The Mushroom, Edible and Otherwise Part 40

The species is quite common in the state, and is found from June to September.

_Cantharellus aurantiacus. Fr._

FALSE CHANTARELLE.

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

Figure 159.--Cantharellus aurantiacus. One-third natural size. Caps orange-yellow. Gills yellow and forked.]

Aurantiacus means orange-yellow. The pileus is fleshy, soft, depressed, downy, the margin strongly incurved when young, in mature plants it is wavy or lobed; color dull yellowish, usually brownish.

The gills are crowded, straight, dark-orange, branched, with a regular bifurcation.

The stem is lighter in color than the pileus, solid at first, spongy, stuffed, hollow, unequal, tapering upward, and somewhat curved.

It is generally labeled poisonous, but some good authorities say it is wholesome. I have never eaten it further than in its raw state. It is easily distinguished from the edible species by its dull orange cap and its orange gills, which are thinner and closer and more regularly forked than those of the Edible Chantarelle. It grows in woods and open places.

Found from July to September.

_Cantharellus floccosus. Schw._

THE WOOLLY CANTHARELLUS. EDIBLE.

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

Plate XXIII. Figure 160.--Cantharellus floccosus.]

Floccosus means floccose or woolly.

The pileus at the top is from one to two inches broad, fleshy, elongated funnel-form or trumpet-shape, floccose-squamose, ochraceous-yellow.

The gills are vein-like, close, much anastomosing above, long decurrent and subparallel below, concolorous.

The stem is very short, thick, rather deeply rooted. The spores are elliptical, 12.5-157.6. _Peck_, 23 Rep., N. Y.

This plant is funnel-shaped nearly to the base of the stem. It is a small plant, never more than four inches high. I found it in Haynes's Hollow, in rather open woods, on mossy hillsides. July and August.

_Cantharellus brevipes. Pk._

The Short-Stemmed Cantharellus. Edible.

Brevipes is from _brevis_, short; _pes_, foot; so called because of its short stem.

The pileus is fleshy, obconic, glabrous, alutaceous, or dingy cream-color, the thin margin erect, often irregular and lobed, tinged with lilac in the young plant; folds numerous, nearly straight in the margin, abundantly anastomosing below; pale umber, tinged with lilac.

The stem is short, tomentose-p.u.b.escent, ash-colored, solid, often tapering downward. Spores yellowish, oblong-elliptical, uninucleate, 10-125. _Peck_, 33d Rep., N. Y.

The plant is small; with us, not more than three inches high and the pileus not more than two inches broad at the top. It differs somewhat in color, in the character of the folds, and materially in the shape of the margin of the pileus. Found occasionally on the hillsides of Huntington Towns.h.i.+p, near Chillicothe, July to August.

_Cantharellus cinnabarinus. Schw._

THE CINNABAR CANTHARELLUS. EDIBLE.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 161.--Cantharellus cinnabarinus. Cap and stem cinnibar-red, flesh white. Natural size.]

Cinnabarinus means cinnabar-red, from the color of the plant.

The pileus is firm, convex, or slightly depressed in the center, often irregular with wavy or lobed margin; glabrous, cinnabar-red, flesh white.

The gills are narrow, distant, branched, decurrent, of the same color as the cap, dull on the edge.

The stem is equal or tapering downward, glabrous, solid, sometimes stuffed, cinnabar-red.

The spores are elliptical, 8-10 long, 4-5 broad.

No one will have any difficulty in identifying this plant, since its color suggests the name at once. It is quite common about Chillicothe and throughout the state. It is found frequently with Craterellus cantharellus. It is a very pretty plant, growing in open woods or along the roadside in woods. It will keep for some time after it is gathered.

It is found from July to October.

_Cantharellus infundibuliformis. Fr._

FUNNEL-SHAPED CANTHARELLUS.

Infundibuliformis means shaped like a funnel.

The pileus is one to two and a half inches broad, somewhat membranaceous, umbilicate, then infundibuliform, usually perforated at the base, and opening into the cavity of the stem, floccosely rugose on the surface, yellowish-gray or smoky when moist, pale when dry, becoming wavy.

The gills are decurrent, thick, distant, regularly forked, straight, yellow or cenereous, at length pruinose.

The stem is two to three inches long, hollow, even, smooth, always yellow, slightly thickened at the base. The spores are elliptical, smooth, 9-106.

They grow on the ground, especially where wood has decayed and become a part of the ground. They also grow on decayed wood. They are found from July to October.

_Nyctalis. Fr._

Nyctalis is from a Greek word meaning night.

Pileus symmetrical, in some species bearing large conidia upon its surface.

The gills are adnate or decurrent, thick, soft, margin obtuse.

The stem is central, its substance continuous with the flesh of the pileus. The spores are colorless, smooth, elliptical or globose.

_Fries._