The Mushroom, Edible and Otherwise Part 42

Var. flava. Pileus and stem pale yellow. Gills arcuate, strongly decurrent.

Var. flavipes. Pileus red or reddish. Stem yellow.

Var. flaviceps. Pileus yellow. Stem reddish or red.

Var. rosea. Has the pileus expanded and margin wavy scalloped.

Found from July to September.

_Hygrophorus coccineus. Fr._

THE SCARLET HYGROPHORUS. EDIBLE.

Coccineus, pertaining to scarlet. The pileus is thin, convex, obtuse, viscid, scarlet, growing pale, smooth, fragile.

The gills are attached to the stem, with a decurrent tooth, connected by veins, variously shaded.

The stem is hollow and compressed, rather even, not slippery, scarlet near the cap, yellow at the base.

This plant when young is of a bright scarlet, but it soon shades into a light-yellow with advancing age. It is quite fragile and varies very greatly in size in different localities. Found in woods and pastures from July to October.

_Hygrophorus conicus. Fr._

THE CONICAL HYGROPHORUS. EDIBLE.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 166.--Hygrophorus conicus.]

The pileus is one to two inches broad, acutely conical, submembranaceous, smooth, somewhat lobed, at length expanded, and rimose; turning black, as does the whole plant when broken or bruised; orange, yellow, scarlet, brown, dusky.

The gills are free or adnexed, thick, attenuated, ventricose, yellowish with frequently a cinereous tinge, wavy, rather crowded.

The stem is three to four inches long, hollow, cylindrical, fibrillose, striated, colored like the pileus, turning black when handled.

This plant is quite fragile. It can be identified by its turning black when bruised. It sometimes appears early in the spring and continues till late in the fall. It is not abundant but is only occasionally found on the ground in woods and open places.

_Hygrophorus flavodiscus. Frost._

YELLOW-DISKED HYGROPHORUS. EDIBLE.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 167.--Hygrophorus flavodiscus. Natural size. The gluten is shown connecting the margin of the cap to their stem.]

Flavodiscus means yellow-disked.

The pileus is one-half to three inches broad, fleshy, convex or nearly plane, glabrous, very viscid or glutinous, white, pale-yellow or reddish-yellow in the center, flesh white.

The gills are adnate or decurrent, subdistant, white, sometimes with a slight flesh-colored tint, the inters.p.a.ces sometimes venose.

The stem is one to three inches long, solid, subequal, very viscid, or glutinous, white at the top, white or yellowish elsewhere. The spores are elliptical, white, .00025 to .0003 of an inch long, .00016 to .0002 broad.

These mushrooms make a delicious dish. The specimens in the photograph were gathered at West Gloucester, Ma.s.s., by Mrs. E. B. Blackford, of Boston. I have found them about Chillicothe. They are very viscid, as the plants in Figure 167 will show. The caps are thick and the margin inrolled. They are found in October and November.

_Hygrophorus speciosus. Pk._

SHOWY HYGROPHORUS. EDIBLE.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 168.--Hygrophorus speciosus.]

Speciosus means beautiful, showy; so called from the scarlet color of the umbo. The pileus is one to two inches in diameter, broadly convex, often with small central umbo; glabrous, very viscid or glutinous when moist; yellow, usually bright red or scarlet in the center; flesh white, yellow under the thin, separable pellicle.

The gills are distant, decurrent, white, or slightly tinged with yellow.

The stem is two to four inches long, nearly equal, solid, viscid, slightly fibrillose, whitish or yellowish. The spores are elliptic, .0003 of an inch long, .0002 broad. _Peck._

This is a very beautiful and showy plant. It grows in swampy places and under tamarack trees. The specimens in Figure 168 were found in Ma.s.sachusetts by Mrs. Blackford, and were photographed by Dr. Kellerman.

It is found in September and August.

_Hygrophorus fuligineus. Frost._

SOOTY HYGROPHORUS. EDIBLE.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 169.--Hygrophorus fuligineus. Natural size.

Specimen on the right is H. caprinus.]

Fuligineus means sooty or smoky.

The pileus is one to four inches broad, convex or nearly plane, glabrous, very viscid or glutinous, grayish-brown or fuliginous, the disk often darker or almost black.

The gills are subdistant, adnate or decurrent, white.

The stem is two to four inches long, solid, viscid or glutinous, white or whitish. The spores are elliptic, .0003 to .00035 of an inch long, .0002 broad. _Peck_, No. 4, Vol. 3.

This species is found frequently a.s.sociated with H. flavodiscus, which it resembles very closely, save in color. When moist, the cap and stems are covered with a thick coating of gluten, and when the caps are dry this gives them a varnished appearance. I do not find them abundant here. The plants in Figure 169 were found by Mrs. Blackford near West Gloucester, Ma.s.s. They are found October and November.

_Hygrophorus caprinus. Scop._

THE GOAT HYGROPHORUS. EDIBLE.

Caprinus means belonging to a goat; it is so called from the fibrils resembling goat's hair.

The pileus is two to three inches broad, fleshy, fragile, conical, then flattened and umbonate, rather wavy, sooty, fibrillose.

The gills are very broad, quite distant, deeply decurrent, white, then glaucous.