Student's Hand-book of Mushrooms of America, Edible and Poisonous Part 34

"Imperial mushroom," "Yellow-egg," "Kaiserling," etc. Mycologists who have tested it agree as to its edibility and delicate flavor.

The specimens figured in Plate XIV represent the average size of those which I have gathered in the vicinity of the District of Columbia. Much larger ones have been gathered in the woody portions of Druid Hill Park, Baltimore, Md.

Dufour writes: "This mushroom, the "true oronge," is cooked in a variety of ways, and it always const.i.tutes an exquisite dish." This author gives the following recipes for cooking the _Caesarea_, which he calls the "Oronge:"

_Oronge a la bordelaise._--The stem is minced with fine herbs, bread-crumbs, and garlic, and seasoned with pepper and salt. This hash is placed in the concavity of the caps, and all is put to bake with good oil in a pan steamed in a chafing dish.

_Oronge a l'Italienne._--Stew gently with a little b.u.t.ter and salt, then serve with a sauce composed of oil seasoned with the juice of lemon, pepper, garlic, and extract of sweet almond.

The Spanish are fond of this mushroom, and it is said to enter into their national dish, olla podrida, a mixture of meat, vegetables, and spices, whenever it can be obtained.

It is sometimes fried in b.u.t.ter or olive oil and seasoned with sugar.

PLATE XIV.

FIGS. 5 to 9.--=Ag. (Amanita) rubescens= Pers. (=Amanita rubescens=). "_The Blusher_," "_Reddish Brown Amanita_."

EDIBLE.

Cap at first convex then expanded, margin even or very slightly striated, usually reddish-brown or reddish-fawn color, covered with mealy, more or loss persistent warts; flesh white, changing to a reddish or pinkish tinge, where cut or bruised, the reddish tinge most intense in the bulbous portion of the base of the stem; _gills reaching the stem and forming decurrent lines upon it_, white, becoming spotted with rusty or wine red stains when bruised or attacked by insects; stem ringed, whitish or dingy white, becoming brownish or spotted, with reddish-brown stains. The base of the stem is usually bulbous, the bulb sometimes tapering to a point at the root, and in some instances ending abruptly.

The ring or collar which encircles the stem near the top is membranous, and usually well defined.

The volva which completely envelops the young plant is very friable and soon disappears. Fragments of the volva may be seen in the shape of scales or small particles upon the mushroom stem, and in wart-like patches upon the cap. In the representations of this mushroom which appear in European works the cap is a deeper reddish-brown tint than I have found it here. The color of the cap is usually a light reddish brown or reddish gray, sometimes almost white. This species is found usually in light open woods. In a warm moist climate it appears early in the season, and can be gathered until the frosts come. Taste very pleasant.

There is a poisonous species, Amanita _pantherinus_, rare, which has a viscid brown warted cap bearing a slight resemblance to that of the _rubescens_, but the gills do not turn red when bruised, and the volva at the base of the stem is well defined and persistent.

The _rubescens_ is very plentiful in the woods of Maryland and Virginia, and specimens have been received from different parts of the country. I have frequently eaten it stewed with b.u.t.ter, and found it very good eating. Hay speaks of it as being eaten in England, where it is called the "Blusher." Cooke says it is pleasant both in taste and odor. It is spoken of by French authors as of delicate flavor, and as well known in some parts of France. In preparing for the table bring the mushroom to a quick boil and pour off the first water, then stew with flavoring to suit the taste.

The specimens of this species represented in Plate XIV were collected in the woods of Forest Glen, Maryland. They are often found of much larger size and much lighter in coloring, with the stains upon the gills redder in color. The very young plants as they burst through the surface of the soil show a distinct volva at the base of the stem. In the mature plant this disappears, often leaving the slightly bulbous base quite smooth.

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

Agaricus (Amanita) strobiliformis, Vitt. "Fir-Cone Mushroom."

Edible.

From Nature.

_T. Taylor, del._]

PLATE XIV.

=Ag. (Amanita) strobiliformis= Fries (=Amanita strobiliformis=).

"_Fir-cone Mushroom_."

EDIBLE.

Cap fleshy, convex at first, then expanded, covered with persistent white warts, margin even, white; flesh white, firm and compact; gills rounded behind and free from the stem, white; stem solid, the bulbous base tapering, furrowed with concentric and longitudinal channels at the root, and extending well into the ground, white; ring large, soon splitting; volva breaking up and appearing in concentric ridges upon the stem. Spores white.

This mushroom is very pleasant to the taste when raw as well as when cooked. It is found in light woods or on the borders of woods where the soil is somewhat friable, generally solitary, but sometimes two or three are found cl.u.s.tered together. The plants are sometimes so large that two or three of them would make a very good meal. Specimens have been found with the cap measuring 8 to 9 inches across when expanded, the stem varying from 6 to 8 inches in height, and from 1 to 3 inches in thickness. When young the plants are generally snowy white throughout, changing with age to a dingy white or cinereous hue. The specimens figured in the plate formed one of a cl.u.s.ter of three mushrooms of this species found growing in the fir woods of the District of Columbia.

During some seasons I have found the _strobiliformis_, or "Fir-cone mushroom," fairly plentiful in some parts of Maryland, and in other seasons it has been rare. The whole plant when young is enclosed in a white membranous wrapper.

Although this species is very generally recognized by mycologists as edible, I would advise great caution in selecting specimens for table use, since there is a dangerous species which might be mistaken for it by one not familiar with the characteristics of both species; I refer to a form of Amanita muscaria with ochraceous yellow cap which, when faded or bleached by the sun and rain, sometimes approaches, in tint, the dingy white of old or faded specimens of the _strobiliformis_. Both species have _white gills_, _white stems_, and _white flocculent veil_.

The volva is evanescent in both, leaving traces of its existence in concentric ridges at the base, and part way up the stem.

In the species _strobiliformis_, the flesh of the cap is white throughout, as well as the cuticle.

In the yellowish _muscaria_, the flesh _immediately_ beneath the cuticle of the upper surface of the cap is yellowish, frequently deepening at the disk to orange hue.

The cap of Amanita _muscaria_ is very attractive to flies, but proves to them, as also to roaches and to some other insects, a deadly poison.

The juice of _strobiliformis_ is not poisonous to flies. This fact may aid in identifying the species.

Subgenus _Amanitopsis_ Roze. The species of this subgenus were formerly included in Amanita. The characteristic which separates it from Amanita is the _absence of a ring on the stem_. The gills are free from the stem, the spores are white, and the whole plant in youth is encased in an egg-shaped volva.[A]

[A] Although this subgenus is not included in M. C. Cooke's a.n.a.lytical key to the order of Agaricini, published with his kind permission in No.

3 of this series, he now includes it as one of the subgenera which should have a place in that list.

Amanitopsis _v.a.g.i.n.ata_ Roze. Edible.

This species is very common in pine and oak forests. The plant, as a whole, has a graceful aspect and grows singly or scattered through open places in the woods. It is somewhat fragile and easily broken. The cap in this species is usually a mouse-gray, sometimes slaty gray or brownish, generally umbonate in the center and distinctly striated on the margin.

The stem is white, equal, and slender in proportion to the width of the cap, and sheathed quite far up with a loose white membranous wrapper.

This sheath is so slightly attached to the base of the stem that it is often left in the ground if the plant is carelessly pulled. The gills are white, or whitish, free from the stem and rounded at the outer extremity.

There is a white variety, (variety _alba_) A. _nivalis_, in which the whole plant is white, and a tawny variety (A. _fulva_ Schaeff.) in which the cap is a pale ochraceous yellow, with the gills and stem white or whitish. In the variety A. _livida_ or A. _spadicea_ Grev. the cap is brown, while the stem and gills are tinged a smoky brown.

These are all edible and of fairly good flavor. Except in the absence of the ring upon the stem, the light varieties might be mistaken for small forms of the poisonous species Amanita _verna_ or of _phalloides_. Great caution should therefore be observed, in gathering for the table, to be sure of the species.

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

Figs. 1 to 7. Ag. (Amanita) muscarius, Linn. (Amanita muscaria) "Fly Mushroom."

Fig. 8. Ag. (Amanita) phalloides, Fries.

Fig. 9. Ag. (Amanita) mappa Batsch.

POISONOUS.

T. Taylor, del.]

PLATE XV.

Figs. 1 to 7.--=Ag. (Amanita) muscarius= Linn. (=Amanita muscaria=).

"_Fly Mushroom_," "_False Orange_."

POISONOUS.

Cap warty, margin striate; gills white, reaching the stem, and often forming decurrent lines upon it; stem white, stuffed, annulate, bulbous at the base, concentrically ridged or scaly at the base, and sometimes part way up, with fragments of the ruptured wrapper. Spores widely elliptical, white, .0003 to .0004 of an inch in length.

The plants of this species vary very much in size and in the color of the cap. The latter is sometimes a bright scarlet and again it is orange color, more frequently ochraceous yellow, fading to a very pale yellow tint. In the variety _albus_ it is white. The stem is stuffed with webby fibrils and varies very much in thickness: sometimes in young specimens it is very stout, with a thick ovate bulb reaching well up towards the cap, and again it is comparatively slender and nearly equal from the cap down to a very slight bulb at the base. The very young plant is completely enveloped in a white or yellowish egg-shaped wrapper or volva, which, being friable, generally breaks up into scales, forming warts upon the upper surface of the cap. When the plant is young and moist the cap is slightly sticky. A thickish white veil extends from the stem to the inner margin of the cap. This breaks away with the growth and expansion of the plant and falls in lax folds, forming a deflexed ring round the upper portion of the stem.

This mushroom is very common in woods and forests in summer and autumn, and has a wide geographical range. It is recorded by all mycologists as poisonous. One author states that when eaten in very small quant.i.ties it acts as a cathartic, but that it causes death when eaten freely. Flies find in it a deadly poison, and the poisonous alkaloids are not destroyed by drying.