The Mushroom, Edible and Otherwise Part 81

This is a very interesting plant because of its peculiar mode of growth.

It is found in woods or clearings on dead logs or on standing dead trees. In some parts of the state it is quite common. From the ill.u.s.tration, Figure 334, it will be seen that the plant consists of an innumerable number of pileoli forming a subglobose or elongated ma.s.s.

They are frequently three to six inches in diameter and several inches long. I have seen them very much elongated on standing trees. When it is young and growing it is s.h.i.+ny in appearance and has a reddish and sometimes a purplish tint. The inner substance is ferruginous but covered with a hard brown crust. The pores are brown, and when examined with the gla.s.s are seen to be lined with a very fine p.u.b.escence. The imbricated form of the pileoli show very plainly in the ill.u.s.tration.

_Polyporus brumalis. Fr._

THE WINTER POLYPORUS.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 335.--Polyporus brumalis.]

Brumalis is from _bruma_, which means winter; so called because it appears late, in cold weather. The specimens in Figure 335 were found in December.

The pileus is from one to three inches broad, nearly plane, slightly depressed in the center; somewhat fleshy and tough; dingy-brown, clothed with minute scales, becoming smooth, pallid.

The pores are oval, slightly angular, slender, acute, denticulate, white, 5-62.

The stem is short, thin, slightly bulbous at the base, hirsute or squamulose, pale, central.

It usually occurs singly but frequently you will find several in a group. Found on sticks and logs, they are quite hard to detach from their hosts. Too tough to eat. It equals Polyporus polyporus. (Retz) Merrill.

_Polyporus rufescens. Fr._

THE RUFESCENT POLYPORUS.

Rufescens, becoming red. The pileus is flesh-colored, spongy, soft, unequal, hairy or woolly.

The pores are large, sinuose and torn, white or flesh-colored.

The stem is short, irregular, tuberous at the base. Spores elliptical, 64-5.

Rather common about Chillicothe on the ground about old stumps.

_Polyporus arcularius. Batsch._

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 336.--Polyporus arcularius. Two-thirds natural size, showing dark brown and depressed center; also dark brown stems.]

The pileus is dark-brown, minutely scaly, depressed in the center, margin covered with stiff hairs.

The tube surface is of a dingy cream color, openings oblong, almost diamond-shaped, resembling the meshes of a net, the meshes being smaller on the margin, shallow, simply marked out at the top of the stem.

The stem is dark-brown, minutely scaly, mottled, with a ground work of cream-color; hollow. Common in the spring of the year on sticks and decayed wood in fields or in old clearings. It is quite generally distributed. Edible but tough.

_Polyporus elegans. Fr._

The pileus is fleshy, soon becoming woody; expanded, even, smooth, pallid.

Pores are plane, minute, nearly round, pallid, yellowish-white.

The stem is eccentric, even, smooth, pallid; base from the first abruptly black. This is quite common on rotten wood in the forests. It resembles P. picipes both in appearance and habitat.

_Polyporus medulla-panis. Fr._

Effused, determinate, subundulate, firm, smooth, white, circ.u.mference naked, submarginate, wholly composed of middle sized, rather long, entire pores, the whole becoming yellowish in age.

I found this species on an elm log along Ralston's Run.

_Polyporus albellus. Pk._

The pileus is thick, sessile, convex or subungulate, subsolitary, two to four inches broad, one to one and a half thick, fleshy, rather soft; the adnate cuticle rather thin, smooth or sometimes slightly roughened by a slight strigose tomentum, especially toward the margin; whitish, tinged more or less with fuscus; flesh pure white, odor acidulous.

The pores are nearly plane, minute, subrotund, about two lines long; white, inclining to yellowish, the dissepiments thin, acute.

The spores are minute, cylindrical, curved, white, .00016 to .0002 inch long. _Peck._

This species is quite common here and is very widely distributed in the United States.

_Polyporus epileucus. Fr._

This is quite a large and beautiful plant. It apparently grows without a stem, its color being an unequal gray. The pileus is somewhat coriaceous, firm, pulvinate, villous.

The pores are round, elongated, obtuse, entire, white.

This is not common with us, but I have met it a few times and always on elm logs or stumps.

_Polyporus betulinus. Fr._

THE BIRCH POLYPORUS. EDIBLE.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 337.--Polyporus betulinus.]

Betulinus is from _betulina_, birch.

The pileus is from four to ten inches across, fleshy, soon corky, ungulate, obtuse, smooth, pale reddish-brown when mature, often mottled, roundish, or somewhat reniform, zoneless, the oblique vertex in the form of an umbo; pellicle thin, separating; flesh white, very thick.

The pores are short, round, minute, unequal, separable from the pileus when fresh, but really concrete with it; white or tinged with brown, developing slowly; when mature there are peculiar hair-like scales attached to the pore-surface, making the plant look like a Hydnum when viewed from the side. It is found wherever the birch tree grows. When young and fresh it is edible, but with a strong flavor unpleasant to many. In this state the deer eat it. The specimen in Figure 337 was found in Wisconsin, and photographed by Dr. Kellerman. This species is the Piptoporus suberosus (L.) of Merrill.

_Polyporus cinnabarinus. Schw._

CINNABAR POLYPORUS.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 338.--Polyporus cinnabarinus. One-third natural size.]