Part 16

=M. collaria´ta= Fr.—_collare_, a collar. =Pileus= ½ in. and more broad, typically dingy-brown, but becoming pale, commonly gray-whitish, becoming brownish only at the disk, membranaceous, bell-shaped then _convex_, somewhat umbonate, striate, when dry rigid, smooth, _not soft nor slightly silky_. =Stem= about 2 in. long, tubed, _thread-like_ but almost 1 line thick, _tough_, dry, smooth, even or slightly striate under a lens, becoming pale. =Gills= adnate, _joined in a collar_ behind, thin, crowded, _hoary-whitish or obsoletely flesh-colored_.

The gills are somewhat distant when the pileus is expanded. There is not a separate collar as in Marasmius rotula; the gills are only joined in the form of a collar, and remain _cohering_ when they separate from the stem. _Fries._

Spores 8–10×4–6µ _B._

New York. Old stumps and rotten logs. June. _Peck_, 23d Rep. Mt. Gretna, Pa. Cespitose on decaying wood. July, September and October. _McIlvaine._

Very much like M. galericulata, but gills not connected by veins. The caps usually have a pinkish hue, often brownish. The stems are not as tender as the caps. The flavor is excellent.

VI.—LACTI´PEDES. Stem and gills milky, etc.

=M. hæma´topa= Pers. _Gr._—blood; _Gr._—a foot. =Pileus= about 1 in. broad, white flesh-color, fleshy-membranaceous, _slightly fleshy_ chiefly _at the disk_, conical then bell-shaped, _obtuse_, nay convex and spuriously umbonate, naked, even or slightly striate at the margin, which is _at the first elegantly toothed_. =Stem= 2–4 in. long, 1 line and more thick, remarkably tubed, rigid, normally everywhere _powdered with whitish, delicate, soft hairy down_, sometimes, however, denuded of it. =Gills= adnate, often with a small decurrent tooth, the alternate ones shorter, in front disappearing short of the slight margin of the pileus, whitish and wholly of the same color at the edge.

Cespitose (very many of the stems conjoined and hairy at the base), firm, stature almost that of M. galericulata, wholly abounding with dark blood-colored juice.

On stumps. Frequent. September. _Stevenson._

=Spores= spheroid-ellipsoid, 10×6–7µ _K._

I find a non-cespitose form of this species with red-margined gills. Its red juice, however, will serve to distinguish it and show its true relations. _Peck_, 31st Rep.

Common in tufts like M. galericulata and of about the same size, but is readily distinguished by its red juice. This pretty plant can often be gathered in considerable quantity, and well repays the collector.

VII.—GLUTINI´PEDES. Stems gelatinous, etc.

None tested.

VIII.—BASI´PEDES. Stem dilated at base, etc.

None tested.

IX.—INSITI´TIÆ. Stem inserted.

None tested.

HIA´TULA Fr.

(Plate XXXIII.)

_Hio_, to gape.

=Pileus= symmetrical, very thin, without a distinct pellicle, formed by the union of the backs of the gills, splitting when expanded. =Gills= almost or quite free, white. =Stem= central. =Spores= white.

Allied to Lepiota in the thin pileus and free gills, but differing in the entire absence of a ring. Not at all deliquescent as in the genus Coprinus, near to which it was at one time placed by Fries. _Massee._ Reported from North Carolina.

OMPHA´LIA Fr.

_Gr._—belonging to an umbilicus.

(Plate XXXIV.)

=Pileus= generally _thin_, usually umbilicate at first, then funnel-shaped, often hygrophanous, margin incurved or straight. =Gills= _truly decurrent_ from the first, sometimes branched. =Stem= distinctly cartilaginous, polished, tubular, often stuffed when young. =Flesh= continuous with that of the pileus but differing in character. =Spores= white, somewhat elliptical, smooth.

Generally on wood, preferring hilly woods and a damp climate.

Resembling Collybia and Mycena in the flesh of stem and pileus being different in texture and in the externally cartilaginous stem. It is perfectly separated by the gills being markedly decurrent from the first.

The American species of Omphalia number between thirty-five and forty. Many of them are common. Few woods are free from them. Several of them are beautiful. They are usually small and lacking in substance. Raw, the writer has not found one that is objectionable in any way; a few have a woody taste. But two species have been found by him in sufficient quantity to make a dish. It is probable that all are edible. At best the species of Omphalia are valuable in emergency only.

ANALYSIS OF TRIBES.

COLLYBARII.

* Pileus dilated from the first, margin incurved.

MYCENARII.

Pileus campanulate at first, margin straight and pressed to the stem.

COLLYBA´RII. * _Pileus dilated from the first; margin incurved._

=O. onis´cus= Fr. _Gr._—a wood-louse. From the ashy color. =Pileus= scarcely 1 in. broad, dark _ashy_ becoming pale, gray-hoary when dry, somewhat membranaceous, or slightly fleshy, _flaccid_, fragile when old, _convexo-umbilicate_ or funnel-shaped, often irregular, undulato-flexuous, even-lobed, _smooth, even_, margin striate. =Stem= 1 in. long, 1 line and more thick, stuffed then tubed, _slightly firm_, moderately tough, sometimes round, curved, sometimes unequal, compressed, ascending, undulated, _gray_. Gills shortly _decurrent_, somewhat distant, quaternate, _ash-color_. Not cespitose. _Fries._

=Spores= 12×7–8µ _B._

Massachusetts, _Sprague_; California, _H. and M._, who record it as edible.

=O. umbellif´era=—_umbella_, a little shade; _fero_, to bear. From its umbrella-like shape. (Plate XXXIV, p. 132.) =Pileus= about ½ in. broad, commonly whitish, _slightly fleshy-membranaceous_, convex then plane, _broadly obconic_ with the decurrent gills, not at all or only slightly umbilicate, hygrophanous, when moist watery, _rayed with darker striæ_, when dry even, changeable in appearance, silky, flocculose, rarely squamulose, _the margin, which is at first inflexed, crenate_ (scalloped). =Stem= _short_, not exceeding 1 in. long, almost 1 line thick, stuffed then soon tubed, slightly firm, equal or dilated toward the apex into the pileus, of the same color as the pileus, commonly _smooth_, but varying pubescent, white villous at the base. =Gills= _very broad behind, triangular_, decurrent, _very distant_, edge of the gills straight.

Cosmopolitan. The common form is to be found everywhere from the sea level to 4,000 feet. _Stevenson._

=Spores= 3×4µ _W.G.S._; 10×4µ _W.P._; green variety 10×6µ _W.P._; broadly elliptical, 8–10×5–6µ _Peck_.

O. umbellifera is known the world over. It is very variable in size and color. With us it is seldom over ¾ in. broad. =Stem= ½-1 line thick. It grows on decaying wood and ground full of decaying material. There are several varieties. All are edible, but not worth describing. This description is given that the student may recognize one of our common plants, and eat it, if very hungry.

MYCENA´RII.

=O. campanel´la= Batsch.—_campana_, a bell. =Pileus= thin, rather tough, hemispherical or convex, glabrous, umbilicate, hygrophanous, rusty yellow-color and striatulate when moist, paler when dry. =Gills= moderately close, arcuate, decurrent, yellowish, the interspaces venose. =Stem= firm, rigid, hollow, _brown_, often paler at the top, _tawny-strigose at the base_. =Spores= elliptical, 6–7×3–4µ.

=Pileus= 4–8 lines broad. Stem about 1 in. long, scarcely 1 line thick.

Much decayed wood of coniferous trees. Very common. May to November. _Peck_, 45th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

=Spores= ellipsoid, 6–8×3–4µ _C.B.P._; 7×3µ _W.P._; 6–9×3–4µ _B._

The quantity alone, in which this small species can be found, makes it worth mentioning as an edible species. It is common over the United States where coniferous trees abound. Its favorite habitat is upon the rotting debris of these trees. Occasionally it grows from the ground, but only from that which is heavily charged with woody material. It is social in troops, or affectionate in clusters, or maintains a single existence.

It is edible, of good substance when stewed, tender and of fair flavor.

PLEURO´TUS.

_Gr._—a side; _Gr._—an ear.

=Stem= excentric, lateral or none. _Epiphytal_ (_very rarely growing on the ground_), irregular, fleshy or membranaceous. _Fries._

The excentric, generally lateral stem, absent in some of the species, separates this from other genera of the white-spored series.

=Pileus= varying from fleshy in the larger to membranaceous in the smaller forms, but never becoming woody. =Veil= generally wanting, when present its remains sometimes appear on the margin of the pileus, or as an evanescent ring on the stem. =Gills=, edge acute, generally decurrent, in some species with a well-marked tooth, rarely simply adnate. =Stem= fleshy, confluent and homogeneous with the pileus.

Wood, dead or alive; a few species appear on the ground.

P. ulmarius and others of the larger forms, when growing in an upright position, may have the stem central and the pileus horizontal. The stems of some species of Clitocybe and Omphalia if growing laterally are sometimes excentric and oblique.

This genus is analogous to Claudopus, pink-spored, and Crepidotus, brown-spored.

=Spores= white, but those of P. sapidus are faintly tinged with lilac, and of P. ostreatus, var. euosmus, with purple.

ANALYSIS OF TRIBES.

EXCENTRICI. Page 137.

Pileus entire, laterally extended, excentric, not truly lateral.

* Veil fugacious, fragments adhering to stem or margin of pileus.

** Veil none, gills sinuate or obtusely adnate.

*** Veil none, gills very decurrent, stem distinct, almost vertical.

**** Veil none, gills very decurrent, stem proper absent, pileus lateral, extended behind into a short, stem-like oblique base.

DIMIDIATI. Page 144.

Pileus not at first resupinate, lateral, prolonged without a definite margin behind, into a very short lateral, stem-like base.

RESUPINATI. Page 146.

Pileus resupinate from the first, then reflexed.

If any odium attaches to the word toadstool, it should be forgotten and forever banished in presence of this cleanly, neat, handsome genus, choice in its growing places from lichen-covered stumps, or bark-clad boles, or highly perched limbs, or the scented surfaces of decaying wood. Several of its species perfume themselves throughout with pleasant spicy odors. Many are most accommodating in their constant coming.

Mr. H.I. Miller, superintendent Terre Haute and Indianapolis Railroad, writes: “Most of the mushroom books give greatest space to the A. campester. For some parts of the country this may be desirable, but for Indiana and Ohio, considering the food value, the P. ostreatus is the best fungus we have in these states, from the fact that anybody wanting a mess can nearly always obtain a basketful of this variety, whereas the others depend upon a good many weather conditions. Having located a few logs and stumps in the spring, where the P. ostreatus grows, these same stumps and logs can be used all season. The crops are successive, and while some of the spots seem to be barren for a few days at a time, the others will be bearing. It does not make much difference what the kind of log or stump, whether it be beech, oak or elm, or what the species of tree. I think I have found them on all our forest trees, and it is not necessary for the tree to be dead. If there is a decaying portion, the spores seem to be carried by the little black beetle that infests the ostreatus, from one place to another, and wherever a small spot of dead wood is found we are likely to find the P. ostreatus. This being the only edible mushroom that we can find in large quantities all through the season in this neck of the woods, it seems to me that a general knowledge of it will serve the economic purpose more than any other fungi.”

The presence of the P. ostreatus and its esculent companions is noted from our northern boundary to the gulf. Poplar, maple, birch, hickory, ash, apple, laburnum and oak trees are its favored residences. Deer feed upon it, and kine are attracted by its scent even when deep under snow. When properly selected and _slowly_ cooked, the Pleuroti are toothsome.

From the fact that the spores of this fleshy and valuable genus find fostering lodgment in many trees when in decay, it is more than probable that the several species can be propagated by planting their spores upon such decaying woods, or by transplanting the mycelium.

Growths of P. ostreatus, P. sapidus, P. salignus, and probably other species of Pleurotus, can be forced, by watering the spots upon which they are known to grow. Dr. Kalchbrenner mentions that the P. sapidus is in this way cultivated in Hungary. Acting upon this mention the writer had good success with P. ostreatus. Experiments in this direction are likely to be interesting and rewarding.

No species is suspected of being noxious.

An analysis of P. ostreatus is given by Lafayette B. Mendel, Sheffield Laboratory of Physiological Chemistry, Yale University, as follows:

Water 73.70%

Total solids 26.30

The dry substance contained:

Total nitrogen 2.40

Extractive nitrogen 1.27

Protein nitrogen 1.13

Ether extract 1.6

Crude fiber 7.5

Ash 6.1

Material soluble in 85% 31.5 alcohol

American Journal of Physiology, Vol. 1, No. 11, March 1, 1898.

I.—EXCEN´TRICI.

*_Veil fugacious, etc._

=P. dry´inus= Pers. _Gr._—oak. =Pileus= 2 in. broad, whitish, variegated with spot-like scales which become dingy-brown, lateral, oblique, rather plane. =Flesh= thick. =Stem= very curt and obese, commonly 1 in. long and thick, somewhat lateral, somewhat woody, squamulose, white, with a short, blunt root. =Veil= scarcely conspicuous on the stem, but appendiculate round the margin of the pileus when young. =Gills= not very decurrent, somewhat simple, not anastomosing behind, narrow, white, becoming yellow when old.

On trunks, oak, ash, willow, etc. _Stevenson._

=Spores= 10×4µ _Massee_.

Edible. _Cordier_, _Cooke_.

When young the caps are tender; of the consistency, when cooked, of Polyporus sulphureus. In taste and smell the species varies from other Pleuroti, in having a distinct musk-like flavor. This is agreeable, reminding one of the common mushroom—A. campester.

**_Veil none, gills sinuate, etc._

=P. ulma´rius= Bull.—_ulmus_, an elm. =Pileus= 3–5 in. and more broad, _becoming pale-livid_, often marbled with round spots, fleshy, _compact_, horizontal, moderately regular although more or less excentric, convex then plane, disk-shaped, even, smooth. =Flesh= white, tough. =Stem= 2–3 in. long, 1 in. thick, solid, firm, _elastic_, somewhat excentric, curved-ascending, _thickened_ and tomentose _at the base_, not rarely villous throughout, white. =Gills= horizontal, _emarginate_ or rounded _behind_, slightly adnexed, broad (broader in the middle), somewhat crowded, whitish.

The pileus is sometimes cracked in a tessellated manner. _Stevenson._

=Spores= nearly globose, 5µ long _Morgan_; 5–6.5µ broad _Peck_; 6µ _W.G.S._

Var. _aceri´cola_—_acer_, maple; _colo_, to inhabit. Plant smaller, cespitose.

Trunks and roots of maple trees. Adirondack mountains. September.

Var. _populi´cola_—_populus_, poplar; _colo_, to inhabit. Plant subcespitose, stem wholly tomentose. West Albany. _Peck_, Monograph, N.Y. Species of Pleurotus, Rep. 39.

The gills are sometimes torn across like those of Lentinus.

The historic elms of Boston Common have borne copious crops of this well-known and easily distinguished species from time immemorial. Every fall, about the first of September, if the season is favorable, later if not, copious crops appear decorating the trunks, and branches, sometimes at a height of thirty or forty feet. Growth takes place where branches have broken off or the trees have been wounded from other causes. They occur very generally on elms in the outlying districts of the city, but are rare in the country, seeming to be distinctly urban in their tastes. No damage is apparent from their growth.

Immediately in the rear of Independence Hall, Philadelphia, a fine cluster appears with equal autumnal regularity.

Though the elm tree is the chosen habitat of this fungus, it is little less select in its choice than other members of its genus.

When young and small P. ulmarius is tender and of acceptable flavor. The stems and centers of older specimens should be cut away, and the tender parts of the caps, only, used.

=P. tessula´tus= Bull.—_tessela_, a small cube for pavement. =Pileus= _becoming pale-tawny_, horizontal, compactly fleshy, convex then plane, and in a form which is somewhat lateral depressed behind, irregular, even, smooth, _variegated_ with round and hexagonal paler _spots_. =Flesh= thick, white. =Stem= short, 1 in. or little more long, solid, _compact_, _equal_ or attenuated at the base, very excentric, curved-ascending, even, _smooth_, white. =Gills= _sinuate behind_, uncinato-adnate, thin, _crowded_, white or becoming yellow.

Solitary; according to some cespitose. The pileus is not cracked in a tessellated manner, as one might easily imagine from the name, but variegated with spots. Smaller than A. ulmarius (to which it is too closely allied), but almost more compact, with a smell of new meal.

On trunks. _Stevenson._

North Carolina, _Schweinitz_. Edible. _Curtis._ Edible. _Cordier._

On specimens growing cespitose and singly, found at Haddonfield, N.J. September, 1895, on trunk of apple tree, and at Eagle’s Mere, Pa., singly on sugar maple, August, 1898, the margin of caps were beautifully marked, but not cracked.

In quality it is better than P. ulmarius.

=P. subpalma´tus= Fr.—_sub_ and _palma_, a palm. =Pileus= 3–5 in. across. =Flesh= thick, soft, variegated; convex then more or less flattened, irregularly circular, obtuse, wrinkled, smooth, with a gelatinous cuticle, rufescent. =Stem= excentric or almost lateral, but the pileus is always marginate behind, fibrillose, short, equal, flesh fibrous, soft. =Gills= adnate, 3–4 lines broad, crowded, joined behind, dingy. _Massee._

On old trunks, squared timber, etc.

Very remarkable for having the flesh variegated as in Fistulina hepatica. Pileus, especially when young, covered with a viscid pellicle. _Fr._

=Spores= minutely echinulate, nearly globose, 5.6×7µ _Morgan_.

Ohio, _Morgan_; Wisconsin, _Bundy_.

I frequently found this species in North Carolina, growing from oak ties and standing oak timber. I did not notice distillation of rufescent drops from the cap. The soft flesh had good flavor. The gelatinous cuticle imparts its character to the dish. Mixed with Lentinus lepideus, a much tougher plant, which grows in great abundance in the same localities, it makes toothsome food.

=P. lignati´lis= Fr.—_lignum_, wood. Dingy whitish. =Pileus= 1–4 in. broad, rarely central, commonly more or less excentric, occasionally wholly lateral, often kidney-shaped, fleshy, thin, but compact and tough, fissile, convex then plane, obtuse and often umbilicate, _flocculoso-pruinate_, at length denuded with rain, repand, margin at first involute then expanded, undulato-lobed when luxuriant. =Stem= sometimes 2–3 in., sometimes 3–4 lines long (even obliterated), _stuffed then hollow_, always _thin_, unequal, curved, curved or flexuous, tough and flexile, whitish, everywhere pruinato-villous, rooting and somewhat tomentose at the base. =Gills= _adnate_, very _crowded_ and narrow, unequal, divergent in the lobes, shining white. _Fries._

Exceedingly variable, wholly inconstant in form; substance thin and pliant; commonly densely cespitose, but also single. Odor strong of new meal.

On wood, beech, etc. _Stevenson._

Parasitic on a rotten plant of Polyporus annosus on elm. _W.G.S._

White and grayish-white, margin faintly striate; white-spotted, odor distinctly farinaceous. _C.M._

=Spores= 3–4µ long, _Morgan_, _Cooke_, _W.G.S._; 4–5µ _K._

Var. _abscon´dens_ Pk.—obscure. New York, _Peck_, Rep. 31, 39.

On trunks, scattered, sometimes loosely clustered. Griffins, Delaware county, N.Y. September. New York, _Peck_, Rep. 31, 39.

Kingsessing, near Philadelphia; Mt. Gretna, Pa. _McIlvaine._

This is a good species in every way. I have not found it in extended quantity, but it is probable that it will be found in plenty when closer observed and better known.

=P. circina´tus= Fr.—to make round. _Wholly white_, not hygrophanous. =Pileus= about 3 in. broad, _orbicular_, horizontal, fleshy, tough, convex then plano-disk-shaped, obtuse, even, but _covered over with a shining whitish slightly silky luster_. =Stem= 1–2 in. long, 3–4 lines thick, _stuffed_, _elastic_, equal, _central_ or slightly excentric, commonly _straight_, _smooth_, bluntly rooted at the base. =Gills= adnate, slightly decurrent, crowded, broad (as much as 3 lines), white. _Fries._

An exceedingly distinct species. Regular, solitary, with a weak, pleasant, not mealy odor. The pileus is a little thicker than that of A. lignatilis, but less compact; the gills are twice as broad. As A. lignatilis is changeable, this is always constant in form.

On rotting birch stump. _Stevenson._

California, _H. and M._

Found at Eagle’s Mere, Pa., August, 1898, on birch trees. Generally solitary; sometimes six or eight on one tree, beautifully shining white, at a distance resembling young Polyporus betulinus. Large quantities of it grow in the extensive birch forests at Eagle’s Mere, yielding a ready food supply. Its flavor is pleasant, and texture, when cooked, quite tender.

=P. pubes´cens= Pk.—_pubes_, down or soft hair. =Pileus= fleshy, convex, suborbicular, pubescent, yellowish. =Gills= broad, subdistant, rounded behind, sinuate, pallid tinged with red. =Stem= short, firm, curved, eccentric, colored like the pileus. =Spores= globose, 8µ broad.

=Pileus= about 2 in. broad. Stem scarcely 1 in. long.

Trunks of trees. Lyndonville. _C.E. Fairman._ _Peck_, 44th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

West Virginia, on oak trunks. _McIlvaine._

High, agreeable flavor; texture about as in P. ostreatus.

*** _Gills decurrent; stem distinct, etc._

(Plate XXXVI.)

=P. sa´pidus= Kalchb.—savory. Cespitose, or several pilei appearing to spring from a common branched stem. =Pileus= 1–3 in. across. =Flesh= thick, excentric, regular, convex or obtusely gibbous then depressed, glabrous, white or brownish. =Stem= stout, solid, several usually springing from a thickened knob, whitish, 1–2 in. long, expanding upward into the pileus. =Gills= decurrent, rather distant, narrow, whitish. =Spores= elliptical, 10–11×4–5µ.

On elm trunks.

A very variable species; according to Kalchbrenner, the spores have a faint tinge of lilac, and the pileus is white, tawny, brownish, or umber on the same trunk. The white form only has been met with in this country. _Massee._

=Spores= with a lilac tinge, oblong or a little curved and pointed, 8.3×3.7µ _Morgan_; oblong, 9–11.5×4–5µ _Peck_; 10–11×4–5µ _Massee_.

Not observed in England until 1887.

Quite common throughout the United States, growing upon decaying wood, whether above or under ground. It has few distinct features. The only positive one distinguishing it from P. ostreatus is its lilac-tinted spores. The tint is faint but noticeable upon white background. Excepting for purposes of the student, its separation, as a species, from P. ostreatus is not necessary. When old it has more body than the latter, but is equally superior as a food fungus.

Professor Peck remarks of it: “A stew made of it is a very good substitute for an oyster stew.”

It can be cultivated by watering the places upon which it is known to appear.