Student's Hand-book of Mushrooms of America, Edible and Poisonous Part 29

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

E. Fischer, etc. "Gasteromycetae," Saccardo, _Sylloge Fungorum_. Vol.

vii, part i. Padua, 1888.

Chas. H. Peck. "United States species of Lycoperdon."

Geo. Ma.s.see. "Monograph of the British Gasteromycetes." _Annals of Botany,_ Nov., 1889. "Monograph of the Genus Lycoperdon" in _Journal Royal Micro. Soc._ London, 1887.

C. Bambeke. _Morphologie du Phallus impudicus._ Gand, 1889.

A. P. Morgan. "North American Geasters" in _American Naturalist_. Roy.

8vo. 1887.

L. and C. Tulasne. "Essai d'une Monographie des Nidulariees." Ann. des Sci. Nat. 8vo. Paris, 1844.

M. C. Cooke. _The Myxomycetes of Great Britain._ Plates. 8vo. London, 1877. _The Myxomycetes of the United States_, by the same author. New York, 1877.

Geo. Ma.s.see. _A Monograph of the Myxogasters._ Col. plates. Roy. 8vo.

London, 1892.

A. De Bary. "Die Mycetozoon" (_Schleimpilz_). Plates. 8vo. Leipzig, 1864.

J. Rostafinski. _Sluzowce, Mycetozoa Monografia._ Plates. 4to. Paris, 1875.

Geo. A. Rex. New American Myxomycetes. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., part iii, Dec. 16, 1890, pp. 436-438.

Balliet Letson. "Slime Molds." The Ornithologist and Botanist. Vol. i.

Binghamton, N. Y., Nov., 1891, p. 85. 1 col.

Thos. H. McBride. "The Myxomycetes of Eastern Iowa." Bulletin from the Laboratories of Natural History of the State University of Iowa. Iowa City, Iowa, 1892.

AGARICINI.

_Subgenus Lepiota_ Fries. Veil universal and concrete, with the cuticle of the pileus breaking up in the form of scales. Gills typically free, often remote, not sinuate or decurrent. Stem generally distinct from the hymenoph.o.r.e. Volva absent. Habitat terrestrial, mostly found on rich soil or in gra.s.sy places. (In Saccardo's _Sylloge_, Lepiota is given generic rank.)

The Lepiotas have a wide geographical distribution. No less than 225 species have been recorded as found in different parts of the world.

These are pretty evenly divided between the torrid and temperate zones.

They are generally smaller than the Amanitas, less fleshy and somewhat dry and tough. The flesh is soft and thready, not brittle. In the plants of most of the species the cap is rough, the cuticle being broken up into tufts or scales. These tufts are readily distinguished from the warts which characterize certain species of Amanita, being formed from the breaking up of the cuticle with the concrete veil, while the wart-like excrescences seen upon Amanita _muscaria_, for example, are composed of fragments of the volva, which is always found enclosing the very young plants of the genus Amanita.

A few of the species are characterized by a smooth cap; in some instances it is granulose or mealy. Usually the cuticle is dry, but in a few of the species it is viscid. The stem is generally long and hollow, and, being of different texture from the flesh of the cap, is easily separated from it, often leaving a distinct socket at the junction of stem and cap. It is sometimes smooth, sometimes floccose. In some species it is bulbous at the base, in others not. The ring which encircles the stem is at first continuous with the cuticle of the cap, breaking apart with its expansion. It is sometimes movable, sometimes evanescent.

The species generally are considered edible, or innoxious. None are recorded as dangerous. A mycophagist from Augusta, Ga., reports, however, that the members of a family in that vicinity were made quite ill from eating the Lepiota _Morgani_, a greenish-spored species of Lepiota, while he himself ate of the same dish, experiencing no unpleasant effects. I have had no personal experience with this species.

Two edible species of Lepiota, which are widely commended as of good quality, and which are sufficiently abundant to have value as esculents, are figured in Plate XI. A third, Ag. (Lepiota) cepaestipes, var.

cretaceus--Lepiota _cretacea_, figured in Plate XI, is an exotic species found in greenhouses. It is of very delicate flavor.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate XI.

EDIBLE Figs. 1 to 4 Agaricus (Lepiota) procerus, Fries (Lepiota procera) "_Parasol Mushroom_."

Figs. 5 to 9 Lepiota naucinoides Peck. (Agaricus naucinus Fries) "_Smooth White Lepiota_."

T. Taylor, del.]

PLATE XI.

FIGS. 1 to 4.--=Ag. (Lepiota) procerus= Scop. (=Lepiota procera=).

"_Parasol Mushroom_."

EDIBLE.

Cap at first ovate, then expanded, showing distinct umbo, cuticle thick, torn into evanescent scales; gills remote from the stem, free, white, or yellowish-white; stem long, slender, variegated with brownish scales, hollow or slightly stuffed, bulbous at the base, and bearing a well-defined thickish ring, which in the mature plant is movable. Spores white, elliptical. The color of the cap varies from a light tan or ochraceous yellow to a dark reddish-brown. The surface showing beneath the lacerated cuticle is of a lighter hue than the cuticle, and is silky and fibrillose, giving the cap a somewhat shaded or spotted appearance.

The flesh is dry, soft and thready, white. Taste and odor pleasant.

Cap from 3 to 5 inches broad; stem from 5 to 10 inches high.

This species is commonly found in pastures and in open gra.s.sy places; sometimes in open woods near cultivated fields, usually solitary or in very small cl.u.s.ters. It is a favorite among mycophagists. Lepiota _racodes_ closely resembles Lepiota _procera_, and by some botanists the two are regarded as forms of the same species. In L. _racodes_ the pileus is at first globose, expanded, and finally depressed in the centre; the cuticle is thin and broken into persistent scales; the whole plant smaller than L. procera. Flesh slightly reddish when bruised.

Edible. There is also a white variety (_puellaris_) with a floccose squamose cap.

PLATE XI.

FIGS. 5 to 9.--=Ag. (Lepiota) naucinus= Fries (=Lepiota naucinoides= Peck). "_Smooth White Lepiota_."

EDIBLE.

Cap at first sub-globose, then curved, the surface smooth and satiny when dry, creamy white; gills close and slightly rounded at the inner extremity towards the stem, free from the stem, white; stem white, smooth, hollow, and bulbous at the base; ring thick, distinct, movable, white. The gills, soon after gathering, become suffused with a faint pinkish or fleshy tint. The spores are white, sub-elliptical. Specimens occur in which there is a slight granulation in the centre of the cap, but they are rare. The variety _squamosa_ shows the surface of the cap, somewhat broken into thick scales.

L. _naucinoides_ is a very clean and attractive looking mushroom, usually symmetrical in shape. It is a fles.h.i.+er mushroom than L.

_procera_, and is found in gra.s.sy places, in lawns, sometimes in gardens, or by roadsides, especially where the soil is rich. The specimens figured in Plate XI were gathered in a rose garden, growing in loamy soil. Specimens have been received from different States, some of them much larger than those here ill.u.s.trated.

This mushroom is recorded by some authors as equal in flavor to the Parasol mushroom. When stewed with b.u.t.ter it makes a very appetizing dish.

There is a fatally poisonous mushroom to which it bears some resemblance, and which might be taken for it, viz., Amanita _verna_, or "Spring mushroom." It is therefore necessary, in order to guard against such a mistake, to give particular attention to the characteristics of these two mushrooms. They are both white throughout, and both have white spores and ringed stem. Amanita _verna_, however, carries a white volva or cup-shaped sheath at the base of the stem, and the gills do not show a pinkish or flesh colored tinge at any stage. In Lepiota _naucinoides_, as in all the Lepiotas, the volva is wanting. Amanita _verna_ is apt to be moist and clammy to the touch, and is tasteless. L. _naucinoides_ is dry, and has a pleasant flavor. The first is found _wholly_ in _woods_; the second prefers pastures, open gra.s.sy places, and gardens, though sometimes found in light woods. I have never found an Amanita in a lawn, pasture, or garden.

An edible mushroom, Agaricus (Psalliota) _cretaceus_, found in pastures, bears a slight resemblance to L. _naucinoides_, when the color of the spores and gills are not taken into consideration. In the former the gills very quickly change from their early stage of rosy pink to a dark purplish-brown color, like that of the common mushroom. The spores are purplish-brown, while in L. _naucinoides_ the pinkish hue which tinges the fading plant is very faint, and changes to a very light tan color with age. The spores being white, the gills retain their white color for a long time, never changing to dark brown.

L. _Americana_ Pk. A. & S., L. _excoriata_ Schaeff., and L.

_rubrotincta_ Pk. have been tested and are of good flavor.

L. _Americana_ has a reddish or reddish-brown cap, umbonate, with close adpressed scales and white flesh. The gills are broad and free from the stem, sometimes anastomosing near it, white; stem white, hollow, tapering towards the cap, annulate. When dried the whole plant has a brownish-red hue. When cut or bruised it sometimes exudes a reddish juice. Miss Banning reports specimens found in Druid Hill Park, Baltimore. I have gathered very beautiful specimens in Montgomery county, Md. This mushroom sometimes grows to a very large size.

L. _excoriata_ has a pale fawn-colored cap, slightly umbonate, with thin cuticle, breaking into scales; gills remote, white; stem white, hollow, and short, nearly cylindrical. Odor faint, pleasant.

L. _rubrotincta_ Pk. "_Red-tinted Agaric_." Cap reddish or pinkish, broadly umbonate and clothed with adpressed scales; gills whitish, free, and close; stem nearly equal or slightly thickened at the base, with a well-developed persistent white or pinkish ring. Spores white, sub-elliptical.