Part 47
=H. gelatino´sum= Scop. Transferred to Tremelledon as T. gelatinosum, under which heading it is described and its edible qualities noted.
MERIS´MA. _Gr_—a division.
(Very much branched or of an irregular form without a distinct margin.)
=H. coralloi´des= Scop. (Plate CXXXIV.) 6–18 in. across. Tufts on wood. Pure shining white growing yellow with age, composed wholly of attenuated interlacing branches ½ in. at base, tapering to a point. =Spines= growing from one side of the branches, 3–4 lines in length, awl-shaped.
=Spores= globose, 4–6µ diameter _Massee_.
_Peck_, Rep. 22; Indiana, _H.I. Miller_; Massachusetts, _Sprague_; California; West Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, _McIlvaine_.
Edible. _Curtis._
Grows upon standing and fallen timber which is attacked by decay. Fir, oak, beech, ash, birch, hickory and other trees are inhabited by it. August to frost.
This beautiful species can not be mistaken for any other. Its name is the best guide to its identification. Dame Nature has made many exquisite decorations for herself and this is one of them.
It is generally eaten, but is rare. Professor Peck speaks affectionately of it as a gratuitous adjunct to his bill of fare when on botanical tramps in the Adirondacks.
=H. caput-ur´si= Fr.—bear-head. 6–8 in. high, 6–8 in. across. Tufts usually pendulous, compact, white, becoming yellow and brownish. =Spines= up to 1 in. long, round, pointed. =Branches= in every direction, short.
Closely resembling H. coralloides and in small forms with shorter spines easily mistaken for it. Position of growth has much to do with its shape and appearance. On fallen timber the branchlets and spines may be erect.
New York, _Peck_, 44th Rep.; North Carolina, _Curtis_; West Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, _McIlvaine_.
Edible. _Curtis._ Edible. _Peck._
Hydnum caput-ursi is common in West Virginia forests. It is conspicuous on standing oaks, and at a distance a puzzling object to one not familiar with such excrescences. It grows on standing oaks near Haddonfield, N.J., and sparsely at Mt. Gretna, Pa.
It is more compact, and is tougher than H. coralloides and H. Medusæ, but cooks tender and is very good.
=H. caput-Medu´sæ= Bull.—head of Medusæ. (Plate CXXXV.) 3–18 in. across, 2–8 in. high. Tufts pendulous. White then grayish. Body compact, tapering to a solid base, more or less stem-like. =Spines= covering entire surface. Those upon top are long, thin, straight or distorted, growing shorter around and to the under side where they are short and straight. The wavy appearance of the slender spines remind of the snaky locks of Medusa, hence the name.
Edible. _Curtis._ Edible. _Leuba._
On elms at Haddonfield, N.J.; on oaks at Mt. Gretna, Pa., and in Woodland Cemetery, and on elms in Washington Square, Philadelphia, Pa. _McIlvaine._
Commonly eaten in Italy and parts of Austria; rare elsewhere in Europe. Occurring over the United States. Specimens eighteen inches across were seen by the writer in the West Virginia mountains.
Mr. H.I. Miller, Terre Haute, Ind., sent me a fine specimen weighing 10½ pounds.
The American species, as far as seen by the writer, changes to a light yellow when ageing. The entire fungus is edible and excellent, but the tender spines and more delicate parts make a dish equaled by few fungi.
=H. erina´ceum= Bull.—_erinaceus_, a hedgehog. 2–8 in. and more across. Tufts pendulous. White and yellowish-white becoming yellow-brownish, fleshy, elastic, tough, sometimes emarginate (broadly attached as if tuft was cut in two, sliced off where attached), a mass of latticed branches and fibrils. =Spines= 1½-4 in. long, crowded, straight, equal, pendulous. =Stem= sometimes rudimentary.
On trunks of oak, beech, etc. July to October.
=Spores= subglobose, 5–6µ diameter _Massee_; white, plain, 5×6µ _W.G.S._
Alabama, _Miss K. Skehan_; Pennsylvania, _McIlvaine_; Massachusetts, _Sprague_; New York, _Peck_, Rep. 22.
Eaten in Germany and France. _Cooke._
A dead beech trunk at Eagle’s Mere, Pa., in August, 1898, bore at least fifty pounds of it. It draped one side of the tree from root to top with yellowish, pendulous tufts, with spines up to 3 in. long, which waved in the wind. The spines and tender parts were stewed, and enjoyed by many. It shrinks very much in drying, becoming sour.
A´PUS. _Gr_—without; a foot.
(Stemless, dimidiate, margin distinct.)
=H. septentriona´le= Fr.—Northern. Fleshy-fibrous, becoming pale, imbricated. =Pilei= not numerous, growing one above the other, plane, behind thick, consolidated, margin straight, whole. =Spines= very crowded, slender, equal.
The largest known Hydnum.
Received from E.B. Sterling, Trenton, N.J., September, 1897. The specimens formed part of a dense fasciculate mass weighing over 20 pounds, growing on a beech stump. Edges of the young plant are edible, but have little taste.
=IR´PEX= Fr.
A harrow.
Hymenium inferior, toothed from the first. Teeth firm, somewhat coriaceous, acute, concrete with the pileus, arranged in rows or like network, connected at the base by folds, which are gill-like (in sessile species) or resemble honeycomb (in resupinate ones). Sporophores 4-spored. Growing on wood, somewhat growing from the side or upon the back, approaching Lenzites and Dædaleæ.
Irpex differs from Hydnum in having the spines connected at the base, and in their being less awl-shaped and pointed.
It is reported as found well up in the northern States, but its species prefer warm climates. Irpex contains no choice species, but all I have tested can be eaten.
=I. obli´quus= Fr.—oblique. White, inclining to pale, effused (spread), forming an adnate crust, circumference flaxy. Teeth _extended from a base resembling honeycomb, compressed, unequal, incised_, oblique, 2–3 lines long.
At first abundantly porous, but toothed from the first, at length quite as in Hydna.
On stumps and dead branches. November to February. _Stevenson._
This spreads in irregular patches on the surface of decaying wood. The pores for a small space round the margin are round and distinct, but toward the center are greatly lengthened out, lying one upon another in an imbricated manner. The color is white at first, when old it changes to a yellow-brown, and at last to a dirty fuscous black. _Bolton._
At first it looks more like a small white orbicular resupinate Polyporus than an Irpex. _Peck._
The species is common and can be collected at most times of the year. When fresh and moist it can be shaved from its host plant. Goodly quantities can thus be obtained. It stews to a firm gelatinous mass of pleasant flavor. The lost hunter need not die of starvation in any woods if he will but study the tree-growing fungi, and especially the small species, hitherto insignificant in food circles.
=I. car´neus= Fr.—resembling the color of flesh. Reddish, effused, 1–3 in. long, _cartilaginous-gelatinous_, membranaceous, adnate. Teeth obtuse and awl-shaped, entire, united at the base.
It inclines to Radula and Phlebia. _Stevenson._
On tulip poplar, Haddonfield, N.J., September, 1892; on hickory, Angora, Philadelphia, September, 1897. _McIlvaine._
The entire fungus is good, cooking like a Hydnum.
=I. defor´mis= Fr.—deformed. White, effused, crustaceous, thin, circumference pubescent, somewhat flaxy. Teeth _extended in awl-shape from a minutely porous base, thin_, somewhat digitato-incised (cut in finger-shape), 1–2 lines long. _Fries._
It approaches the Polypori. Grows on wood. _Stevenson._
North Carolina, _Schweinitz_, _Curtis_; Massachusetts, _Frost_.
Common on stumps and trees. The awl-shaped teeth, which have the appearance of shreds, can be scraped from the fresh plant, or if dried plants are moistened, the teeth are detachable, and are food-giving.
=I. fusco-vioia´ceus= Fr.—_fuscus_, brown; _violaceous_, violet. =Pileus= 2 in. long, more than 1 in. broad, _white inclining to hoary_, effuso-reflexed, coriaceous, silky, zoned. Teeth in rows in the form of plates, _brownish-violet_, incised at the apex. _Fries._
On pine trunks. _Stevenson._
Decaying trunks of spruce, abies nigra. Adirondack mountains. July.
Our specimens are not “silky,” as required by the description, but villose or tomentose-villose as in Polyporus hirsutus and P. abietinus, the latter of which this species closely resembles. The hymenium, however, is coarser, more highly colored and lamellated to such an extent that young specimens might easily be taken for a Lenzites. _Peck_, 30th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.
Found in West Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere. _McIlvaine._
Very common on logs of coniferous trees. It is difficult to collect it entirely free from resin, which as a seasoning is not recommended.
FAMILY IV.—=THELEPHORA´CEÆ= Fr.
_Gr_—a teat; _Gr_—to bear.
=Sporophore= erect and stipitate, with a central stem, effused, with the upper portion free and bent backward, or entirely resupinate. =Hymenium= perfectly even or radiately wrinkled, glabrous or minutely bristled with projecting cystidia; basidia normally 4-spored. =Spores= without a division, colorless or colored. _Massee._
In Thelephoraceæ are shapes closely resembling those found in Hydnaceæ, Polyporaceæ and Agaricaceæ. The genus Craterellus is closely allied to Cantharellus, and, though the spore surface is much less wrinkled or veined, resembles it in several of its species. Other types show likeness to Merulius in Polyporaceæ; others to Tremellineæ and Clavariaceæ. Many puzzles are presented by its species, but the solving is interesting.
Though populous it contains but few edibles. The best of them is Craterellus cornucopoides.
SYNOPSIS OF GENERA.
_A._ SPORES COLORED.
_Spores smooth._
CONIOPHORA.
Resupinate, dry and pulverulent. (No edible species reported.)
ALDRIDGEA.
Resupinate, soft and subgelatinous. (No edible species reported.)
_Spores warted or echinulate._
THELEPHORA.
Dry and fibrous, hymenium rugulose. (No edible species reported.)
SOPPITTELLA.
Subgelatinous, effused or variously incrusting, hymenium even. (No edible species reported.)
_B._ SPORES COLORLESS.
_Parasitic on living leaves or stems._
EXOBASIDIUM.
Saprophytes growing on dead wood, branches, etc. Hymenium minutely setulose with projecting cystidia.
PENIOPHORA.
Cystidia colorless, rough at the tip with particles of lime. (No edible species reported.)
HYMENOCHÆTE.
Cystidia brown, smooth. (No edible species reported.)
_Hymenium glabrous._
CORTICIUM.
Entirely resupinate, hymenium usually cracked when dry. (No edible species reported.)
STEREUM.
Effuso-reflexed, pileus silky or strigose, hymenium even. (No edible species reported.)
CLADODERRIS.
Horizontal and attached by a narrow point behind, hymenium radiato-rugulose. (No edible species reported.)
CRATERELLUS. Page 508.
Large, erect, funnel-shaped.
CYPHELLA.
Minute, cup-shaped, mouth open. (No edible species reported.)
SOLENIA.
Minute, cylindrical, gregarious or crowded, tubular, mouth contracted. (No edible species reported.)
=CRATEREL´LUS= Fr.
_Crater_, a bowl.
=Hymenium= waxy-membranaceous, distinct but adnate to the hymenophore, inferior, continuous, smooth, even or wrinkled. =Spores= white. _Fries._
This, the only genus of Thelephoraceæ containing edible fungi, has the form and general appearance of Cantharellus to which it is allied, but it is distinguished by its nearly even hymenium, which in Cantharellus has the form of gills, fold-like and thick but still distinctly gills. The species vary from fleshy to membranaceous, all having a funnel-shaped pileus and stem merging into it. On the ground. Autumn. The slightly veined surface where the spores are borne, and the spores themselves, when a microscope is brought to bear upon them, distinguish this genus from Cantharellus; and its thin flesh and funnel-shape from the large forms of Pistillaria. Several of the species are edible. It is probable that all are.
Toadstools, despite their name, are more popularly associated with fairies than with toads. “Fairy rings,” “Fairy Bread” and “Fairy Clubs” are titles belonging to them, and these link us to the pretty belief of childhood—a belief we often do not outgrow. A group of C. lutescens or C. cornucopoides may well be likened to fairy trumpets, or to a tiny orchestrion thrusting its horns through wood earth where roots of stumps abound.
=C. cantharel´lus= Schw. (Plate XLVI, fig. 3.) =Cap=n. across, convex, often becoming depressed and funnel-shaped, glabrous, yellowish or pinkish-yellow. =Flesh= white, tough, elastic. =Hymenium= slightly wrinkled, yellow or faint salmon color. =Stem= 1–3 in. high, 3–5 lines thick, glabrous, solid, yellow. =Spores= on white paper yellowish or pale salmon.
=Spores= 7.5–10×5–6µ _Peck_.
West Virginia, _McIlvaine_.
No one not looking for minute botanic details would separate this species from Cantharellus cibarius, especially if found growing near or with it. The pinkish tinge sometimes present in C. cantharellus I have never observed in C. cibarius. The present species is of equal excellence.
FIG. PAGE. FIG. PAGE.
1. SPATHULARIA CLAVATA, 549 6. HYGROPHORUS COCCINEUS, 156
2. PEZIZA COCCINEA, 559 7. CRATERELLUS SINUOSUS, 510 VAR. CRISPUS,
3. PEZIZA AURANTIA, 557 8. CRATERELLUS 509 CORNUCOPOIDES,
4. CANTHARELLUS AURANTIACUS, 216 9. CANTHARELLUS LUTESCENS, 218
5. HYPOMYCES LACTIFLUORUM, 562
=C. cornucopoi´des= Pers.—_cornu_ and _copiæ_, horn of plenty. (Plate CXXXVI, fig. 8, p. 508.) =Cap= dark sooty shades of gray or brown—shades of well-worn velveteen—1–2 in. across, whole plant from 2–4 in. high, trumpet-shaped, or like a funnel with its open mouth, plane, wavy, split or in folds. Substance very thin and either brittle or tough. The inside is sometimes minutely scaly, the opening extending to the base; outside, where the spores are borne, it has neither gills, pores nor protuberances, but a slightly uneven surface varying little in color. =Stem= obsolete or seldom noticeable. =Odor= slight.
=Spores= pointed, 11–12×7–8µ _Massee_.
Grows single, clustered or in troops along shaded roads, or from leaf mold and ground in woods. July to frost.
Large patches, clustered, grow near stumps in moist places on Botanic Creek, West Philadelphia. It is plentiful near Haddonfield, N. J., at Mt. Gretna, Pa., and many other places in the United States.
It is not pleasant to look upon, because of its peculiar color, but when one gets used to it it has an attractiveness of its own. Its graceful shape, even its funereal hue and name—Trompet du Morte—are alluring.
It dries well, and when moistened expands to its normal size. It is a first-class edible fungus. It should be stewed slowly until tender.
=C. clava´tus= Fr.—_clava_, a club. =Pileus= 2 in. broad, somewhat light-yellowish, fleshy, _top-shape, truncate_ or depressed, flexuous, unpolished, _attenuated into the solid stem_. =Flesh= thick, white. =Hymenium= even, then corrugated, purplish then changing color. _Fries._
=Spores= elliptical, pale-yellow, 10–12×4–5µ _Massee_.
Professor Peck notes that the species so closely resembles Cantharellus cibarius that it might easily be mistaken for a deformed condition of it.
The resemblance to the yellow forms of Clavaria pistillaria is marked.
Massachusetts, _Sprague_, _Farlow_; New York, _Peck_, Rep. 32; West Virginia, Pennsylvania, _McIlvaine_.
An excellent species. Its scarcity is regrettable.
=C. du´bius= Pk. =Pileus= infundibuliform, subfibrillose, lurid-brown, pervious to the base, the margin generally wavy and lobed. =Hymenium= dark cinereous, rugose when moist, the minute crowded irregular folds abundantly anastomosing, nearly even when dry. =Stem= short. =Spores= broadly elliptical or subglobose, 6–7.5µ long.
=Plant= simple or cespitose, 2–3 in. high. =Pileus= 1–2 in. broad.
Ground under spruce trees. Adirondack mountains. August.
In color this species bears some resemblance to Cantharellus cinereus. From Craterellus sinuosus it is separated by its pervious stem, and from C. cornucopoides by its more cespitose habit, paler color and smaller spores. _Peck_, 31st Rep. N.Y. State Bot.
West Virginia, Pennsylvania, _McIlvaine_.
Its edible qualities are in every way equal to those of C. cornucopoides.
=C. sinuo´sus= Fr.—_sinus_, a curve. Strong scented. =Pileus= funnel-shaped, downy, grayish-brown, margin undulated. =Stem= pale yellow, elongated, stuffed. =Hymenium= with anastomosing ribs, grayish. =Spores= elliptical, pale yellow, 8–9×5µ.
In woods. =Pileus= ½-1 in. high and broad. =Stem= about 1 in. high, sometimes very short. =Smell= strong, musky. =Hymenium= becoming tan-color when dry. =Pileus= more or less villose. _Massee._
The above description is given so that Var. crispus which follows may be compared with it. Fries considered var. crispus a good species.
Var. _cris´pus_—_crispus_, curled. (Plate CXXXVI, fig. 7, p. 508.) Margin of hymenium sinuous and crisped. =Pileus= pervious. =Stem= stuffed at base only. =Hymenium= almost even. _Massee._
Solitary and cespitose in mixed woods.
Found by _Dr. S.C. Schmucker_ near West Chester, Pa., 1896; _Wm. H. Rorer_, Mt. Gretna, Pa., August, 1897.
=Cap= varies in color from dark to light brownish-gray. =Gills= brownish-gray, almost even. =Stem= hollow, dark yellow. =Smell= strong, musky, much like A. silvicola.
Substance tender and of markedly high and pleasant flavor.
FAMILY V.—=CLAVARIA´CEÆ.=
=Hymenium= not distinct from the hymenophore, covering entire outer surface. Somewhat fleshy, not coriaceous, vertical, simple or branched. _Fries._
For the most part growing upon the ground.
In this family there is no separation into stem and pileus, with the spore-bearing surface restricted to gills or tubes, but the substance of the plant is continuous, and the spores are produced on the clubs or branches.
But three genera—Clavaria, Sparassis and Pistillaria—include species of food value. They are easily recognized.
The genus Calcocera resembles Clavaria in form, but is very different in material, being a jelly-like viscid, cartilaginous substance, horny when dry, resembling that of Tremella.
SYNOPSIS OF GENERA.
SPARASSIS. Page 512.
Very much branched, branches compressed, plate-like, crisped.
TYPHULA.
Simple or club-shaped, with a thread-like stem.
CLAVARIA. Page 513.
Fleshy, simple or branched, branches typically round, some forms club-shaped.
PISTILLARIA.
Club-shaped, simple, rigid when dry; usually minute.
PTERULA.
Branches numerous, slender, forming a tuft, or single, leathery, round or compressed.
=SPARAS´SIS= Fr.
_Gr_—to tear in pieces.
Fleshy, branched, with flat leaf-like branches, composed of two plates, fertile on both sides, with four-spored sporophores. _Fries._
Very beautiful plants of striking appearance.
Unfortunately they are not common, although they generally occur yearly in the same locality.
=S. Herb´stii= Pk. Plants much branched, forming tufts 4–5 in. high and 5–6 in. broad, whitish, inclining to creamy-yellow, tough, moist, the branches numerous, thin, flattened, concrescent, dilated above and spatulate or fan-shaped, often somewhat longitudinally curved or wavy, mostly uniformly colored, rarely with a few indistinct, nearly concolorous, transverse zones near the broad, entire apices.
=Spores= subglobose or broadly elliptical, 5–6×4–5µ.
Trexlertown. August.
Closely allied to S. spathulata Schw., but differs in its paler color with no rufescent hues, more branching habit and absence of any distinct zones.
Four specimens were found at Mt. Gretna, Pa., during August, 1898. These were not as symmetrical as S. crispa, which they closely resembled in fold and texture. They were of equal excellence cooked.
=S. lamino´sa= Fr.—a thin plate. =Base= branching, straw-color. =Branches= erect, crowded, growing together, straight at the top, zoneless, entire.
North Carolina, _Curtis_. On oak log.
Edible, _Curtis_. “Deliciosa,” _Fries_.
=S. cris´pa= Fr.—_crispus_, curly. (Plate CXXXVII.) =Height= 3–12 in., width 4–24 in. Tufts very handsome, whitish, oyster color or pale-yellow, very much branched. =Branches= flat, leaf-like. Spore surface on both sides, sometimes crimped on edges. Compacted into a round mass, ending below in a solid rooting base.
=Spores= pale-ochraceous, 5–6×3–4µ _Massee_.
Very variable in size. On ground in woods and grassy places in open woods. Summer, autumn. North Carolina, _Curtis_; West Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, _McIlvaine_.
Have seen it 2 ft. across. “Delicosissima.” _Fries._
A perfect specimen of S. crispa resembles a huge rosette, round and many-folded in tortuous design. The folds are wide, flattened branches springing from a common base, thin, semi-transparent, not unlike damp sheets of gelatine although thicker. Surfaces of the leaves are dull, like the flattened seaweeds and the light-colored sea-rock mosses. S. crispa may be easily dried, and though shrinking much in size, retains its shape, forming a very pretty ornament for the desk of the mycologist. It is not common. Where it has chosen a habitat several tufts may be found during the moderate season. The writer found three specimens ranging from 6–12 in. in diameter near Haddonfield, N.J., others, not as large, in West Virginia and in Chester county, Pa.
It has long been known as edible. It makes an ever-to-be-remembered dish.
=CLAVA´RIA= L.
_Clava_, a club.
Fleshy, branched or simple, somewhat round, without a distinct stem. =Hymenium= continuous, dry, homogeneous. _For the most part growing on ground._ _Fries._
The members of this genus vary greatly in form, which in some is that of a club growing singly or cespitose, while others present a more or less bush-like appearance, being slightly or excessively branched.
The color of the plant covers a wide range, as it may be white, red, yellow, violet or their various shades, and to be in harmony the spores do not confine themselves to one color, but are white, ochraceous or cinnamon. In cases where the plant is not otherwise well defined the spore colors will be found a valuable aid in placing it.
ANALYSIS OF TRIBES.
RAMARIA (_ramus_, a branch). Page 514.
Branched, branches attenuated upward.
_A._ SPORES WHITE OR PALLID.
* Plant, color bright, red, yellow or violet.
** Plant white, gray or yellowish.
_B._ SPORES OCHRACEOUS OR CINNAMON.
* Plant yellow or dingy ochraceous.
** Growing on wood.
SYNCORYNE (_Gr_—together; a club). Page 523.
Clubs almost simple, tufted at the base.
HOLOCORYNE (_Gr_—entire; a club). Page 524.
Clubs almost simple, distinct at the base.
Excepting to toadstool hunters the Clavaria, though numerous, are not known to those who “Know a toadstool when they see it.” They bear no semblance to the stereotyped toadstool. They seem to possess an imitative faculty. Those growing among grasses harmonize with the faded stalks under debris or the bleached surfaces of blades famishing for sunlight; those of the woods take on the color of the leaf mat or of the lichens, and shapes of club and deer-horn mosses, or assemble in groves as pigmy trees, boled and sturdy-branched in mimicry of their giant protectors towering above them. In their forms many are delicate, graceful, beautiful, others are intricate. There is fascination for eye and brain in looking through the vistas and labyrinths of their branches.