Part 13
=C. decas´tes= Fr. _Gr._—a decade; a number of ten. From the stems being often joined in bundles of about ten. Densely cespitose. =Pileus= 5–12 in. across, soon almost plane, disk gibbous or obtuse; margin at first shortly incurved, then expanded, very much waved and often lobed, even, glabrous, dingy-brown or livid when moist, pale clay-color when dry. =Flesh= exceedingly thin except at the disk, whitish. =Stem= 4–7 in. long, ½-1½ in. thick, usually slightly thinner upward, rather soft, entirely fibrous, solid, white, usually curved and ascending, coalescent into a solid mass at the base. =Gills= adnato-decurrent, or often more or less adnexed, up to ½ in. broad, rather narrowed towards the margin, often wavy. =Spores= globose, smooth, 4µ diameter.
On the ground and on sawdust.
Albion, Orleans county, N.Y., _Dr. Cushing_. October, 1898.
On ground in grassy places (Woodland Cemetery, May 22, 1897). _McIlvaine._
Particularly welcome to toadstool lovers are the early comers. The present species is among the first. It is rich in quantity, substance and flavor.
=C. mul´ticeps= Pk.—_multus_, many; _caput_, a head. (Plate XXVII_a_, p. 94.) =Pileus= fleshy, thin except on the disk, firm, convex, slightly moist in wet weather, whitish, grayish or yellowish-gray. =Flesh= white, taste mild. =Gills= close, adnate and slightly decurrent, whitish. =Stems= densely cespitose, equal or slightly thickened at the base, solid or stuffed, firm, elastic, slightly pruinose at the apex, whitish. =Spores= globose, 5–8µ.
=Pileus= 1–3 in. broad. =Stem= 2–4 in. long, 3–6 lines thick.
Open places, grassy ground, etc. Albany and Sandlake. June and October. This species forms dense tufts, often composed of many individuals. In this respect it is related to such species as C. tumulosa, C. aggregata and C. illudens. From the crowding together of many individuals the pileus is often irregular. Sometimes the disk is brownish and occasionally slightly silky. The gills are sometimes slightly sinuate, thus indicating a relationship to the species of Tricholoma. The taste, though mild, is somewhat oily and unpleasant. The plants appear in wet, rainy weather, either early in the season or in autumn. Specimens have been sent to me from Massachusetts by R.K. Macadam and Professor Farlow, and from Pennsylvania by Dr. W. Herbst. _Peck_, 43d Rep. N.Y. State Bot.
West Virginia, New Jersey, Mt. Gretna, Pa. In May, and in autumn months. Very variable in size, color, shape of gills, texture and taste. _McIlvaine._
The early spring clusters are remarkable for their tenderness and excellence. Clusters of hundreds of individuals grew abundantly at Mt. Gretna in May, 1899. When the fungus was young the gills were sometimes adnate, almost free, often decurrent. The varying color of oysters is well seen in C. multiceps.
Edible. They should be well cooked. The addition of a little lemon juice or sherry conceals a slight raw taste sometimes present.
PAGE. CLITOCYBE ILLUDENS 96
=C. illu´dens= Schw.—mocking, deceiving. (Plate XXIX_a_, p. 96.) =Pileus= fleshy, convex or expanded, smooth, generally with a small umbo. =Gills= not crowded, unequally decurrent, some of them branched, narrowed toward each end, the edge, in dry specimens, discolored. =Stem= firm, solid, long, smooth, tapering at the base.
=Height= 5–8 in., breadth of pileus 4–6 in. =Stem= 6–8 lines thick.
=Spores= 4–5µ _Peck_.
Grows in clumps or large masses about stumps or decaying trees from August to October. Its bright, deep yellow is attractive from a distance. As many as fifty plants may form a cluster. Cap from 2–6 in., fleshy, convex or expanded, often with a raised center directly over the stem; flesh juicy and yellow; gills yellow, widely separated, running down stem unequally; stem long, firm, solid, smooth, tapering toward base. When cooked the taste is rather saponaceous. Strong stomachs can retain a meal of them, but the fungus generally sickens the eater. Many testings show it to contain a minor poison. It is not deadly, but should not be eaten. Bull. No. 2, Phila. Myc. Center.
New York, _Peck_, Rep. 23–49. Well known in southern states. Indiana, _H.I. Miller_.
The mysterious property of phosphorescence is possessed by this fungus. As heat is known to develop in masses of the fungus it is of interest to know whether it is from the phosphorescence or a ferment. Its radiance by night surpasses its splendor by day. Mr. H.I. Miller, of Terre Haute, Ind., first drew the writer’s attention to this quality. A large box of specimens sent by him retained their luminous quality after three days of travel to such an extent that the print of a newspaper could be read when held close to the mass.
Mr. Miller writes: “There is something about this fungus which generates heat. When I bring in a basketful of it, for the pleasure its phosphorescence affords my friends, I find that after having been in the basket for two or three hours, and while piled one bunch upon top of another, that to insert one’s hand among the different clusters is like putting it close to a hot stove.”
This fungus is so inviting in quantity and beauty that one turns from it with a regret that lingers. Eaten in quantity it acts upon some persons as an emetic. I have several times eaten of it without other than pleasurable sensations, but persons partaking of the same cooking have been sickened.
=C. fumo´sa= Pers.—_fumus_, smoke. =Pileus= 1–3 in. across, fleshy, margin thin; convex, often gibbous when young, regular or wavy, even, pellicle not separable, glabrous, sooty-brown, soon livid or gray when dry. =Gills= adnate in regular forms, but often decurrent when the pileus is irregular, crowded, distinct, grayish-white from the first. =Stem= 2–3 in. long, 3–6 lines thick, almost equal, often twisted or curved, glabrous, dingy-white, apex mealy, solid, fibrous. =Spores= subglobose, 5–6µ diam.
In woods. Autumn.
Gregarious, somewhat cespitose, tough, rather cartilaginous. Pileus truly obtuse, never streaked, often regular. Smell none. _Fries._
Var. _po´lius_. Densely and connately cespitose. =Pileus= convex, then plane, obtuse, smooth, gray. =Stem= flexuous, smooth. =Gills= crowded, whitish. Edible. _Cooke_, 1891.
Var. polius found growing in large quantities in Boston navy yard in stone barn. Determined by Professor Peck. A fair edible. _R.K. Macadam._
This woods-growing Clitocybe has been many times found by me in a hot-house in Haddonfield, N.J. Professor Peck confirmed my identification. Either its spores or mycelium had evidently been carried thither in the wood-earth used by florists. The hot-house crops appeared in March, and continued until June.
Several of the plants showed an effort to comply with some condition unusual to them, by producing gills upon the upper side of the pileus. Those below were venose and crisped.
This wild species had thus been brought into cultivation. The cultivated plants were much more tender than the wild. Both are excellent.
=C. connex´a= Pk.—_connexus_, joined. From its relation to Tricholoma. =Pileus= thin, convex or expanded, subumbonate, clothed with a minute appressed silkiness, white, the margin sometimes faintly tinged with blue. =Gills= crowded, narrow, white inclining to yellowish. =Stem= equal or tapering downward, solid, whitish.
=Plant= 2–3 in. high. =Pileus= 2–3 in. broad. =Stem= 2 lines thick.
Ground in woods. Croghan. September.
The gills sometimes terminate rather abruptly and are not strongly decurrent, hence it might easily be mistaken for a Tricholoma. The margin of the pileus is sometimes marked with slight ridges as in Ag. laterarius. The odor is weak but aromatic and agreeable. _Peck_, 26th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.
Found in plenty in oak woods near Philadelphia, and in West Virginia; a few specimens in southern New Jersey. Autumn.
Edible, and quite equal to most of the Clitocybes.
=C. tumulo´sa= Kalchbr.—_tumulus_, a mound. Cespitose. =Pileus= 1–2 in. across, disk fleshy, margin thin; conico-convex then expanded, obtusely umbonate or obtuse, even, glabrous, brownish-umber, becoming pale, margin drooping. =Gills= more or less decurrent or slightly emarginate, crowded narrow, white, then grayish. =Stem= 3–5 in. long, unequal, usually thicker below, minutely downy, pallid, solid.
On the ground in woods. Spring and autumnal months. Readily distinguished by the densely clustered habit, and the umber pileus. The gills are very variable, sometimes distinctly decurrent, at others rounded behind, and almost resembling a Tricholoma. =Spores= subglobose, 5–6µ. _Massee._
California, _H. and M._; New York, _Peck_, Rep. 42.
Sent to me by Mrs. Mary Fuller, Washington, D.C. The specimens eaten were of good consistency and flavor.
III.—INFUNDIBULFOR´MES.
* _Pileus colored or becoming pale, etc., surface innately flocculose or silky; not moist._
=C. gigante´a= Sow.—_giganteus_, of gigantic size. =Pileus= 6–10 in. across. =Flesh= rather thin in proportion to the size of the fungus, white, or tinged with tan, glabrous when moist, slightly flocculose when dry; margin involute then spreading, glabrous, rather coarsely grooved. =Gills= slightly decurrent, broad, very much crowded, branched and connected by veins, whitish then pale tan-color, not separating spontaneously from the hymenophore. =Stem= 1–2 in. long and nearly the same in thickness, equal, pallid, solid. =Spores= white, 5×3µ.
In woods, etc.
A very distinct species, very showy, large, subcespitose, entirely whitish tan-color; without close affinities. Stem solid, compact, and firm inside and outside, 2½ in. long, ½ in. thick, equal, even, glabrous. Pileus depressed from the first, then broadly, _i. e._, plano-infundibuliform, thin but equally fleshy, soft, not flaccid, but easily splitting from the margin toward the center (almost papery and involute when old), upward of a foot broad, often excentric and generally sinuately lobed, moist and adpressedly downy when growing, slightly flocculose and cracked into scales when dry; margin at first very thin, involute, pubescent, soon spreading, glabrous, at length revolute, coarsely furrowed or radiately wrinkled. Gills slightly decurrent, closely crowded, almost 3 lines broad (2–3 times as broad as thickness of flesh of pileus), connected by veins, thin, fragile, straight, but sometimes varying to crisped and anastomosing, whitish then yellowish or tinged with rufous, smell weak. _Fries._
This species was placed in Clitocybe in Syst. Myc. and Epicrisis, but in Hym. Europ. Fries removed it to Paxillus in which he is followed by Stevenson. Cooke and Massee continue it in Clitocybe. Dr. Somers found one measuring over 15 inches in diameter. _R.K.M._
North Carolina, _Schweinitz_. Edible, _Curtis_; Wisconsin, _Bundy_; California, _H. and M._; Nova Scotia, _Dr. Somers_.
Large quantities of Clitocybe gigantea grow in the West Virginia mountains, and in woods around Philadelphia. July to November.
Its substance is coarse, but of good flavor. It should be chopped fine.
=C. max´ima= Gärtn and Meyer. (Fl. Wett.)—greatest. (Plate XXIV, fig. 5, page 82.) =Pileus= as much as 1 foot broad, becoming pale-tan or whitish, _fleshy_, compact at the disk, otherwise thin, _somewhat flaccid_ (not capable of being split), broadly funnel-shaped, gibbous _with a central umbo_, always very dry, the surface _becoming silky-even_ or squamulose; margin involute, pubescent, always _even_. =Flesh= white, at length soft. =Stem= as much as 4 in. long, 1 in. thick, solid, compact, but internally spongy, _elastic_, attenuated upward, fibrillosestriate, whitish. =Gills= _deeply decurrent_, pointed at both ends, somewhat crowded, soft, simple, _whitish_, not changeable.
The pileus is always very dry because the surface absorbs moisture. Odor weak, pleasant, almost that of A. infundibuliformis. On account of its gigantic stature and color, it has often been interchanged with A. gigantea Sow.; it is in no wise, however, allied to that species, but is so closely allied to A. infundibuliformis that it might be taken for a very luxuriant form of it. _Stevenson._
=Spores= 6×4µ _Massee_; 5×3µ, _W.G.S._
New England, _Frost_; California, _H. and M._
Common in the West Virginia mountains, mixed woods in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. June to November. _McIlvaine._
It is coarse, dry, hard, but chopped fine and cooked in various ways, either by itself or with meats, it is a good food.
=C. infundibulifor´mis= Schaeff.—_infundibulum_, a funnel; _forma_, form. (Plate XXIV, fig. 11, p. 82.) The Funnel-form clitocybe, Clitocybe infundibuliformis, is a neat and pretty species easily recognized by the funnel shape of its mature cap and by its pale red color. When very young the cap is slightly convex and often adorned with a slight umbo in its center. As it matures the margin becomes elevated so that the cap assumes a shape somewhat resembling that of a wine glass. The margin is sometimes wavy. The flesh is thin and white. The gills are close, thin, white or whitish and decurrent. The stem is smooth, colored like or a little paler than the cap and mostly tapering from the base upward.
The cap is 2–3 in. broad, the stem 1½-3 in. long and ¼-½ in. thick.
The funnel-shaped mushroom grows in woods or copses in summer and autumn, especially in wet seasons. It is somewhat variable in color, but is usually a pale-red, tinged with buff, and sometimes becoming more pale with age. It delights to grow among fallen leaves, and often there is an abundant white cottony mycelium at the base of the stem. When it grows in clusters the caps are apt to be irregular because of mutual pressure. “Mushrooms and Their Use.” _Peck._
=Spores= 5–6×3–4µ _B._
Very common and in plenty after rains, when large patches of it may be found. I have usually found the light pinkish-buff color to abound, and the stem thinner than described by Prof. Peck. Size of cap from 1–3 in.
It is a good, reliable food species. The stem should be removed, and the caps well cooked.
** _Pileus colored or pallid, smooth, moist in wet weather._
=C. subzonal´is= Pk.—_sub_, under; _zonalis_, pertaining to a zone. =Pileus= thin, centrally depressed or subinfundibuliform, marked with two or three obscure zones, with a slight appressed silkiness, pale yellow. =Gills= close, narrow, equally decurrent, some of them forked, pallid or yellowish. =Stem= equal, slightly fibrillose, stuffed, pale yellow.
=Plant= 2 in. high. =Pileus= 2–3 in. broad. =Stem= 2–3 lines thick.
Ground in woods. _Croghan._ September. _Peck_, 26th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.
Found in oak woods, Angora, West Philadelphia, growing singly. Specimens few. Edible; pleasant.
=C. gil´va= Pers.—_gilvus_, pale brownish-yellow. =Pileus= 2–4 in. broad, _pale yellowish, fleshy, compact, convex then depressed_, very obtuse, even, smooth, _dampish when fresh_, polished and _shining_ when dry, here and there spotted as with drops, the margin remaining long involute. =Flesh= compact, not laxly floccose, but at length fragile, _somewhat of the same color as the pileus_. =Stem= 1–2 in. and more long, ½ in. and more thick, _solid, fleshy_, stout, not elastic, somewhat equal, smooth, paler than the pileus, villous at the base. =Gills= decurrent, thin, _very much crowded_, often _branched_, arcuate, narrow, _pallid then ochraceous_.
Odor not remarkable. The stem has been noticed at length also hollow, perhaps eroded by larvæ. It corresponds with the Paxilli. The primary form, which is very different from all the rest, is curt, obese, robust, scarcely ever infundibuliform. _Stevenson._
=Spores= 4–5×5µ _K._; 4–5µ _Massee_.
North Carolina, _Schweinitz_, _Curtis_; Pennsylvania, _Schweinitz_; New York, _Peck_, R. 51, under pines. July to September.
Mt. Gretna, Pa. July, 1898, ground, mixed woods. _McIlvaine._
=Pileus= 1–2½ in. across, depressed, almost infundibuliform, smooth. =Color= varied lemon to bright orange. =Flesh= lemon color throughout. =Gills= varying in color, usually same color as pileus. =Stem= all of one color, same as pileus, stuffed, sometimes short, and pointed, sometimes thickened at base. Taste and smell pleasant. Edible; good.
=C. subinvolu´ta= Batsch.—turned under at the margin. =Pileus= brick color, convex, depressed, smooth, margin closely involute. =Flesh= pallid. =Stem= paler, stout, straight, somewhat equal, veined on the lower part with oblique coalescing slightly elevated wrinkles, tomentose and inclining to flesh color above toward the gills, base obtuse. =Gills= decurrent, rather broad, of the same color as the pileus.
The stem is rough on the surface and destitute of luster. It resembles Paxillus involutus in size and habit, in the crenate and involute margin of the pileus, and in the stem being obsoletely veined at the base and tomentose toward the gills. _Stevenson._
New England, _Frost_; New York, _Peck_, Rep. 22.
Edible, _Cooke_.
=C. geo´tropa= Bull. _Gr._—the earth; _Gr._—to turn. From the turned down margin. =Pileus= 2–5 in. across. =Flesh= thick, white convex, then plane and finally more or less depressed, obtusely umbonate, the prominence remaining after the pileus becomes depressed, very smooth, even, margin thin, incurved, downy, pale pinkish-tan or buff. =Gills= decurrent, crowded, narrow, simple, white, then colored like the pileus. =Stem= 3–5 in. long, 1 in. or more thick at the base, slightly attenuated upward, compact, fibrillose, colored like the pileus or paler, solid. =Spores= elliptical, 6–7×4–5µ. _Massee._
In woods and on their borders. Often in rings or troops.
Differs from C. maxima in being firmer, glabrous, and color much more variable; from C. gilva in the thinner pileus, less crowded gills, and white flesh.
=Spores= 5–7µ _W.G.S._
In England and on the continent it is considered excellent and superior to most edible fungi.
Found in West Virginia, 1881; Haddonfield, N J., 1891. Spring and autumn. _McIlvaine._
Edible, coarse, dry. In stews and mixed to form croquettes or patties, it is a desirable species, owing to its plentifulness.
=C. splen´dens= Pers.—_splendens_, shining. Solitary. =Pileus= 2–3 in. across, flesh rather thick, white, plane then depressed or funnel-shaped, glabrous, shining, yellowish. =Gills= deeply decurrent, narrow, crowded, simple, white. =Stem= about 1 in. long, 3 lines thick, glabrous, colored like the pileus, solid, slightly thickened at the base or equal. _Massee._
In woods, among pine leaves, etc.
Intermediate between C. gilva and C. flaccida. The typical form of C. gilva differs in the compact pileus, often with drop-like markings, the very much crowded, somewhat branched, pale ochraceous gills and flesh. _Fries._
Sent to me from Trenton, N.J., by E.B. Sterling.
Edible; quality good, deficient in flavor.
=C. inver´sus= Scop.—_inverto_, inverted. =Pileus= 2–3 in. across. =Flesh= thin, fragile; convex, soon funnel-shaped, margin involute, glabrous, even, reddish or dull brownish-orange. =Gills= decurrent, simple, pallid then reddish. =Stem= about 1½ in. long, 2 lines thick, glabrous, rather rigid, paler than the pileus, stuffed, soon hollow. =Spores= subglobose, 4µ diameter. _Massee._
Among leaves, etc.
Gregarious, subcespitose, forming very large tufts, especially late in the autumn, deformed. Smell peculiar, slightly acid. Stem sometimes stuffed, usually hollow, hence compressed, rather rigid and corticated outside, not elastic, without a bulb, glabrous, whitish; the somewhat rooting base with white down, and often growing together in tufts, variously deformed, curved, ascending, etc. _Fries._
=Spores= subglobose, 4µ _Massee_; 3µ _W.G.S._
Closely resembles C. infundibuliformis, but differs from it in the color of gills and flesh. The entire plant is dark in color. Solitary; in troops; cespitose.
Found in mixed woods. Haddonfield, N.J. Summer and autumn.
That part of the plant which readily breaks away from the stem is tender and of good flavor. The remainder is tough.
=C. flac´cida= Sow.—_flaccidus_, limp. =Pileus= 2–3 in. across, flaccid, orbicular, umbilicate, umbo persistently absent, margin spreading, arched, glabrous, even, rarely cracking into minute squamules, tawny-rust colored, shining, not becoming pale. =Flesh= thin, pallid, rather fragile when fresh, but quite flaccid when dry. =Gills= deeply decurrent, arcuate, crowded, narrow, about 1 line broad, white, then tinged yellowish. =Stem= imperfectly hollow, elastic, tough, 1–2 in. long, 2–3 lines thick somewhat equal, polished, naked, reddish-rust color, base thickened, downy. =Spores= subglobose, 4–5×3–4µ.
Among leaves, etc. Gregarious, stems often grown together at the base. Sometimes solitary and regular. Summer and autumn. _Massee._
=Spores= subglobose, 4–5×3–4µ.
Found in 1886 in West Philadelphia—oak woods. Since in New Jersey, North Carolina, and interior of Pennsylvania.
Edible. Well cooked it compares favorably with C. infundibuliformis and others of like texture.
*** _Pileus shining white._
=C. cati´na= Fr.—_catinus_, a bowl. =Pileus= 2 in. broad, at first _white, in no wise hygrophanous_, then passing into pale flesh-color during rain, and into tan-color in dry weather, _fleshy_, moderately thin, plane then funnel-shaped, always obtuse, even, _smooth_. =Flesh= thin, _flaccid_, white. =Stem= 3 in. long, 1½ in. thick, _stuffed_, internally spongy, _elastic_, tough, thickened and tomentose at the base. =Gills= decurrent, _straight, descending_, not horizontal, broad, not much _crowded_, persistently white. _Fries._
Ray Brook, Adirondack mountains. August. The pileus is at first white, but in wet weather it becomes pallid or discolored with age. The plants were found growing among pieces of bark of arbor vitæ lying on the ground. _Peck_, 43d Rep. N.Y. State Bot.
Quite common in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey. Woods among dead leaves. August until frost.
Edible. Excellent in flavor and quality.
_Series B._
IV.—CYATHIFOR´MES.
=C. cyathifor´mis= Bull.—_cyathus_, a cup; _formis_, form. =Pileus= 1½-3 in. across, flesh thin, plano-depressed when young, then infundibuliform, even, glabrous, hygrophanous, rather slimy and usually dark brown when moist, becoming pale and opaque when dry, undulate in large specimens, the margin remains involute for a long time. =Flesh= watery, similar in color to the pileus, splitting. =Gills= adnate, becoming decurrent with the depression of the pileus, joined behind, distant, grayish-brown, sometimes branched. =Stem= spongy and stuffed inside, elastic, at length often hollow, 2–4 in. long, 3–4 lines thick, attenuated upward, brownish-fibrillose, fibrils forming an imperfect reticulation, colored like the pileus or a little paler, apex naked (not mealy), base villous. _Massee._
On the ground in pastures and woods, rarely on rotten wood.
Usually blackish-umber, but varies to paler grayish-brown, pinky-tan, pale cinnamon or brownish; then dingy-ochraceous or tan-color. Margin expanded when old, and also indistinctly striate. _Fries._
Var. _cineras´cens_ Fr. =Pileus= up to 1 in. across, thin, infundibuliform, pale smoky-brown. =Gills= decurrent, yellowish-white. =Stem= 1–2 in. long, 1½ line thick, grayish, reticulately fibrillose, hollow.
=Spores= 8×5µ _W.G.S._; 10–12×5–6µ, _B._; 9×6µ _Morgan_.
Mt. Gretna, Pa. Among leaves in woods. September to October. Gregarious. _McIlvaine._
Fair in quality.