfectants--a disreputable-looking parcel, which, indeed, would appear more consistently referable to the health-board than to the mycologist. So frequent did this embarrassing episode become that it finally necessitated the establishment of a morgue for the benefit of my mushroom correspondents, or rather for their "specimens," usually accompanied with the queries, "What is the name of this mushroom? Is it edible?" I have been obliged to write to several of my friends that identification of the remains was impossible, that the remnant was more interesting entomologically than botanically, and begging that in the future all such similar tokens shall be forwarded in alcohol or packed in ice.

[Sidenote: =Rapid decay=]

"First impressions are lasting" and "a word to the wise is sufficient." I would suggest that correspondents hereafter consider the hazard of an introduction under such questionable auspices. Most species of mushrooms are extremely perishable, and their "animal" character, chemically considered, and their tendency to rapid decomposition, render them unfit for transportation for any distance, unless hermetically sealed, or their decay otherwise anticipated.

In the possibility of a continuance of this correspondence, consequent upon the publication of this present book, the writer, in order to forefend a presumably generous proportion of such correspondence, would here emphasize the fact that he is by no means the authority on mycology, or the science of fungi, which the attitude of his inquiring friends would imply. Indeed, his knowledge of species is quite limited. An early fascination, it is true, was humored with considerable zeal to the accumulation of a portfolio of water-colors and other drawings of various fungi--microscopic, curious, edible, and poisonous--and this collection has been subsequently added to at intervals during his regular professional work.

More than one of the originals of the accompanying colored plates have been hidden in this portfolio for over twenty years, and a larger number for ten or fifteen years, awaiting the further accumulation of that knowledge and experience, especially with reference to the edibility of species, which should warrant the utterance of the long-contemplated book.

[Sidenote: =Number of mushroom species=]

The reader will therefore kindly remember that out of the approximate 1000 odd species of fungi entitled by their dimensions to the dignity of "toadstools" or "mushrooms"--after separating the 2000 moulds, mildews, rusts, smuts, blights, yeasts, "mother," and other microscopic species--and out of the 150 recommended edible species, the present work includes only about thirty. This selection has _direct reference to popular utility_, only such species having been included as offer some striking or other individual peculiarity by which they may be simply identified, even without so-called scientific knowledge.

The addition of color to the present list enables its extension somewhat beyond the scope of a series printed only in black and white, as in the distinction of mere form alone an uncolored drawing of a certain species might serve to the popular eye as a common portrait of a number of allied species, possibly including a poisonous variety.

[Sidenote: =Mycology and mycophagy=]

[Sidenote: =Need of a practical work=]

While the study of "fungi" has a host of devotees, the mysteries which involve the origin of life in this great order of the _cryptogamia_ having had fascinating attractions to microscopical students and specialists, the study of _economic mycology_ has been almost without a champion in the United States. Thus we have many learned treatises on the nature, structure, and habits of fungi--vegetative methods, chemical constituents, specific characters, classification--learned dissertations on the microscopical moulds, mildews, rusts and smuts, blights and ferments, to say nothing of the medico-scientific and awe-inspiring potentialities of the sensational microbe, bacterium, bacillus, etc., which are daily bringing humanity within their spell and revolutionizing the science of medicine. But among all the various mycological publications we look in vain for the great desideratum of the practical hand-book on the _economic_ fungus--the _mushroom as food_! The mycologist who has been courageous enough to submit his chemical analysis and his botanical knowledge of fungi to the test of esculence in his own being is a _rara avis_ among them; indeed, a well-known authority states that "one may number on the fingers of his two hands the entire list of mycophagists in the United States." The absence of such works upon the mushroom and "toadstool," greatly desired for reference at an early period of my career, and little better supplied to-day, led to a resolve of which this volume is but an imperfect fulfilment.

[Sidenote: =Limitations of this volume=]

The special character of my volume, then--the collateral consideration of the fungus as food--will be sufficient excuse for the omission of a merely technical discourse upon the structure, classification, and vegetation of fungi as a class--a field so fully covered by other authors more competent to discuss these lines of special science, and to a selection of whose works the reader is referred in the list herewith appended, to a number of which I am indebted for occasional quotations. A general idea of the methods of dissemination and habitats of fungi will be found in the final chapter on "spore-prints," while under the discussion of the "Amanita," _Agaricus campestris_, and the "Fairy Ring" the reader is referred to a condensed account of the methods of vegetation and growth of fungi sufficient for present purposes. Other references of similar character will be noted under "Fungi," in Index.

[Sidenote: =The pioneer American mycophagist=]

The most conspicuous disciple of mycophagy--almost the pioneer, indeed, in America--was the late Rev. M. A. Curtis, of North Carolina, whose name heads the bibliography on page 325. For the benefit of those of my readers who may wish to follow the subject further than my pages will lead them, I append the list of edible species of fungi contained in Curtis's Catalogue, each group alphabetically arranged, the esculent qualities of many of which he himself discovered and attested by personal experiment. The favorite habitat of each fungus is also given, and to avoid any possibility of confusion in scientific nomenclature or synonymes, the authority for the scientific name is also given in each instance:

LIST OF EDIBLE AMERICAN MUSHROOMS FROM THE CATALOGUE OF DR. M. A. CURTIS

_Agaricus albellus._ De Candolle. Damp woods. _A. (amanita) Cæsarea._ Scopoli. In oak forests. _A. (amanita) rubescens._ Persoon. Damp woods. _A. (amanita) strobiliformis._ Vittadini. Common in woods. _A. amygdalinus._ M. A. Curtis. Rich grounds, woods, and lanes. _A. arvensis._ Schaeffer. Fields and pastures. _A. bombicinus._ Schaeffer. Earth and carious wood. _A. campestris._ Linnæus. Fields and pastures. _A. castus._ M. A. Curtis. Grassy old fields. _A. cespitosus._ M. A. Curtis. Base of stumps. _A. columbella._ Fries. Woods. _A. consociatus._ Pine woods. _Agaricus cretaceus._ Fries. Earth and wood. _A. esculentus._ Jacquin. Dense woods. _A. excoriatus._ Fries. Grassy lands. _A. frumentaceous._ Bulliard. Pine woods. _A. giganteus._ Sowerby. Borders of pine woods. _A. glandulosus._ Bulliard. Dead trunks. _A. hypopithyus._ M. A. Curtis. Pine logs. _A. mastoideus._ Fries. Woods. _A. melleus._ Valmy. About stumps and logs. _A. mutabilis._ Schaeffer. Trunks. _A. nebularis._ Batsch. Damp woods. _A. odorus._ Bulliard. Woods. _A. ostreatus._ Jacquin. Dead trunks. _A. personatus._ M. A. Curtis. Near rotten logs. _A. pometi._ Fries. Carious wood. _A. procerus._ Scopoli. Woods and fields. _A. prunulus._ Scopoli. Damp woods. _A. rachodes._ Vittadini. Base of stumps and trees. _A. radicatus._ Bulliard. Woods. _A. (russula)._ Schaeffer. Among leaves in woods. _A. salignus._ Persoon. On trunks and stumps. _A. speciosus._ Fries. Grassy land. _A. squamosus._ Muller. Oak stumps. _A. sylvaticus._ Schaeffer. Woods. _A. tessellatus._ Bulliard. Pine trunks. _A. ulmarius._ Sowerby. Dead trunks. _Boletus bovinus._ Linnæus. Pine woods. _B. castaneus._ Bulliard. Woods. _B. collinitus._ Fries. Pine woods. _B. edulis._ Bulliard. Woods. _B. elegans._ Fries. Earth in woods. _B. flavidus._ Fries. Damp woods. _B. granulatus._ Linnæus. Woods and fields. _B. luteus._ Linnæus. Pine woods. _B. scaber._ Bulliard. Sandy woods. _B. subtomentosus._ Linnæus. Earth in woods. _B. versipellis._ Fries. Woods. _Bovista nigrescens._ Persoon. Grassy fields. _B. plumbea._ Persoon. Grassy fields. _Cantharellus cibarius._ Fries. Woods. _Clavaria aurea._ Schaeffer. Earth in woods. _C. botritis._ Persoon. Earth in woods. _C. cristata._ Holmskiold. Damp woods. _C. fastigiata._ Linnæus. Grassy places. _C. flava._ Fries. Earth in woods. _C. formosa._ Persoon. Earth in woods. _Clavaria fuliginea._ Persoon. Shady woods. _C. macropus._ Persoon. Earth. _C. muscoides._ Linnæus. Grassy places. _C. pyxidata._ Persoon. Rotten woods. _C. rugosa._ Bulliard. Damp woods. _C. subtilis._ Persoon. Shaded banks. _C. tetragona._ Schwartz. Damp woods. _Coprinus atramentarius._ Bulliard. Manured ground. _C. comatus._ Fries. In stable-yards. _Cortinarius castaneus._ Fries. Earth in woods. _C. cinnamomeus._ Fries. Earth and wood. _C. violaceus._ Fries. Woods. _Fistulina hepatica._ Fries. Base of trunks and stumps. _Helvella crispa._ Fries. Pine in woods. _H. infula._ Schaeffer. Earth and pine logs. _H. lacunosa._ Afzelius. Near rotten logs. _H. sulcata._ Afzelius. Shady woods. _Hydnum caput-medusæ._ Bulliard. Trunks and logs. _H. coralloides._ Scopoli. Side of trunks. _H. imbricatum._ Linnæus. Earth in woods. _H. laevigatum._ Schwartz. Pine woods. _H. repandum._ Linnæus. Woods. _H. rufescens._ Schaeffer. Woods. _H. subsquamosum._ Batsch. Damp woods. _Hygrophorus eburneus._ Fries. Woods. _H. pratensis._ Fries. Hill-sides. _Lactarius augustissimus._ Lasch. Thin woods. _L. deliciosus._ Fries. Pine woods. _L. insulsus._ Fries. Woods. _L. piperatus._ Fries. Dry woods. _L. subdulcis._ Fries. Damp grounds. _L. volemus._ Fries. Woods. _Lycoperdon bovista._ Linnæus. Grassy lands. _Pachyma cocos._ Fries. Underground. _Paxillus involutus._ Fries. Sandy woods. _Polyporus Berkeleii._ Fries. Woods. _P. confluens._ Fries. Pine woods. _P. cristatus._ Fries. Pine woods. _P. frondorus._ Fries. Earth and base of stumps. _P. giganteus._ Fries. Base of stumps. _P. leucomelas._ Fries. Woods. _P. ovinus._ Schaeffer. Earth in woods. _P. poripes._ Fries. Wooded ravines. _P. sulphureus._ Fries. Trunks and logs. _Marasmius oreades._ Fries. Hill-sides. _M. scorodoneus._ Fries. Decaying vegetation. _Morchella Caroliniana._ Bosc. Earth in woods. _M. esculenta._ Persoon. Earth in woods. _Russula alutacea._ Fries. Woods. _R. lepida._ Fries. Pine woods. _R. virescens._ Fries. Woods. _Sparassis crispa._ Fries. Earth. _S. laminosa._ Fries. Oak logs. _Tremella mesenterica._ Retz. On bark.

In the contemplation of such a generous natural larder as the above list implies, Dr. Badham's feeling allusion to the "hundred-weights of wholesome diet rotting under the trees," quoted in one of my earlier illustrated pages, will be readily appreciated.

[Sidenote: =Restricted scope of this volume=]