The Mushroom, Edible and Otherwise Part 33

_Lactarius piperatus. Fr._

THE PEPPERY LACTARIUS. EDIBLE.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 128.--Lactarius piperatus. One-third natural size.]

Piperatus--having a peppery taste. The pileus is creamy-white, fleshy, firm, convex, then expanded, depressed in the center, dry, never viscid, and quite broad.

The gills are creamy-white, narrow, close, unequal, forked, decurrent, adnate, exuding a milky juice when bruised, milky-white, very acrid.

The stem is creamy white, short, thick, solid, smooth, rounded at the end, slightly tapering at the base. Spores generally with an apiculus, .0002 by .00024 inch.

The plant is found in all parts of Ohio, but most people are afraid of it on account of its very peppery taste. Although it can be eaten without harm, it will never prove a favorite.

It is found in open woods from July to October. In its season is one of the very common plants in all of our woods.

_Lactarius pergamenus. Fr._

Pergamenus is from _pergamena_, parchment. The pileus is convex, then expanded, plane, depressed, wavy, wrinkled, without zones, often repand, smooth, white.

The gills are adnate, very narrow, tinged with straw-color, often white, branched, much crowded, horizontal.

The stem is smooth, stuffed, discolored, not long. The milk is white and acrid. Spores, 86. It differs from L. piperatus in its crowded, narrow gills and longer stem. Found in woods from August to October.

_Lactarius deceptivus. Pk._

DECEIVING LACTARIUS. EDIBLE

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 129.--Lactarius deceptivus.]

Deceptivus means deceiving.

The pileus is three to five inches broad, compact, at first convex, and umbilicate, then expanded and centrally depressed or subinfundibuliform, obsoletely tomentose or glabrous except on the margin, white or whitish, often varied with yellowish or sordid strains, the margin at first involute and clothed with a dense, soft cottony tomentum, then spreading or elevated and more or less fibrillose.

The gills are rather broad, distant or subdistant, adnate or decurrent, some of them, forked, whitish, becoming cream-colored.

The stem is one to three inches long, equal or narrowed downward, solid, pruinose-p.u.b.escent, white. Spores are white, 9-12.7. Milk white, taste acrid.

This plant delights in woods and open groves, especially under coniferous trees. It is a large, meaty, acrid white species, with a thick, soft, cottony tomentum on the margin of the pileus of the young plant.

The specimen photographed was sent me from Ma.s.sachusetts by Mrs.

Blackford. It grows in July, August and September. Its sharp acridity is lost in cooking, but like all acrid Lactarius it is coa.r.s.e and not very good.

_Lactarius indigo. (Schw.) Fr._

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 130.--Lactarius indigo. One-third natural size.

Entire plant indigo blue.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 131.--Lactarius indigo. One-third natural size, showing gills.]

This is one of our most striking plants. No one can fail to recognize it, because of the deep indigo blue that pervades the whole plant. I have found it in only one place, near what is known as the Lone-Tree Hill near Chillicothe. I have found it there on several different occasions.

The pileus is from three to five inches broad, the very young plants seem to be umbilicate with the margin strongly incurved, then depressed or funnel-shaped; as the plant ages the margin is elevated and sometimes waved. The entire plant is indigo blue, and the surface of the cap has a silvery-gray appearance through which the indigo color is seen. The surface of the cap is marked with a series of concentric zones of darker shade, as will be seen in Figure 130 especially on the margin; sometimes spotted, becoming paler and less distinctly zonate with age or in drying.

The gills are crowded, indigo blue, becoming yellowish and sometimes greenish, with age.

The stem is one to two inches long, short, nearly equal, hollow, often spotted with blue, colored like the pileus.

It is edible but rather coa.r.s.e. Found in open woods July and August.

_Lactarius regalis. Pk._

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 132.--Lactarius regalis. Natural size. Caps white, tinged with yellow.]

Regalis means regal; so named from its large size. The pileus is four to six inches broad, convex, deeply depressed in the center; viscid when moist; often corrugated on the margin; white, tinged with yellow.

The gills are close, decurrent, whitish, some of them forked at the base.

The stem is two to three inches long and one inch thick, short, equal, hollow. The taste is acrid and the milk spa.r.s.e, white, quickly changing to sulphur-yellow. The spores are .0003 of an inch in diameter. _Peck._

This is frequently a very large plant, resembling in appearance L.

piperatus but easily recognized because of its viscid cap and its spare milk changing to yellow, as in L. chrysorrhaeus. It grows on the ground in the woods, in August and September. I find it here chiefly on the hillsides. The specimens in Figure 132 were found in Michigan and photographed by Dr. Fischer.

_Lactarius scrobiculatus. Fr._

THE SPOTTED-STEMMED LACTARIUS.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Photo by C. G. Lloyd._

Figure 133.--Lactarius scrobiculatus. Natural size. Caps reddish-yellow, zoned. Margin very much incurved, stem pitted.]

Scrobiculatus is from _scrobis_, a trench, and _ferro_, to bear, referring to the pitted condition of the stem. The pileus is convex, centrally depressed, more or less zoned, reddish-yellow, viscid, the margin very much incurved, downy.

The gills are adnate, or slightly decurrent, whitish, and often very much curled, because of the incurved condition of the cap at first.

The stem is equal, stuffed, adorned often with pits of a darker color.

The spores are white, juice white, then yellowish.

The plant is very acrid to the taste, and solid. Too hot to be eaten. I have found it only a few times on the hills of Huntington towns.h.i.+p, near Chillicothe. The yellowish hue and markedly incurved margin will identify the plant. Found in August and September.

_Lactarius trivialis. Fr._

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 134.--Lactarius trivialis. One-half natural size.