Chapter 12

THE TUBE-BEARING FUNGI. POLYPORACEAE.

The plants belonging to this family are characterized especially by a honey-combed fruiting surface, that is, the under surface of the plants possesses numerous tubes or pores which stand close together side by side, and except in a very few forms these tubes are joined by their sides to each other. In _Fistulina_ the tubes are free from each other though standing closely side by side. In _Merulius_ distinct tubes are not present, but the surface is more or less irregularly pitted, the pits being separated from each other by folds which anastomose, forming a network. These pits correspond to shallow tubes.

The plants vary greatly in consistency, some are very fleshy and soft and putrify readily. Others are soft when young and become firmer as they age, and some are quite hard and woody. Many of the latter are perennial and live for several or many years, adding a new layer in growth each year. The larger number of the species grow on wood, but some grow on the ground; especially in the genus _Boletus_, which has many species, the majority grow on the ground. Some of the plants have a cap and stem, in others the stem is absent and the cap attached to the tree or log, etc., forms a shelf, or the plant may be thin and spread over the surface of the wood in a thin patch.

In the genus _Dædalea_ the tubes become more or less elongated horizontally and thus approach the form of the gills, while in some species the tubes are more or less toothed or split and approach the spine-bearing fungi at least in appearance of the fruit-bearing surface. Only a few of the genera and species will be described.

The following key is not complete, but may aid in separating some of the larger plants:

Tubes or pores free from each other, though standing closely side by side, _Fistulina_. Tubes or pores not free, joined side by side, 1. 1--Plants soft and fleshy, soon decaying, 2. Plants soft when young, becoming firm, some woody or corky, stipitate, shelving, or spread over the wood, _Polyporus_. Tubes or pores shallow, formed by a network of folds or wrinkles, plants thin, sometimes spread over the wood, and somewhat gelatinous, _Merulius_. 2--Mass (stratum) of tubes easily separating from the cap when peeled off, cap not with coarse scales, tubes in some species in radiating lines, _Boletus_. Stratum of tubes separating, but not easily, cap with coarse, prominent scales, _Strobilomyces_. Stratum of tubes separating, but not easily, tubes arranged in distinct radiating lines. In one species (_B. porosus_) the tubes do not separate from the cap, _Boletinus_.

This last genus is apt to be confused with certain species of Boletus which have a distinct radiate arrangement of the tubes. It is questionable whether it is clearly distinguished from the genus Boletus.

BOLETUS Dill.

Of the few genera in the _Polyporaceæ_ which are fleshy and putrescent, _Boletus_ contains by far the largest number of species. The entire plant is soft and fleshy, and decays soon after maturity. The stratum of tubes on the under side of the cap is easily peeled off and separates as shown in the portion of a cap near the right hand side of Fig. 169. In the genus _Polyporus_ the stratum of tubes cannot thus be separated. In the genera _Strobilomyces_ and _Boletinus_, two other fleshy genera of this family, the separation is said to be more difficult than in _Boletus_, but it has many times seemed to me a "distinction without a difference."

The larger number of the species of _Boletus_ grow on the ground. Some change color when bruised or cut, so that it is important to note this character when the plant is fresh, and the taste should be noted as well.

=Boletus edulis= Bull. =Edible.= [_Ag. bulbosus_ Schaeff. Tab. 134, 1763. _Boletus bulbosus_ (Schaeff.) Schroeter. Cohn's Krypt, Flora. Schlesien, p. 499, 1889].--This plant, which, as its name implies, is edible, grows in open woods or their borders, in groves and in open places, on the ground. It occurs in warm, wet weather, from July to September. It is one of the largest of the Boleti, and varies from 5--12 cm. high, the cap from 8--25 cm. broad, and the stem 2--4 cm. in thickness.

The =pileus= is convex to expanded, smooth, firm, quite hard when young and becoming soft in age. The color varies greatly, from buff to dull reddish, to reddish-brown, tawny-brown, often yellowish over a portion of the cap, usually paler on the margin. The flesh is white or tinged with yellow, sometimes reddish under the cuticle. The =tubes= are white when young and the mouths are closed (stuffed), the lower surface of the tubes is convex from the margin of the cap to the stem, and depressed around the stem, sometimes separating from the stem. While the tubes are white when young, they become greenish or greenish-yellow, or entirely yellow when mature. The =spores= when caught on paper are greenish-yellow, or yellow. They are oblong to fusiform, 12--15 µ long. The =stem= is stout, even, or much enlarged at the base so that it is clavate. The surface usually shows prominent reticulations on mature plants near the tubes, sometimes over the entire stem. This is well shown in Fig. 164 from plants (No. 2886, C. U. herbarium) collected at Ithaca, N. Y.

Figure 165 represents plants (No. 4134, C. U. herbarium) collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., in September, 1899. The plant is widely distributed and has long been prized as an esculent in Europe and America. When raw the plant has an agreeable nutty taste, sometimes sweet. The caps are sometimes sliced and dried for future use. It is usually recommended to discard the stems and remove the tubes since the latter are apt to form a slimy mass on cooking.

=Boletus felleus= Bull. =Bitter.=--This is known as the bitter boletus, because of a bitter taste of the flesh. It usually grows on or near much decayed logs or stumps of hemlock spruce. It is said to be easily recognized by its bitter taste. I have found specimens of a plant which seems to have all the characters of this one growing at the base of hemlock spruce trees, except that the taste was not bitter. At Ithaca, however, the plant occurs and the taste is bitter. It is one of the large species of the genus, being from 8--12 cm. high, the cap 7--20 cm. broad, and the stem 1--2.5 cm. in thickness.

The =pileus= is convex becoming nearly plane, firm, and in age soft, smooth, the color varying from pale yellow to various shades of brown to chestnut. The flesh is white, and where wounded often changes to a pink color, but not always. The =tubes= are adnate, long, the under surface convex and with a depression around the stem. The tubes are at first white, but become flesh color or tinged with flesh color, and the mouths are angular. The =stem= is stout, tapering upward, sometimes enlarged at the base, usually reticulated at the upper end, and sometimes with the reticulations over the entire surface (Fig. 166). The color is paler than that of the cap. The =spores= are oblong to spindle-shaped, flesh color in mass, and single ones measure 12--18 × 4--5 µ.

The general appearance of the plant is somewhat like that of the _Boletus edulis_, and beginners should be cautioned not to confuse the two species. It is known by its bitter taste and the flesh-colored tubes, while the taste of the _B. edulis_ is sweet, and the tubes are greenish-yellow, or yellowish or light ochre.

Plate 55 represents three specimens in color.

=Boletus scaber= Fr. =Edible.=--This species is named the rough-stemmed boletus, in allusion to the rough appearance given to the stem from numerous dark brown or reddish dots or scales. This is a characteristic feature, and aids one greatly in determining the species, since the color of the cap varies much. The cap is sometimes whitish, orange red, brown, or smoky in color. The plant is 6--15 cm. high, the cap 3--7 cm. broad, and the stem 8--12 mm. in thickness.

The =pileus= is rounded, becoming convex, smooth, or nearly so, sometimes scaly, and the flesh is soft and white, sometimes turning slightly to a reddish or dark color where bruised. The =tubes= are small, long, the surface formed by their free ends is convex in outline, and the tubes are depressed around the stem. They are first white, becoming darker, and somewhat brownish. The =stem= is solid, tapering somewhat upward, and roughened as described above.

The plant is one of the common species of the genus _Boletus_. It occurs in the woods on the ground or in groves or borders of woods in grassy places. Writers differ as to the excellence of this species for food; some consider it excellent, while others regard it as less agreeable than some other species. It is, at any rate, safe, and Peck considers it "first-class."

=Boletus retipes= B. & C.--This species was first collected in North Carolina by Curtis, and described by Berkeley. It has since been reported from Ohio, Wisconsin, and New England (Peck, Boleti of the U. S.). Peck reported it from New York in the 23d Report, N. Y. State Mus., p. 132. Later he recognized the New York plant as a new species which he called _B. ornatipes_ (29th Report, N. Y. State Mus., p. 67). I collected the species in the mountains of North Carolina, at Blowing Rock, in August, 1888. During the latter part of August and in September, 1899, I had an opportunity of seeing quite a large number of specimens in the same locality, for it is not uncommon there, and two specimens were photographed and are represented here in Fig. 167. The original description published in Grevillea =1=: 36, should be modified, especially in regard to the size of the plant, its habit, and the pulverulent condition of the pileus. The plants are 6--15 cm. high, the cap 5--10 cm. broad, and the stem 0.5--1.5 cm. in thickness.

The =pileus= is convex, thick, soft and somewhat spongy, especially in large plants. The cap is dry and sometimes, especially when young, it is powdery; at other times, and in a majority of cases according to my observations, it is not powdery. It is smooth or minutely tomentose, sometimes the surface cracked into small patches, but usually even. The color varies greatly between yellowish brown to olive brown, fuliginous or nearly black. The =tubes= are yellow, adnate, the tube surface plane or convex. The spores are yellowish or ochraceous, varying somewhat in tint in different specimens. The =stem= is yellow, yellow also within, and beautifully reticulate, usually to the base, but sometimes only toward the apex. It is usually more strongly reticulate over the upper half. The stem is erect or ascending.

The plant grows in woods, in leaf mold or in grassy places. It is usually single, that is, so far as my observations have gone at Blowing Rock. Berkeley and Curtis report it as cespitose. I have never seen it cespitose, never more than two specimens growing near each other.

=Boletus ornatipes= Pk., does not seem to be essentially different from _B. retipes_. Peck says (Boleti U. S., p. 126) that "the tufted mode of growth, the pulverulent pileus and paler spores separate this species" (_retipes_) "from the preceding one" (_ornatipes_). Inasmuch as I have never found _B. retipes_ tufted, and the fact that the pileus is not always pulverulent (the majority of specimens I collected were not), and since the tint of the spores varies as it does in some other species, the evidence is strong that the two names represent two different habits of the same species. The tufted habit of the plants collected by Curtis, or at least described by Berkeley, would seem to be a rather unusual condition for this species, and this would account for the smaller size given to the plants in the original description, where the pileus does not exceed 5 cm. in diameter, and the stem is only 5 cm. long, and 6--12 mm. in thickness. Plants which normally occur singly do on some occasions occur tufted, and then the habit as well as the size of the plant is often changed.

A good illustration of this I found in the case of _Boletus edulis_ during my stay in the North Carolina mountains. The plant usually occurs singly and more or less scattered. I found one case where there were 6--8 plants in a tuft, the caps were smaller and the stems in this case considerably longer than in normal specimens. A plant which agrees with the North Carolina specimens I have collected at Ithaca, and so I judge that _B. retipes_ occurs in New York.

=Boletus chromapes= Frost.--This is a pretty boletus, and has been reported from New England and from New York State. During the summer of 1899 it was quite common in the Blue Ridge mountains, North Carolina. The plant grows on the ground in woods. It is 6--10 cm. high, the cap is 5--10 cm. in diameter, and the stem is 8--12 mm. in thickness. It is known by the yellowish stem covered with reddish glandular dots.

The =pileus= is convex to nearly expanded, pale red, rose pink to vinaceous pink in color, and sometimes slightly tomentose. The flesh is white, and does not change when cut or bruised. The =tube= surface is convex, and the tubes are attached slightly to the stem, or free. They are white, then flesh color, and in age become brown. The =stem= is even, or it tapers slightly upward, straight or ascending, whitish or yellow above, or below, sometimes yellowish the entire length. The flesh is also yellowish, especially at the base. The entire surface is marked with reddish or pinkish dots.

Figure 168 is from plants (No. 4085 C. U. herbarium) collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., during September, 1899.

=Boletus vermiculosus= Pk.--This species was named _B. vermiculosus_ because it is sometimes very "wormy." This is not always the case, however. It grows in woods on the ground, in the Eastern United States. It is from 6--12 cm. high, the cap from 7--12 cm. broad, and the stem 1--2 cm. in thickness.

The =pileus= is thick, convex, firm, smooth, and varies in color from brown to yellowish brown, or drab gray to buff, and is minutely tomentose. The flesh quickly changes to blue where wounded, and the bruised portion, sometimes, changing to yellowish. The =tubes= are yellowish, with reddish-brown mouths, the tube surface being rounded, free or nearly so, and the tubes changing to blue where wounded. The =stem= is paler than the pileus, often dotted with short, small, dark tufts below, and above near the tubes abruptly paler, and sometimes the two colors separated by a brownish line. The stem is not reticulated. Figure 169 is from a photograph of plants (No. 4132 C. U. herbarium) collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., during September, 1899.

=Boletus obsonium= (Paul.) Fr.--This species was not uncommon in the woods at Blowing Rock, N. C., during the latter part of August and during September, 1899. It grows on the ground, the plants usually appearing singly. It is from 10--15 cm. high, the cap 8--13 cm. broad, and the stem 1--2 cm. in thickness, considerably broader at the base than at the apex.

The =pileus= is convex to expanded, vinaceous cinnamon, to pinkish vinaceous or hazel in color. It is soft, slightly tomentose, and when old the surface frequently cracks into fine patches showing the pink flesh beneath. The thin margin extends slightly beyond the tubes, so that it is sterile. The flesh does not change color on exposure to the air. The =tubes= are plane, adnate, very slightly depressed around the stem or nearly free, yellowish white when young, becoming dark olive green in age from the color of the spores. The tube mouths are small and rotund. The =spores= caught on white paper are dark olive green. They are elliptical usually, with rounded ends, 12--15 × 4--5 µ. The =stem= is white when young, with a tinge of yellow ochre, and pale flesh color below. It is marked with somewhat parallel elevated lines, or rugæ below, where it is enlarged and nearly bulbous. In age it becomes flesh color the entire length and is more plainly striate rugose with a yellowish tinge at the base. The stem tapers gradually and strongly from the base to the apex, so that it often appears long conic.

The plant is often badly eaten by snails, so that it is sometimes difficult to obtain perfect specimens. Figure 170 is from a photograph of plants (No. 4092 C. U. herbarium) from Blowing Rock, N. C.

=Boletus americanus= Pk.--This species occurs in woods and open places, growing on the ground in wet weather. It occurs singly or clustered, sometimes two or three joined by their bases, but usually more scattered. It is usually found under or near pine trees. The plant is 3--6 cm. high, the cap 2--7 cm. broad, and the stem is 4--8 mm. in thickness. It is very slimy in wet weather, the cap is yellow, streaked or spotted with faint red, and the stem is covered with numerous brown or reddish brown dots.

The =pileus= is rounded, then convex, becoming nearly expanded and sometimes with an umbo. It is soft, very slimy or viscid when moist, yellow. When young the surface gluten is often mixed with loose threads, more abundant on the margin, and continuous with the veil, which can only be seen in the very young stage. As the pileus expands the margin is sometimes scaly from remnants of the veil and of loose hairs on the surface. The cap loses its bright color as it ages, and is then sometimes streaked or spotted with red. The =tube= surface is nearly plane, and the tubes join squarely against the stem. The tubes are rather large, angular, yellowish, becoming dull ochraceous. The =stem= is nearly equal, yellow, and covered with numerous brownish or reddish brown glandular dots. No ring is present.

This species grows in the same situations as the _B. granulatus_, sometimes both species are common over the same area. Figure 171 is from plants (No. 3991 C. U. herbarium) collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., September, 1899. The species is closely related to _B. flavidus_ Fr., and according to some it is identical with it.

=Boletus granulatus= L. =Edible.=--This species is one of the very common and widely distributed ones. It grows in woods and open places on the ground. Like _B. americanus_, it is usually found under or near pines. It occurs during the summer and autumn, sometimes appearing very late in the season. The plants are 3--6 cm. high, the cap is 4--10 cm. broad, and the stem is 8--12 mm. in thickness. The plants usually are clustered, though not often very crowded.

The =pileus= is convex to nearly expanded, flat. When moist it is very viscid and reddish brown, paler and yellowish when it is dry, but very variable in color, pink, red, yellow, tawny, and brown shades. The flesh is pale yellow. The =tubes= are joined squarely to the stem, short, yellowish, and the edges of the tubes, that is, at the open end (often called the mouth), are dotted or granulated. The =stem= is dotted in the same way above. The =spores= in mass are pale yellow; singly they are spindle-shaped.

The species is edible, though some say it should be regarded with suspicion. Peck has tried it, and I have eaten it, but the viscid character of the plant did not make it a relish for me. There are several species closely related to the granulated Boletus. _B. brevipes_ Pk., is one chiefly distinguished by the short stem, which entirely lacks the glandular dots. It grows in sandy soil, in pine groves and in woods.

=Boletus punctipes= Pk.--This species has been reported from New York State by Peck. During September, 1899, I found it quite common in the Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina, at an elevation of between 4000 and 5000 feet. It grows on the ground in mixed woods. The plants are 5--8 cm. high, the caps 5--7 cm. broad, and the stem 6--10 mm. in thickness.

The =pileus= is convex, sometimes becoming nearly plane, and it is quite thick in the center, more so than the granulated boletus, while the margin is thin, and when young with a minute gray powder. The margin often becomes upturned when old; the cap is viscid when moist, dull yellow. The =tubes= are short, their lower surface plane, and they are set squarely against the stem. They are small, the mouths rounded, brownish, then dull ochraceous, and dotted with glandules. The =stem= is rather long, proportionately more so than in the granulated boletus. It distinctly tapers upwards, is "rhubarb yellow," and dotted with glandules. This character of the stem suggested the name of the species. The =spores= are 8--10 × 4--5 µ. Figure 172 is from plants (No. 4067 C. U. herbarium) collected at Blowing Rock, N. C. It is closely related to _B. granulatus_ and by some is considered the same.

=Boletus luteus= Linn. (_B. subluteus_ Pk.) This species is widely distributed in Europe and America, and grows in sandy soil, in pine or mixed woods or groves. The plants are 5--8 cm. high, the cap 3--12 cm. in diameter, and the stem 6--10 mm. in thickness. The general color is dull brown or yellowish brown, and the plants are slimy in moist weather, the stem and tubes more or less dotted with dark points. These characters vary greatly under different conditions, and the fact has led to some confusion in the discrimination of species.

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 mass, lighter yellowish brown under the microscope, fusiform or nearly so, and 7--10 × 2--4 µ. 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_).

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 shining. 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 µ. The =stem= is cylindrical, even, olive yellow above, and black dotted both above and below the annulus."

=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 µ. 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 shining. 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 partitions often running radiately in the form of lamellæ, certain ones of them being more prominent than others as shown in Fig. 176. These branch and are connected by cross partitions 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.

=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 coarse, 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, shaggy from numerous large blackish, coarse, 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 mass dark brown, nearly globose, roughened, and 10--12 µ 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_.

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 _Polyporaceæ_. 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 papillæ 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 fashion 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 µ 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.

=Fistulina pallida= B. & Rav. (_Fistulina firma_ Pk.)--This rare and interesting species was collected by Mrs. A. M. Hadley, near Manchester, New Hampshire, 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.

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 space 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 µ 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 mass 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 succumbs to the ravages of insects and decay, as do a number of the softer species of the _Polyporaceæ_. 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 grass 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 quantity 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.

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.

=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 clustered 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 mass 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 mass, 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 butter-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.

The tubes are small, and the walls thin and delicate, and are sometimes much torn, lacerated, and irregular. When the mycelium has grown in the interior of a log for a number of years it tends to grow in sheets along the line of the medullary rays of the wood or across in concentric layers corresponding to the summer wood. Also as the wood becomes more decomposed, cracks and rifts appear along these same lines. The mycelium then grows in abundance in these rifts and forms broad and extensive sheets which resemble somewhat chamois skin and is called "punk." Similar punk is sometimes formed in conifers from the mycelium of _Fomes pinicola_.

_Polyporus sulphureus_ has long been known as an edible fungus, but from its rather firm and fibrous texture it requires a different preparation from the fleshy fungi to prepare it for the table, and this may be one reason why it is not employed more frequently as an article of food. It is common enough during the summer and especially during the autumn to provide this kind of food in considerable quantities.

=Polyporus brumalis= (Pers.) Fr.--This pretty plant is found at all seasons of the year, and from its frequency during the winter was named _brumalis_, from _bruma_, which means winter. It grows on sticks and branches, or on trunks. It usually occurs singly, sometimes two or three close together. The plants are 3--6 cm. high, the cap 2--6 cm. in diameter, and the stem is 3--6 mm. in thickness.

The =cap= is convex, then plane, and sometimes depressed at the center or umbilicate. When young it is somewhat fleshy and pliant, then it becomes tough, coriaceous, and hard when dry. During wet weather it becomes pliant again. Being hard and firm, and tough, it preserves long after mature, so that it may be found at any season of the year. The cap is smoky in color, varying in shade, sometimes very dark, almost black, and other specimens being quite light in color. The surface is hairy and the margin is often fimbriate with coarse hairs. The =stem= is lighter, hairy or strigose. The =tubes= are first white, then become yellowish. The tubes are very regular in arrangement.

Figure 186 represents well this species, three plants being grouped rather closely on the same stick; two show the under surface and one gives a side view. The upper portion of the plate represents two of the plants enlarged, the three lower ones being natural size. The plant is very common and widely distributed over the world. Those illustrated in the plate were collected at Ithaca. This species is too tough for food.

Many of the thin and pliant species of _Polyporus_ are separated by some into the genus =Polystictus=. The species are very numerous, as well as some of the individuals of certain species. They grow on wood or on the ground, some have a central stem, and others are shelving, while some are spread out on the surface of the wood. One very pretty species is the =Polystictus perennis= Fr. This grows on the ground and has a central stem. The plant is 2--3 cm. high, and the cap 1--4 cm. broad. The =pileus= is thin, pliant when fresh and somewhat brittle when dry. It is minutely velvety on the upper surface, reddish brown or cinnamon in color, expanded or umbilicate to nearly funnel-shaped. The surface is marked beautifully by radiations and fine concentric zones. The =stem= is also velvety. The =tubes= are minute, the walls thin and acute, and the mouths angular and at last more or less torn. The margin of the cap is finely fimbriate, but in old specimens these hairs are apt to become rubbed off. The left hand plant in Fig. 187 is _Polyporus perennis_.

=Polystictus cinnamomeus= (Jacq.) Sacc., (_P. oblectans_ Berk. Hook. Jour. p. 51, 1845, Dec. N. A. F. No. 35: _P. splendens_ Pk., 26th Report N. Y. State Mus., p. 26) is a closely related species with the same habit, color, and often is found growing side by side with _P. perennis_. The margin of the cap is deeply and beautifully lacerate, as shown in the three other plants in Fig. 187. _Polystictus connatus_ Schw., grows in similar situations and one sometimes finds all three of these plants near each other on the ground by roadsides. _P. connatus_ has much larger pores than either of the other two, and it is a somewhat larger plant. Figure 187 is from a photograph of plants collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., during September, 1899.

=Polystictus versicolor= (L.) Fr., is a very common plant growing on trunks and branches. It is more or less shelving, with a leaf-like pileus, marked by concentric bands of different colors. =P. hirsutus= Fr., is a somewhat thicker and more spongy plant, whitish or grayish in color, with the upper surface tomentose with coarse hairs. =P. cinnabarinus= (Jacq.) Fr., is shelving, spongy, pliant, rather thick, cinnabar colored. It grows on dead logs and branches. It is sometimes placed in the genus _Trametes_ under the same specific name. =Polystictus pergamenus= Fr., is another common one growing on wood of various trees. It is thin and very pliant when fresh, somewhat tomentose above when young, with faint bands, and the tubes are often violet or purple color, and they soon become deeply torn and lacerate so that they resemble the teeth of certain of the hedgehog fungi.

=Polyporus lucidus= (Leys.) Fr. [_Fomes lucidus_ (Leys.) Fr.]--This species is a very striking one because of the bright red or chestnut color, the hard and brittle crust over the surface of the cap, which has usually the appearance of having been varnished. It grows on trunks, logs, stumps, etc., in woods or groves. The cap is 5--20 cm. in diameter, and the stem is 5--20 cm. long, and 1--2 cm. in thickness. The stem is attached to one side of the pileus so that the pileus is lateral, though the stem is more or less ascending.

The =cap= is first yellowish when young, then it becomes blood red, then chestnut color. The =stem= is the same color, and the =tubes= are not so bright in color, being a dull brown. The substance of the plant is quite woody and tough when mature. When dry it is soon attacked and eaten by certain insects, which are fond of a number of fungi, so that they are difficult to preserve in good condition in herbaria without great care.

The surface of the pileus is quite uneven, wrinkled, and coarsely grooved, the margin sometimes crenate, especially in large specimens. Figure 188 represents the plant growing on a large hemlock spruce stump in the woods. The surface character of the caps and the general form can be seen. This photograph was taken near Ithaca, N. Y.

=Polyporus applanatus= (Pers.) Fr. [_Fomes applanatus_ (Pers.) Wallr.]--This plant is also one of the very common woody _Polyporaceæ_. It grows on dead trunks, etc., and sometimes is found growing from the wounds of living trees. It is very hard and woody. It has a hard crust, much harder than that of the _Polyporus lucidus_. The surface is more or less marked by concentric zones which mark off the different years' growth, for this plant is perennial. At certain seasons of the year the upper surface is covered with a powdery substance of a reddish brown color, made up of numerous colored spores or conidia which are developed on the upper surface of this plant in addition to the smaller spores developed in the tubes on the under surface.

The plant varies in size from 5--20 cm. or more in diameter, and 1--10 cm. in thickness, according to the rapidity of growth and the age of the fungus. The fruiting surface is white, and the tubes are very minute. They scarcely can be seen with the unaided eye. Bruises of the tubes turn brown, and certain "artists" often collect these plants and sketch with a pointed instrument on the tube surface. For other peculiarities of this plant see page 15. The age of the plant can usually be told by counting the number of the broader zones on the upper surface, or by making a section through the plant and counting the number of tube strata on the lower surface of the cap at its base.

=Polyporus leucophæus= Mont., is said to differ from this species in being more strongly zonate, and in the crust being whitish instead of reddish brown.

=Polyporus fomentarius= (L.) Fr. [_Fomes fomentarius_ (L.) Fr.,] is hoof-shaped, smoky in color, or gray, and of various shades of dull brown. It is strongly zoned and sulcate, marking off each year's growth. The margin is thick and blunt, and the tube surface concave, the tubes having quite large mouths so that they can be readily seen, the color when mature being reddish brown. Sections of the plant show that the tubes are very long, the different years' growth not being marked off so distinctly as in _P. applanatus_ and _leucophæus_. The plant grows on birch, beech, maple, etc. The inner portion was once used as tinder.

=Polyporus pinicola= (Swartz.) Fr. [_Fomes pinicola_ (Swartz.) Fr.] occurs on dead pine, spruce, balsam, hemlock spruce, and other conifers. The cap is about the width of the _F. applanatus_, but it is stouter, and does not have the same hard crust. The young growth at the margin, which is very thick, is whitish yellow, while the old zones are reddish. The tubes are yellowish, and sections show that they are in strata corresponding to the years' growth. =Polyporus igniarius= (L.) Fr. [_Fomes igniarius_ (L.) Fr.] is a black species, more or less triangular, or sometimes hoof-shaped. The yearly zones are smaller, become much cracked, and the tubes are dark brown. One of these plants which I found on a birch tree in the Adirondacks was over 80 years old.

The genus _Merulius_ has a fruiting surface of irregular folds or wrinkles, forming shallow, irregular pits instead of a deeply honey-combed surface. =Merulius lacrymans= (Jacq.) Fr., the "weeping" merulius, or "house fungus," often occurs in damp cellars, buildings, conduit pipes, etc. It is very destructive to buildings in certain parts of Europe (see Figs. 189, 190). =Merulius tremellosus= Schrad., is very common in woods during autumn. It is of a gelatinous consistency, and spread on the under surface of limbs or forms irregular shelves from the side (see Figs. 191, 192).