Part 50
=M. esculen´ta= Pers.—esculent. (Plate XLVI, fig. 2, p. 214.) =Pileus= globose, ovate or oblong, adnate to the stem at the base, hollow, ribs stout, forming irregular, polygonal, deep pits, pale dingy yellow, buff or tawny, 1.25–2.5 in. high and broad. =Stem= stout, whitish, almost even, hollow or stuffed, 1.25–2.5 in. high, .8 in. and more thick; asci cylindrical, 8-spored. =Spores= continuous, smooth, hyaline, elliptical, ends obtuse, 19–20×10µ, paraphyses rather slender, slightly thickened upward.
On the ground. Spring and early summer. Edible.
Variable in form, size and color, but distinguished by the pileus being adnate to the stem at the base, and the stout ribs anastomosing to form irregular, polygonal pits of about equal size, and not elongated. _Massee._
Common over the states, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey. In orchards, on ashes and cinders, under walnut, pine and oak trees. May and June. _McIlvaine._
The common Morell varies in size, 2–4 in. high, sometimes larger. The cap, usually broader than it is long, oval, at times tapering to a rounded top. The cavities resemble those of a weather-beaten honeycomb, and are whitish, or grayish or brownish. The stem is about ½ in. in diameter. It is an easily recognized species. Edible. Choice. Total nitrogen, according to Lafayette B. Mendel, 4.66 per cent.
=M. cras´sipes= Pers.—_crassus_, thick; _pes_, a foot. Agreeing with M. esculenta in having the pits of the pileus irregular in form, not much, if at all, longer than broad, and in not having a main series of more or less parallel and vertical ribs; differing in the stout stem being much longer than the pileus. _Massee._
Attains a height of 9 in. or more.
Not rare in May. Kansas, _Cragin_; Minnesota, _Johnson_.
Esculent. _Cooke._
=M. delicio´sa= Fr. The Delicious morell is easily known by the shape of its cap, which is cylindrical or nearly so. Sometimes it is slightly narrowed toward the top and occasionally curved, as in the preceding species, but its long narrow shape and blunt apex is quite strongly contrasted with that species. It is usually two or three times as long as it is broad, and generally it is longer than the stem. Specimens also occur in which the cap is slightly more narrow in the middle than it is above and below, and rarely it is slightly pointed at the apex. The pits on its surface are rather narrow and mostly longer than broad. The stem is often rather short.
The plant varies from 1½-3 in. high. _Peck_, 48th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.
Its name gives it esculent properties.
=M. con´ica= Pers.—conical. The Conical morell has the cap conical or oblong-conical, as its name indicates. The longitudinal ridges on its surface run more regularly from top to base than in the Common morell. They are connected by short transverse ridges which are so distant from each other or so incomplete that the resulting pits or depressions are generally longer than broad, and sometimes rather irregular. The color in the young plant is a beautiful buff-yellow or very pale ochraceous, but it becomes darker with age.
The plants are generally 3–5 in. high, with the cap 1½-2 in. thick in its broadest part, and distinctly broader than the stem. _Peck_, 48th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.
Kansas; California; Rhode Island; Ohio, _Lloyd_; New York; Indiana, _H.I. Miller_, orchards, thin woods; New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, _McIlvaine_.
The conical form distinguishes M. conica from M. esculenta, if they are really different species, as some writers doubt. For the table there is not any difference.
=M. bi´spora= Sor.—Two-spored. The Two-spored morell is very similar to the Half-free morell in external appearance. It is distinguishable by its cap, which is free from the stem almost or quite to the top. The stem of the European plant has been described as stuffed, but in our plant it is hollow, though possibly in very young plants it may be stuffed. The remarkable and very distinctive character which gives name to the species can only be seen by the aid of a microscope. In this species there are only two spores in each ascus or sack and these are much larger than the spores of the other species. They are two or three times longer and sometimes slightly curved. The spores of the other species are eight in an ascus and are very much alike in size and shape, and do not furnish decided specific characters; but in this species their importance can not be overlooked. Their length is about 60µ, while in the others it is 20–25µ.
This is probably our rarest species. I am not aware that it has been found in but one locality in our state. A few years ago Mr. H.A. Warne detected it growing among fallen leaves in a ravine near Oneida. I have not tested its edible qualities, but would have no hesitation in eating it if opportunity should be afforded. _Peck_, 48th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.
Var. _trunca´ta_. =Pileus= broadly rounded or truncate, its costæ slightly prominent, the margin often a little recurved; paraphyses numerous. =Stem= long.
Michigan. May. _Hicks._ _Peck_, 46th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.
=M. angus´ticeps= Pk.—_angustus_, narrow; _caput_, head. =Pileus= oblong-conical and subobtuse or narrowly conical and acute, adnate to the stem, 1–2 in. high, and about half as broad at the base, ribs longitudinal, here and there anastomosing or connected by transverse veins. =Stem= subequal, hollow, whitish, furfuraceous without and within, even or rarely rough with irregular longitudinal furrows; asci cylindrical. =Spores= elliptical, whitish tinged with ocher, 20–25×12.5–18µ; paraphyses short, clavate, with one or two septa near the base.
Sandy soil in the borders of woods and in open places. West Albany and Center. April and May.
Two forms occur, one with the pileus oblong-conical, rather obtuse, often tipped with a slight umbo or papilla, and with a diameter a little surpassing that of the stem from which the base is separated by a slight groove; the other with the pileus narrowly conical, rather acute, scarcely exceeding the stem in diameter and without any separating groove. The stem and fruit are alike in both forms. The stem is usually about equal in length to the pileus. The species is related to M. conica and M. elata, but may be separated from both by the size of the spores and the character of the paraphyses. In our plant I have never seen these as long as the asci. Large forms appear also to approach M. rimosipes, but that species has the margin of the pileus more free, the stem proportionately longer, and the paraphyses as long as the asci, if we may rely upon the figure of it. Our plant is edible. _Peck_, 32d Rep. N.Y. State Bot.
The plants are commonly 2–3 in. high, with the cap generally less than an inch broad in its widest part, but sometimes much larger specimens occur. _Peck_, 48th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.
(Plate CXLIX.)
=M. semilib´era= D.C.—half-free. The Half-free morell has a conical cap, the lower half of which is free from the stem. It rarely exceeds 1 in. or 1½ in. in length, and is usually much shorter than its stem. The pits on its surface are longer than broad. Deformed specimens occur in which the cap is hemispherical and very blunt or obtuse at the apex; in others it is abruptly narrowed above and pointed.
The plants are 2–4 in. high. The species is rare with us. _Peck_, 48th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.
=Spores= pale-yellow.
Odor feeble, becomes stronger in drying. Much less sapid than M. esculenta. Neither of these funguses should be gathered after rain, as they are then insipid and soon spoil. _Badham._
=GYROMI´TRA= Fr.
_Gyro_, to turn; _mitra_, a head-covering.
Ascophore stipitate; hymenophore subglobose, inflated and more or less hollow, or cavernous, variously gyrose and convolute at the surface, which is everywhere covered with the hymenium; substance fleshy; asci cylindrical, 8-spored. =Spores= uniseriate, elongated, hyaline or nearly so, continuous; paraphyses present.
Helvella of old authors.
Distinguished from Morchella by the thick, brain-like folds of the hymenophore not anastomosing to form irregularly polygonal depressions; and from Helvella in the hymenophore not being free from the stem at the base.
Growing on the ground. _Massee._
(Plate CXLVIII_a_.)
=G. esculen´ta= Fr. (Plate VI, fig. 6, p. 6.) =Pileus= rounded, lobed, irregular, gyrose-convolute, glabrous, bay-red. =Stem= stout, stuffed or hollow, whitish, often irregular. =Spores= elliptical, binucleate, yellowish, 20–22µ long.
The Edible gyromitra, formerly known as Helvella esculenta, is easily recognized by its chestnut-red irregularly rounded and lobed cap with its brain-like convolutions. The margin of the cap is attached to the stem in two or three places. When cut through it is found to be hollow, whitish within and uneven, with a few prominent irregular ribs or ridges. The stem is whitish, slightly scurfy, and when mature, hollow. In large specimens it sometimes appears as if formed by the union of two or more smaller ones.
The plant is 2–4 in. high and the cap commonly 2–3 in. broad. Specimens sometimes occur weighing a pound each. It is fond of sandy soil and is found in May and June. It grows chiefly in wet weather or in wet ravines or springy places in the vicinity of pine groves or pine trees. _Peck_, 48th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.
G. esculenta crispa n. var. Whole surface of the pileus finely reticulated with anastomosing costæ (ribs or veins).
Under evergreens. North Elba. June. _Peck_, 51st Rep. N.Y. State Bot.
Since 1882 myself and friends have repeatedly eaten it. In no instance was the slightest discomfort felt from it. It was always enjoyed. Mr. Charles H. Allen, San Jose, Cal., writes to me that G. esculenta grows plentifully in his region, and that it is not only edible, but he has found it one of the best. But the species, though long ago esteemed highly in Europe and by many in America, now rests under decided suspicion. It is not probable that in our great food-giving country anyone will be narrowed to G. esculenta for a meal. Until such an emergency arrives, the species would be better let alone.
=G. cur´tipes= Fr.—_curtus_, short; _pes_, a foot. =Pileus= inflated, gyrosely undulated, oblong, rotund, at first pallid then brownish; margin of pileus closely adnexed to the stem. =Stem= irregular, short or almost absent. =Asci= cylindrical. =Sporidia= .30×9µ fusiform, uninucleate. Paraphyses clavate.
On the ground. Spring. Readily distinguished from other species by the almost obliterated stem. Fries commends it highly as an esculent.
Separated from G. esculenta by paler color, shorter stem and different spores.
=G. Carolinia´na= (Bosc.) Fr. =Pileus= rotund, base free, surface woven into deep irregular undulating folds. =Stem= conical, sulcate. =Asci= cylindrical. =Sporidia= 3–3.2×1µ; somewhat fusiform; paraphyses thickened toward the top.
In woods. Esculent.
Massachusetts. _Sprague._
(Plate CXLVIII.)
=G. brun´nea= Underwood—_brunneus_, brown. A stout, fleshy, stipitate plant, 3–5 in. high, bearing a broad, much contorted, brown ascoma. =Stem= ¾-1.5 in. thick, more or less enlarged and spongy, solid at the base, hollow below, rarely slightly fluted, clear white; receptacle 2–4 in. across in the widest direction, the two diameters usually considerably unequal, irregularly lobed and plicate, in places faintly marked into areas by indistinct anastomosing ridges, closely cohering with the stem in the various parts, rich chocolate-brown or somewhat lighter if much covered with the leaves among which it grows, whitish underneath; asci 8-spored. =Spores= oval, 28–30µ long, by about 14µ wide, hyaline, somewhat roughened-tuberculate, usually nucleate, the highly refractive nucleus spherical or oval, 11µ or, if oval, 14×11µ in diameter; paraphyses slender, enlarged at the apex, faintly septate.
In rich woods, mostly in beech-leaf mold. Putnam county, Ind., May, 1892, 1893 and 1894. First found by Dr. W.V. Brown.
The plant is esculent, tender and possesses a fine flavor. Often as many as 8 or 10 plants would be found in one small area, but the plant appears to be local and never very abundant. Some single plants would weigh nearly half a pound.
=MI´TRULA= Fr.
(Emended, _Massee_.)
Ascophore stipitate, fleshy. =Head= subglobose, ovate, or clavate, even, glabrous, everywhere covered with the hymenium, adnate throughout to the more or less elongated stem; asci cylindric-clavate, 8-spored. =Spores= narrowly elliptic-fusiform, hyaline, continuous or septate, irregularly 1–2-seriate; paraphyses present. _Fries._
(Plate CL.)
=M. vitelli´na= Sacc., var. _irregularis_ Pk.—_vitellus_, egg-yolk. =Pileus= clavate, often irregular or compressed and somewhat lobed, obtuse, glabrous, yellow, tapering below into the short, rather distinct, yellowish or whitish stem. =Spores= narrowly elliptical, 8–10µ long.
When the Irregular mitrula is well grown and symmetrical it closely resembles the typical European plant, but usually the clubs or caps are curved, twisted, compressed or lobed in such a way that it is difficult to find two plants just alike. The plants are usually only one or two inches high, so that they would scarcely be thought of any importance as an edible species. But sometimes it grows in considerable profusion in wet mossy places in woods, so that it would not be difficult to gather a pint of them in a short time. Its beautiful bright yellow color makes it a very attractive object. It is our largest species of Mitrula and occurs in autumn.
It was first reported as an edible species in the forty-second report. Its flesh is tender and its flavor delicate and agreeable. _Peck_, 48th Rep.
Ontario, _Dearness_ (LI. R. 4). West Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania. Common, gregarious in moist woods. September to November. _McIlvaine._
Those fortunate enough to find this species will hunt for it again assiduously. Even raw, when cut in strips, it makes a picturesque and delicious salad.
=SPATHULA´RIA= Pers.
A spatula.
Receptacle erect, spathulate, compressed, hollow, adnate to the stem, down which it runs for some distance on opposite sides, everywhere covered with the hymenium. =Stem= subcylindrical, hollow; asci clavate, apex narrowed, 8-spored. =Spores= elongated, cylindric-clavate, multi-septate at maturity, arranged in a parallel fascicle in the ascus; paraphyses filiform, septate.
Distinguished by the broad, flattened ascophore running down opposite sides of the stem.
Growing on pine leaves or on the ground among moss. _Massee._
Resembling a spatha, an instrument for stirring a liquid, shaped like an apothecary’s spatula.
=Pileus= irregular, compressed, folded, running down into the stem on either side.
=S. clava´ta= (Schaeff.) Sacc.—club-shaped. S. flavida Pers. Elvela clavata Schaeff. (Plate CXXXVI, p. 508.) =Head= spathulate or broadly clavate, obtuse or sometimes more or less divided at the apex, hollow, much compressed, running down the stem for some distance on opposite sides, glabrous, margin crisped or undulated, surface wavy or slightly lacunose, yellow, rarely tinged red, .8–1.2 in. high, .6–1 in. broad. =Stem= white then tinged yellow, 1.2–2.4 in. long, .2–3 lines thick, hollow, cylindrical or slightly compressed; asci clavate, apex narrowed, 8-spored. =Spores= arranged in a parallel fascicle, hyaline, linear-clavate, usually very slightly bent, multiguttulate then multiseptate, 50–60×3.5–4µ; paraphyses filiform, septate, often branched, tips not thickened, wavy. _Massee._
New York. Woods in hilly and mountainous districts. Common. _Peck_, 22d Rep.
Professor Peck gives S. rugosa, which has the club wrinkled.
This odd, pretty little plant was found by me in great numbers at Eagle’s Mere, Pa., August, 1897, growing among mosses. The contrast of its bright yellow paddle-shapes against the moss-green is very pleasing to one who loves choice bits of color. Its consistency when stewed is tenacious but tender, and its flavor is delicate.
=GEOGLOS´SUM= Pers.
(Emended.)
(Plate CLI.)
Entire fungus more or less clavate, erect, the apical, thickened portion everywhere covered with the hymenium; glabrous or hairy, often viscid; asci clavate, apex narrowed, 8-spored. =Spores= elongated, arranged in a parallel fascicle, cylindrical or very slightly thickened above the middle, and inclined to become cylindric-clavate, brown, septate, usually slightly curved; paraphyses septate, brown at the tips, often longer than the asci.
Distinguished among the clavate species by the long, narrow, brown, septate spores. The entire plant is black in all British species.
Growing on the ground, among grass, etc. _Massee._
=G. glutino´sum= Pers. Ascophore 1.5–2 in. high, black, glabrous; ascigerous portion about ⅓ of the entire length, oblong, lanceolate, up to .4 in. broad, obtuse, slightly viscid, more or less compressed, passing imperceptibly into the somewhat slender, cylindrical, viscid, brownish-black stem; asci clavate, tapering downward into a long, slender pedicel. =Spores= 8, arranged more or less parallel near the apex of the ascus, cylindrical, ends obtuse, 3-septate and clear-brown at maturity, straight or very slightly curved, 65–75×5–6µ; paraphyses numerous, distinctly septate, about 2µ thick, pale-brown, apex broadly pyriform and filled with dark-brown coloring matter.
On the ground among grass, etc.
The most important features of the present species are 3-septate brown spores and compressed ascophore. _Massee._
New Jersey, _E.B. Sterling_. Mt. Gretna, Pa., August, 1899, gregarious in wet ground. Over a quart found in one patch. _McIlvaine._
Stewed it is delicious.
FAMILY.—=PEZIZÆ.=
=PEZI´ZA= Linn.
_Pezizæ_, a sort of mushroom without root or stalk, mentioned by Pliny.
Ascophore sessile, but sometimes narrowed to a short, stem-like base, fleshy and brittle, closed at first, then expanding until cup-shaped, saucer-shaped, or in some species quite plane or even convex; disk even, nodulose or veined; externally warted, scurfy, or rarely almost glabrous; cortical cells irregularly polygonal; asci cylindrical, 8-spored. =Spores= obliquely 1-seriate, continuous, hyaline (rarely tinged brown), elliptical, epispore smooth or rough; paraphyses present. _Dill._ Emended. _Massee._
The genus is large. Professor Peck reports 150 American species. Some are large, others require the microscope to find them.
They are rather indiscriminate in their habitats; some are eccentric; these grow on damp walls, on dung, in cellars and cisterns, on spent hops and on old fungi. One or two species grow on sticks under water, an unusual place for fungi of any kind. Minute species grow upon stems of herbaceous plants; nine or ten upon the nettle. Two species contain a milky fluid, P. succosa and P. saniosa. Many are known in Europe which have not been found in America. European authors differ as to their qualities; some call them insipid, some speak of them with kindly respect. Much depends upon their cooking. They are, as a rule, tenacious in texture. To cook them properly requires time and slow stewing. They then become soft and rather glutinous. Their flavor is slight but pleasant, and their consistency agreeable.
ANALYSIS OF TRIBES.
I.—ALEURIA. Page 553
Externally powdered or with a woolly scurf.
II.—LACHNEA. Page 558.
Externally hairy or downy.
III.—PHIALEA.
Externally almost naked, smooth. No edible species reported.
I.—ALEURIA Fr.
Fleshy or fleshy-membranaceous, externally powdered or with a woolly scurf.
* Macropodes—_macros_, long; _podes_, feet. Stem firm, elongated, furrowed.
** Cochleata—_cochleatus_, spiral. Subsessile, oblique or twisted.
*** Cupulares. Subsessile, regular.
**** Humaria. Small, somewhat fleshy, margin downy. (None known to be edible.)
***** Enc[oe]lia. More or less coriaceous. (None known to be edible.)
* Macropodes. _Stem firm, elongated, etc._
=P. aceta´bulum= Linn.—a cup. =Ascophore= stipitate, cup-shaped, fleshy, rather tough, disk dark umber-brown, externally paler and minutely scurfy or flocculose; mouth somewhat contracted; 1.2–2 in. broad, 1.2–1.4 in. high. =Stem= .4-.6 in. high, often .4 in. thick, imperfectly hollow, with parallel or anastomosing ribs, which continue for some distance up the ascophore as branching veins, pale umber; cells of the cortex give off short, rather closely septate hyphæ in groups; asci cylindrical, 8-spored. =Spores= obliquely 1-seriate, hyaline, smooth, broadly elliptical, ends obtuse, with a very large oil-globule, 18–22×12–14µ; paraphyses straight, septate, the brownish, clavate tip 5–6µ thick.
The fluted stem and veined outside of the excipulum mark the present species. The colorless hypothecium is composed of very densely and compactly interwoven hyphæ. _Massee._
Season spring.
North Carolina, _Curtis_; New Jersey, _Ellis_; Massachusetts, _Frost_; Rhode Island, _Bennett_; Ohio, _Lloyd_, R. 4.
Esculent. _Cordier_, _Cooke_.
=P. ma´cropus= Pers.—_macros_, long; _pous_, a foot. Solitary, 1–3 in. high, cups 1–2 in. broad. The cups become expanded, and sometimes reflexed; the exterior is ash-colored and clothed with little hairy or villous warts, the hairs consisting of concatenate cells, their extremities free. The stem is enlarged downward, often pitted, occasionally becoming hollow with age. _Phillips._
Asci cylindrical, 8-spored. =Spores= 1-seriate, smooth, hyaline, elliptical, 28–33×11–13µ; paraphyses straight, tips brownish and thickened in a clavate manner up to 8–10µ _Massee_.
On the ground in shady places. Summer and autumn.
North Carolina, _Curtis_; New Jersey, _Ellis_; Minnesota, _Johnson_; Massachusetts, _Frost_; New York, _Peck_, Rep. 22.
Esculent. _Cordier._
** Cochlea´ta. _Subsessile, oblique, etc._
=P. veno´sa= Pers.—_venosus_, full of veins. Smell strong, nitrous; sessile or contracted into a short, stout, stem-like base; cup-shaped and with the margin incurved when young, then expanding and the margin becoming more or less split or lobed and wavy, 1.2–2 in. across; disk umber-brown, externally whitish, minutely granular, and furnished with rather stout, anastomosing ribs which radiate from the base; excipulum pseudoparenchymatous, cells largest at the periphery, where some run out as clavate, free tips; asci cylindrical, 8-spored. =Spores= obliquely 1-seriate, smooth, hyaline, often with 1 large oil-globule, elliptical, ends obtuse, wall rather thick, 18–24×11–13µ; paraphyses septate, tips clavate, brownish. On the ground. Spring. _Massee._
Massachusetts, _Frost_; California, _H. and M._; Rhode Island, _Bennett_; New York, _Peck_, Rep. 24.
Edible. Has a most decided nitrous odor and also fungoid flavor. _Cooke._
=P. ba´dia= Pers.—of a brown or bay color. (Plate CLII, p. 554.) Gregarious or cespitose, sessile or narrowed into a very short, stout, stem-like base and often more or less lacunose; subglobose and closed at first, then cup-shaped or more expanded, margin entire or nearly so, the entire cup often wavy, rather thick, 1.2–2 in. across; disk dark-brown, externally paler-brown and minutely granular, often with a purple tinge; hypothecium and excipulum formed of stout, septate, irregularly inflated hyphæ, hypothecium compact, excipulum spongy and cavernous; cortex compact, the hyphæ running out in irregular lumps to form the external granulations; asci cylindrical, apex truncate, 8-spored. =Spores= obliquely 1-seriate, hyaline, continuous, elliptical, with one large oil-globule, minutely warted at maturity, 15–19×9–10µ; paraphyses septate, tips slightly clavate.
On the ground among grass, etc., also on scorched places.