Chapter 19

MORELS, CUP-FUNGI, HELVELLAS, ETC.: DISCOMYCETES.

The remaining fungi to be considered belong to a very different group of plants than do the mushrooms, puff-balls, etc. Nevertheless, because of the size of several of the species and the fact that several of them are excellent for food, some attention will be given to a few. The entire group is sometimes spoken of as _Discomycetes_ or _cup-fungi_, because many of the plants belonging here are shaped something like a disk, or like a cup. The principal way in which they differ from the mushrooms, the puff-balls, etc., is found in the manner in which the spores are borne. In the mushrooms, etc., the spores, we recollect, are borne on the end of a club-shaped body, usually four spores on one of these. In this group, however, the spores are borne inside of club-shaped bodies, called sacs or asci (singular, ascus). These sacs, or asci, are grouped together, lying side by side, forming the fruiting surface or hymenium, much as the basidia form the fruiting surface in the mushrooms. In the case of the cup or disk forms, the upper side of the disk, or the upper and inner surface of the cap, is covered with these sacs, standing side by side, so that the free ends of the sacs form the outer surface. In the case of the morel the entire outer surface of the upper portion of the plant, that where there are so many pits, is covered with similar sacs. Since so few of the genera and species of the morels and cup-fungi will be treated of here, I shall not attempt to compare the genera or even to give the characters by which the genera are known. In most cases the illustrations will serve this purpose so far as it is desirable to accomplish it in such a work as the present. Certain of the species will then be described and illustrated.

MORCHELLA Dill.

The morels are all edible and they are usually easy to recognize. The plant consists of two distinct, prominent parts, the cap and the stem. The cap varies in form from rounded, ovate, conic or cylindrical, or bell-shaped, but it is always marked by rather broad pits, covering the entire outer surface, which are separated from each other by ridges forming a network. The color of the plants does not differ to any perceptible extent in our species. The cap is usually buff or light ochre yellow, becoming darker with age and in drying.

The stem in all our species is usually quite stout, though it varies to some extent in some of the different species, in proportion to the thickness of the cap. The stem is marked in some of the species by large wrinkles or folds extending irregularly but with considerable uniformity over the surface. The surface is further minutely roughened by whitish or grayish elevations, giving it a granular appearance. Sometimes these granules are quite evenly distributed over the surface, and in some species they are more or less separated into small areas by narrow lines.

The morels appear early in the season, during May and June. They grow usually in damp situations, and are more abundant during rainy weather. Three species are illustrated here.

=Morchella esculenta= Pers. =Edible.=--The name of this species, the esculent morel, indicates that it has been long known as an edible plant, especially since the man who named it lived a century ago. The plant is from 5--15 cm. high, the stem is 1--3 cm. in thickness, and the cap is broader than the stem. The cap is somewhat longer than broad, and is more or less oval or rounded in outline. The arrangement of the pits on the surface of the cap is regarded by some as being characteristic of certain species. In this species the pits are irregularly arranged, so that they do not form rows, and so that the ridges separating them do not run longitudinally from the base toward the apex of the cap, but run quite irregularly. This arrangement can be seen in Fig. 216, which is from a photograph of this species. The stem is hollow.

=Morchella conica= Pers. =Edible.=--This species is very closely related to the preceding one, and is considered by some to be only a form of the _Morchella esculenta_. The size is about the same, the only difference being in the somewhat longer cap and especially in the arrangement of the pits. These are arranged more or less in distinct rows, so that the ridges separating them run longitudinally and parallel from the base of the cap to the apex, with connecting ridges extending across between the pits. The cap is also more or less conic, but not necessarily so. Figure 217 illustrates this species. The plant shown here is branched, and this should not be taken to be a character of the species, for it is not, this form being rather rare.

=Morchella crassipes= (Vent.) Pers. =Edible.=--This species differs from the two preceding in the fact that the stem is nearly equal in width with the cap. Figure 218 illustrates a handsome specimen which was 17 cm. high. The granular surface and the folds of the stem show very distinctly and beautifully. Collected at Ithaca.

=Morchella deliciosa= Fr. =Edible=, has the cap cylindrical or nearly so. It is longer than the stem, and is usually two or three times as long as it is broad. The plant is smaller than the preceding, though large ones may equal in size small ones of those two. The plant is from 4--8 cm. high.

=Morchella semilibera= DC., and =M. bispora= Sor., [_Verpa bohemica_ (Kromb.) Schroet.] occur in this country, and are interesting from the fact that the cap is bell-shaped, the lower margin being free from the stem. In the latter species there are only two spores in an ascus.

HELVELLA L.

The helvellas are pretty and attractive plants. They are smaller than the morels, usually. They have a cap and stem, the cap being very irregular in shape, often somewhat lobed or saddle-shaped. It is smooth, or nearly so, at least it is not marked by the large pits present in the cap of the morel, and this is one of the principal distinguishing features of the helvellas as compared with the morels. In one species the thin cap has its lower margin free from the stem. This is =Helvella crispa= Fr., and it has a white or whitish cap, and a deeply furrowed stem. It occurs in woods during the summer and autumn, and is known as the white helvella.

Another species which has a wide range is the =Helvella lacunosa=, so called because of the deep longitudinal grooves in the stem. The cap is thin, but differs from the _H. crispa_ in that the lower margin is connected with the stem. This species is illustrated in Fig. 219 from plants collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., during September, 1899.

The genus _Gyromitra_ is very closely related to _Helvella_, and is only distinguished by the fact that the cap is marked by prominent folds and convolutions, resembling somewhat the convolutions of the brain. Its name means _convoluted cap_. The =Gyromitra esculenta= Fr., is from 5--10 cm. high, and the cap from 5--7 cm. broad. While this species has long been reported as an edible one, and has been employed in many instances as food with no evil results, there are known cases where it has acted as a poison. In many cases where poisoning has resulted the plants were quite old and probably in the incipient stages of decay. However, it is claimed that a poisonous principle, called _helvellic acid_, has been isolated by a certain chemist, which acts as a violent poison. This principle is very soluble in hot water, and when care is used to drain off first water in which they have been cooked, squeezing the water well from the plants, they are pronounced harmless. The safer way would be to avoid such suspicious species.

=Spathularia velutipes= Cooke & Farlow.--This species represents another interesting genus of the _Discomycetes_. It is in the form of a "spatula," and from this shape of the plant the genus takes its name. There are several species known in this country, and this one is quite common. The stem extends the entire length of the plant, running right through the cap, or perhaps it would be better to say that the cap or fruiting portion forms two narrow blades or wings on opposite sides of the upper part of the stem. These wing-like expansions of the cap on the opposite sides of the stem give the spathulate form to the plant. Figure 220 is from plants collected in the woods near Ithaca.

=Leotia lubrica= Pers.--The genus _Leotia_ is quite readily recognized by its form, and because the plants are usually slimy. This species is called _lubrica_ because of the slippery character of the entire plant. It is dull yellowish or olive yellow in color. The cap, as can be seen from the figure (221), is irregularly rounded, and broader than the stem. The plant is illustrated natural size from specimens collected near Ithaca.

THE TRUE CUP-FUNGI.

By far the larger number of the _Discomycetes_ are cup-shaped, and are popularly called "cup-fungi." They vary from plants of very minute size, so small that they can be just seen with the eye, or some of the larger ones are several inches in breadth. They grow on the ground, on leaves, wood, etc. The variety of form and color is great. They may be sessile, that is, the cup rests immediately on the ground or wood, or leaves, or they may possess a short, or rather long stalk. The only species illustrated here has a comparatively long stalk, and the cap is deep cup-shaped, almost like a beaker. This plant is technically known as _Sarcoscypha floccosa_. It is represented here natural size (Fig. 222). The stem is slender, and the rim of the cup is beset with long, strigose hairs. The inner surface of the cup is lined with the sacs (asci) and sterile threads (paraphyses), spoken of on a former page, when treating of the fruiting character of the morels and cup-fungi. In this plant the color of the inside of the cup is very beautiful, being a bright red. Another species, _Sarcoscypha coccinea_, the scarlet sarcoscypha, is a larger plant which appears in very early spring, soon after the frost is out of the ground. It grows on rotting logs and wood in the woods or in groves. The inside of the cup in this species is a rich scarlet, and from this rich color the species takes its name.