The Mushroom, Edible and Otherwise Part 5

The stem is frequently six inches long, stuffed, round, with a bulbous base, attenuated upward, squamulose, ring near apex, volva large, lax.

The spores are subglobose, 8-10. This is probably simply a form of A.

phalloides. It is found in damp woods. August to October.

_Amanita muscaria. Linn._

THE FLY AMANITA. POISONOUS.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 13.--Amanita muscaria.--_Linn._ Cap reddish or orange, showing scales on the cap and at base of stem.]

Muscaria, from musca, a fly. The fly Amanita is a very conspicuous and handsome plant. It is so called because infusions of it are used to kill flies. I have frequently seen dead flies on the fully developed caps, where they had sipped of the dew upon the cap, and, like the Lotos-eaters of old, had forgotten to move away. It is a very abundant plant in the woods of Columbiana county, this state. It is also found frequently in many localities about Chillicothe. It is often a very handsome and attractive plant, because of the bright colors of the cap in contrast with the white stem and gills, as well as the white scales on the surface of the cap. These scales seem to behave somewhat differently from those of other species of Amanita. Instead of shrivelling, curling, and falling off they are inclined to adhere firmly to the smooth skin of the pileus, turning brownish, and in the maturely expanded plant appear like scattered drops of mud which have dried upon the pileus, as you will observe in Figure 13.

The pileus is three to five inches broad, globose at first, then dumb-bell in shape, convex, then expanded, nearly flat in age; margin in matured plants slightly striate; the surface of the cap is covered with white floccose scales, fragments of the volva, these scales being easily removed so that old plants are frequently comparatively smooth. The color of the young plant is normally red, then orange to pale yellow; late in the season, or in old plants, it fades to almost white. The flesh is white, sometimes stained yellow close to the cuticle.

The gills are pure white, very symmetrical, various in length, the shorter ones terminating under the cap very abruptly, crowded, free, but reaching the stem, decurrent in the form of lines somewhat broader in front, sometimes a slight tinge of yellow will be observed in the gills.

The stem is white, often yellowish with age, pithy and often hollow, becoming rough and s.h.a.ggy, finally scaly, the scales below appearing to merge into the form of an obscure cup, the stem four to six inches long.

The veil covers the gills of the young plant and later is seen as a collar-like ring on the stem, soft, lax, deflexed, in old specimens it is often destroyed. The spores are white and broadly elliptical.

The history of this plant is as interesting as a novel. Its deadly properties were known to the Greeks and Romans. The pages of history record its undoing and its accessory to crime. Pliny says, alluding to this species, "very conveniently adapted for poisoning." This was undoubtedly the species that Agrippina, the mother of Nero, used to poison her husband, the Emperor Claudius; and the same that Nero used in that famous banquet when all his guests, his tribunes and centurions, and Agrippina herself, fell victims to its poisonous properties.

However, it is said this mushroom is habitually eaten by certain people as an intoxicant; indeed, it is used in Kamchatka and Asiatic Russia, generally, where the Amanita drunkard takes the place of the opium fiend and the alcohol bibber in other countries. By reading Colonel George Kennan in his "Tent-life in Siberia," and Cooke's "Seven Sisters of Sleep," you will find a full description of the toxic employment of this fungus which will far surpa.s.s any possible imagination.

It caused the death of the Czar Alexis of Russia; also Count de Vecchi, with a number of his friends, in Was.h.i.+ngton in 1896. He was in search of the Orange Amanita and found this, and the consequences were serious.

In size, shape, and color of the cap there is similarity, but in other respects the two are very different. They may be contrasted as follows:

Orange Amanita, edible.--Cap _smooth_, gills _yellow_, stem _yellow_, wrapper _persistent_, _membranaceous_, _white_.

Fly Amanita, poisonous.--Cap _warty_, gills _white_, stem _white_, or slightly _yellowish_, wrapper _soon breaking_ into _fragments or scales_, white or sometimes yellowish brown.

Found along roadsides, wood margins, and in thin woods. It prefers poor soil, and is more abundant where poplar and hemlock grow. From June to frost.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 14.--Amanita muscaria.--_Linn._ One-half natural size, showing development of the plant.]

_Amanita Frostiana. Pk._

FROST'S AMANITA. POISONOUS.

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

Figure 15.--Amanita Frostiana.]

Frostiana, named in honor of Charles C. Frost.

The pileus is convex, expanded, bright orange or yellow, warty, sometimes smooth, striate on the margin, pileus one to three inches broad.

The gills are free, white, or slightly tinged with yellow.

The stem is white or yellow, stuffed, bearing a slight, sometimes evanescent, ring, bulbous, at the base, the bulb slightly margined by the volva. The spores globose, 8-10 in diameter. _Peck._

Great care should be taken to distinguish this species from A. caesarea because of its often yellow stem and gills. I found some beautiful specimens on Cemetery Hill and on Ralston's Run. It is very poisonous and should be carefully avoided, or rather, it should be thoroughly known that it may be avoided. The striations on the margin of its yellow tinge might lead one to mistake it for the Orange Amanita. It is found in shady woods and sometimes in open places where there is underbrush.

June to October.

_Amanita verna. Bull._

THE SPRING AMANITA. POISONOUS.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 16.--Amanita verna. Two-thirds natural size, showing the volva cup and the ring.]

Verna, pertaining to spring. This species is considered by some only a white variety of Amanita phalloides. The plant is always a pure white.

It can only be distinguished from the white form of the A. phalloides by its closer sheathing volva and perhaps a more ovate pileus when young.

The pileus is at first ovate, then expanded, somewhat depressed, viscid when moist, even, margin naked, smooth. The gills are free.

The stem is stuffed, with advancing age hollow, equal, floccose, white, ringed, base bulbous, volva closely embracing the stem with its free margin, ring forming a broad collar, reflexed. The spores are globose, 8 broad.

This species is very abundant on the wooded hills in this section of the state. Its pure white color makes it an attractive plant, and it should be carefully learned. I have found it before the middle of June.

_Amanita magnivelaris. Pk._

THE LARGE VEILED AMANITA. POISONOUS.

Magnivelaris is from _magnus_, large; _velum_, a veil.

The pileus is convex, often nearly plane, with even margin, smooth, slightly viscid when moist, white or yellowish-white.

The gills are free, close, white.

The stem is long, nearly equal, white, smooth, furnished with a large mebranaceous volva, the bulbous base tapering downward and rooting. The spores are broadly elliptical.

This species very closely resembles Amanita verna, from which it can be distinguished by its large, persistent annulus, the elongated downward-tapering bulb of its stem, and, especially, by its elliptical spores.

It is found solitary and in the woods. I found several on Ralston's Run under beech trees. Found from July to October.

_Amanita pellucidula. Ban._

Pileus at first campanulate, then expanded, slightly viscid, fleshy in center, attenuated at the margin; color a smooth bright red, deeper at the top, shaded into clear transparent yellow at the margin; glossy, flesh white, unchanging.

The gills are ventricose, free, numerous, yellow.

The stem is stuffed, ring descending, fugacious. Peck's 44th Report.