Student's Hand-book of Mushrooms of America, Edible and Poisonous Part 30

L. _holosericeus_ Fries has a fleshy white cap, soft, silky, and fibrillose, a solid bulbous stem, with persistent broad, reflexed ring, and free ventricose, white gills. Edible. It is found in gardens and cultivated places.

L. _acutesquamosa_ Wein, found in greenhouses and soil in gardens, is a heavy but not very tall species. The cap is obtuse, and fleshy, at first floccose. As the cap expands it bristles with erect pointed tufts or scales. The gills are white or yellowish, lanceolate and simple, free from the stem. Stem bulbous, somewhat stuffed, rough or silky below the ring, and downy above. Ring persistent. Color of cap whitish or light brown, with darker scales.

L. _granulosus_ Batsch. Cap thin, wrinkled or corrugated, granulose, mealy; gills white, _reaching the stem_, sometimes free. Plants very small and varying in color--pink, yellow, and white, according to variety.

L. _amiantha_. Plants very small, ochraceous in color, with yellow flesh and white gills _adnate_ and crowded.

L. _cepaestipes_ Sow. Cap thin, broad, sub-membranaceous, broadly umbonate, adorned with mealy evanescent scales, margin irregular; gills white, at length remote. Stem hollow and floccose, narrow at top, ventricose; ring evanescent. Generally found in hothouses. Cap 1 to 3 inches broad. Stem 3 to 6 inches high. Spores white.

L. _cristata_ is a common species found on lawns and in fields where the gra.s.s is short. The plants are small, the cap from to 1 inches in width. Not very fleshy. The cuticle of the cap is at first continuous and smooth but soon breaks into reddish scales. The stem is fistulose, slender and equal; gills free. Odor and taste somewhat strong and unpleasant.

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

Agaricus (Lepiota) cepaestipes--var. cretaceus, Peck. (Lepiota cretacea.) Edible.

From Nature.]

PLATE XI.

=Ag. (Lepiota) cepaestipes=, variety =cretaceus= Peck (=Lepiota cretacea=).

EDIBLE.

This very delicate and beautiful agaric is found on tan and leaves in hothouses.

The specimens here delineated were gathered in one of the hothouses of the Agricultural Department and first described and figured in _Food Products_, No. 2, of the report of the Division of Microscopy. The plants are a pure white throughout, and both stem and pileus are covered with small chalk-white mealy tufts. Berkeley says, "this species is probably of exotic origin, as it never grows in the open air." It is also met with in the hothouses of Europe. Specimens have been received from contributors who gathered them in greenhouses in different localities. This species should not be confounded with the purplish-brown spored mushroom Agaricus (Psalliota) cretaceus, which has pink gills turning to dark brown and is allied to the common meadow mushroom.

Lepiota _cretacea_ is a delicious mushroom when broiled, or cooked in a chafing dish, and served on hot b.u.t.tered toast. It has a pleasant taste when raw.

Lepiota _Morgani_ Peck, the "_Green-Spored Lepiota_," is an exception to the general type of Lepiotas in the color of its gills and spores. It is western and southern in its range. This species is described by Peck in the Botanical Gazette of March, 1897, p. 137, as follows: "Pileus fleshy, soft, at first sub-globose, then expanded, or depressed, white, the brownish or alutaceous cuticle breaking up into scales except on the disk; lamellae close, lanceolate, remote, white, then green; stem firm, equal, or tapering upwards, sub-bulbous, smooth, webby-stuffed, whitish, tinged with brown, annulus rather large, movable; flesh both of the pileus and stem white, changing to reddish, and then to yellowish hue when cut or bruised; spores ovate, sub-elliptical, mostly uninucleate, .0004 to .0005 inches long, .0003 to .00032 broad, sordid green.

"Plant 6 to 8 inches high, pileus 5 to 9 inches broad, stem 6 to 12 lines thick. Open dry gra.s.sy places. Dayton, Ohio. A. P. Morgan."

AGARICINI.

_Genus Cortinarius_ Fries. This genus is distinguished by a cob-web-like veil, dry persistent gills, which in the mature plants become discolored, and pulverulent with the rusty or ochraceous colored spores.

The veil is very delicate, resembling a spider's web. It is not concrete with the cuticle of the cap, but extends from its margin to the stem, in the young plants sometimes concealing the gills, but disappearing as the cap expands. Sometimes a few filaments are seen depending from the margin of the cap or encircling the stem.

In the young plants of this genus the gills vary very much in color.

They are whitish, clay-color, violet, dark purple, blood-red, etc., according to species, but, as the plants mature, the gills become dusted with the rust-colored falling spores, and with age usually become a rusty ochraceous, or cinnamon color. The stem in some of the species is distinctly bulbous and in others equal, cylindrical, or tapering. In identifying the species it is necessary, in order to ascertain the true color of the gills, to examine the plants at different periods of growth.

The genus Cortinarius is a large one, and contains many beautiful species. It is mainly confined to temperate regions. Not a single species has been recorded as found in Ceylon, the West Indies, or Africa, but one tropical species is found in Brazil. Nearly four hundred species have been described, and over three hundred and seventy of these belong to the United States and Europe. A few are found in the extreme southern or temperate portion of South America, and several are reported from a temperate elevation among the Himalayas. Sweden and Great Britain, with their temperate climates, claim a large proportion of the European species. Not many of the Cortinarii have been recorded as edible, and none as dangerous. The Rev. M. J. Berkeley records, however, a case of poisoning by one of the species, C. (Inoloma) _bolaris_ Pers., which though not fatal was somewhat alarming, the symptoms being great oppression of the chest, profuse perspiration, and the enlargement for two days of the salivary glands of the patient. I have seen no other statements relating to the poisonous properties of this species, and the results alluded to may have been owing to some individual idiosyncrasy.

Berkeley, in his "Outlines," gives the following description of this mushroom: "Pileus fleshy, obsoletely umbonate, growing pale, variegated with _saffron-red, adpressed, innate_ scales; stem stuffed, then hollow, nearly equal, squamose, of the same color as the cap; gills subdecurrent, crowded, watery, cinnamon color. Cap 1 to 2 inches broad.

Stem 2 to 3 inches long." In beech woods in September and October.

The genus Cortinarius has been divided by some authors into the following six groups: (1) _Phlegmacium_, in which the cap is fleshy and viscid, the veil partial, and the stem firm and dry; (2) _Myxacium_, in which the veil is universal and glutinous, hence the cap and stem both viscid; cap thin and the gills adnate or decurrent; (3) _Inoloma_, in which the cap is fleshy, dry, and at first silky with innate fibrils; veil simple and stem slightly bulbous; (4) Dermocybe, in which the pileus is thinly fleshy, dry, and at first downy, becoming smooth; the veil single and fibrillose; flesh watery, colored when moist, stem equal or attenuated downwards; (5) Telamonia, in which the cap is moist, at first smooth or dotted with the superficial fragments of the veil, the stem ringed below, or peronately scaly from the remains of the universal veil; (6) Hydrocybe, in which the cap is thin and moist, not viscid, smooth, or covered with superficial white fibrils; stem rigid, not scaly, veil thin, occasionally collapsed in an irregular ring. These subdivisions have been designated as _tribes_ by some botanists and _subgenera_ by others, etc. To the divisions Inoloma and Phlegmacium, respectively, belong the two species ill.u.s.trated in Plate XII.

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

EDIBLE Figs. 1 to 4 Cortinarius (Inoloma) violaceus, Linn.

"_Violet Cortinarius_."

Figs. 5 to 7 Cortinarius (Phlegmacium) caerulescens, Fries.

T. Taylor, del.]

PLATE XII.

FIGS. 1 to 4.--=Cortinarius (Inoloma) violaceus= Fr. "_Violet Cortinarius_."

EDIBLE.

Cap fleshy, at first convex, then nearly plane, dotted with hairy tufts or scales, margin at first involute, color purple or dark violet, flesh soft, purplish; gills distant, broad, adnate, somewhat rounded near the stem, at first purplish violet, changing to an ochraceous or brownish cinnamon color as the plant matures; stem solid, somewhat bulbous at the base, purple; cortina or veil white or tinged with violet, sometimes bluish.

This is a handsome species, and though it is somewhat rare in many localities, its pretty and unusual coloring does not allow it to be easily overlooked. It is edible, and has a mushroomy taste when raw.

Agaricus _nudus_ Bull, a purple species with white spores, is sometimes confounded with it. There are other purple species of Cortinarius not so pleasant to the taste, which bear some resemblance to C. _violaceus_.

The specimens figured in Plate XII were gathered near Dedham, Ma.s.s., on open ground on the border of a stretch of pine woods.

FIGS. 5 TO 7.--=Cortinarius (Phlegmacium) caerulescens=.

EDIBLE.

Cap fleshy, at first convex, then plane, surface even, viscid; color bluish or violet; gills adnexed and crowded, at first bluish, changing to violet or purplish hues; stem solid, short, and thick, with a broadly bulbous base, same color as the cap; veil filmy, single. In woods and on the borders of woods. This mushroom varies in color, the bluish or purplish tints being quite susceptible to atmospheric changes. When growing in the shade or well-sheltered places, it is much darker in hue than when exposed unsheltered to the bright sunlight. The specimen figured in Plate XII was gathered on low ground near a pine grove in Ess.e.x County, Ma.s.s.

Cortinarius (Phlegmacium) _purpurascens_ Fr. bears a slight resemblance to _caerulescens_, but can be distinguished from it by the spotted or zoned character of the cap and the broadly emarginate gills.

Cortinarius _turmalis_, an edible autumnal species, having an ochraceous or brownish-yellow cap with emarginate or decurrent gills, the latter at first whitish, then reddish clay color, is found in abundance in some parts of Maryland. The gills are never tinged with purple or blue. The flesh is white. The plants are easily discovered by those familiar with their habitat, as they grow under pine needles in groups, forming small mounds extending over large s.p.a.ces, and in these hiding places, in the autumnal months, they are free from insects and dust. I have collected a bushel of them in less than an hour in fresh condition in October. Some of the French authors do not cla.s.s this species as edible. Gillet, in his Hymenomycetes of France, enumerates fifty-three edible species of Cortinarius, but places _turmalis_ among the suspects. I find this mushroom not only edible, but very valuable, because of its abundance in the localities where found. It is often densely caespitose. The plant, when mature, is from 3 to 5 inches high.

C. _sebaeceus_, found also in pine woods, is recorded as edible. The plant is tall, white-stemmed, with broad tan-colored, somewhat viscid cap; emarginate gills, clay color at first, at last cinnamon color; stem solid, stout, fibrillose, and equal.

Cortinarius _collinitus_, Smeared Cortinarius, and Cortinarius _cinnamomeus_, with its variety semi-sanguinea, have also been tested, and found edible. The first of these is somewhat common. The plants when fresh are covered with a glutinous substance, and this should be removed before cooking. Cap smooth under the glutinous coat, light brown or tawny yellow in color, flesh white; gills whitish or light gray when young, cinnamon-hued in the matured plant. Stem solid, nearly equal, cylindrical, yellowish, and somewhat scaly. C. _cinnamomeus_ belongs to the division Dermocybe. The cap is thin at first, silky with innate fibrids, becoming smooth, and varies from light brown to a dark cinnamon color. The gills are yellowish, then cinnamon; stem downy or silky, yellow. The variety _semi-sanguinea_ has the lamellae red, almost as in the preceding species.

C. (Phlegmacium) _varius_, "Variable Cortinarius," edible, has a compact fleshy viscid, even cap, brownish in color, gills at first violet, changing to cinnamon, stout solid stem, white or whitish, adorned with adpressed flocci, flesh white.

Cortinarius (Telamonia) _armillatus_ Fries is given in M. C. Cooke's list of edible Cortinarii. Cap fleshy but not thick, fibrillose and slightly scaly, bright bay color, thin uneven margin; stem solid, dingy, rufescent, showing irregular red zones or bands elongated and slightly bulbous at the base; gills distant, broad, pallid in color at first, changing to dark cinnamon. C. (Telamonia) _haematochelis_ Bull. (edible), somewhat resembles the former in color and size, though not so bright a brown. Cap thin, silky-fibrillose; gills adnate, narrow and crowded, light cinnamon; stem long, solid, dingy, with a reddish zone.

C. (Hydrocybe) _castaneus_ Bull., _Chestnut Cortinarius_ (edible), is found in woods and gardens. The plants of this species are usually small. Cap at first campanulate, expanding, sometimes slightly umbonate in the centre, chestnut color; gills ventricose, crowded, purplish, changing to rust color; stem short, hollow or stuffed, cartilaginous, equal, pallid, reddish brown, or tinged with violet; veil white.

_Subgenus Collybia_ Fries. Cap at first convex, then expanded, not depressed, with an involute margin; gills reaching the stem, but not decurrent, sometimes emarginate; stem hollow, with cartilaginous bark of a different substance from the hymenoph.o.r.e, but confluent with it; often swollen and splitting in the middle; spores white. The plants are usually found growing upon dead tree stumps; some grow upon the ground; a few are parasitic on other fungi or springing from _sclerotia_, small impacted ma.s.ses of mycelium. The species are generally small and firm and of slow growth. A few are edible, some few have an unpleasant odor.

On account of the cartilaginous stem and the dryness of their substance, some of the smaller species are apt to be taken for Marasmii. Note: Saccardo in his Sylloge gives Collybia generic rank.

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

EDIBLE Figs. 1 to 3 Agaricus (Collybia) fusipes, Bull.

"_Spindle Foot Collybia_."

Figs. 4 to 6 Agaricus (Collybia) maculatus, A. & S.

"_Spotted White Collybia_."

Figs. 7 to 9 Agaricus (Collybia) velutipes, Curt.

"_Velvet Footed Collybia_."

T. Taylor, del.]

PLATE XIII.