Studies of American Fungi. Mushrooms, Edible, Poisonous, etc. Part 23

=Tremella frondosa= Fr.--This is said to be the largest species of the genus. It grows on rotten wood. It occurs in Europe, has been collected in New York State, and the Fig. 206 is from a plant (No. 4339, C. U.

herbarium) collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., in September, 1899. The plant figured here was 10 cm. long and about 8 cm. high. It is very much twisted and contorted, leaf-like, and the middle and base all united. It is of a pinkish yellow color, one plant being vinaceous pink and another cream buff in color. When young the leaf-like lobes do not show well, but as it expands they become very prominent.

Several other species of Tremella are probably more common than the ones ill.u.s.trated here. One of the commonest of the _Tremellineae_ probably is the =Exidia glandulosa=, which in dry weather appears as a black incrustation on dead limbs, but during rains it swells up into a large, black, very soft, gelatinous ma.s.s. It is commonly found on fallen limbs of oak, and occurs from autumn until late spring. It is sometimes called "witch's b.u.t.ter."

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 207.--Tremella fuciformis. Entirely white (natural size). Copyright.]

=Tremella fuciformis= Berk.--This is a very beautiful white tremella growing in woods on leaf mold close to the ground. It forms a large white tubercular ma.s.s resting on the ground, from the upper surface of which numerous stout, short, white processes arise which branch a few times in a dichotomous manner. The ma.s.ses are 10--15 cm. in diameter, and nearly or quite as high. The flesh is very soft, and the parts are more or less hollow. The basidia are like those of the genus, globose, sunk in the substance of the plant, and terminate with four long, slender, sterigmata which rise to the surface and bear the spores. The spores are white, nearly ovoid, but inequilateral and somewhat reniform, continuous, 7--9 5--6 .

Figure 207 is from a plant collected in a woods near Ithaca, in August, 1897.

GYROCEPHALUS Pers.

The genus _Gyrocephalus_ differs from the other _Tremellineae_ in having the fruiting surface on the lower side of the fruit body, while the upper side is sterile.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 208.--Gyrocephalus rufus. Reddish or reddish yellow (natural size). Copyright.]

=Gyrocephalus rufus= (Jacq.) Bref.--This species is sometimes very abundant. It grows on the ground, generally from buried wood, or from dead roots. It is erect, stout at the base, and the upper end flattened and thinner. It is more or less spatulate, the upper side somewhat concave, and the lower somewhat convex. In some plants the pileus is more regular and there is then a tendency to the funnel form. It is reddish, or reddish yellow in color, smooth, clammy, watery, and quite gelatinous. When dry it is very hard. Figure 208 represents the form of the plant well, from plants collected at Ithaca. The plant is quite common in the damp glens and woods at Ithaca during the autumn.

CHAPTER XIII.

THELEPHORACEAE.

Many of the species of the Thelephoraceae to which the following two species belong are too tough for food. A large number of these grow on wood. They are known by their hard or membranaceous character and by the fruiting surface (under surface when in the position in which they grew) being smooth, or only slightly uneven, or cracked.

=Craterellus cantharellus= (Schw.) Fr., is an edible species. In general appearance it resembles the _Cantharellus cibarius_. The color is the same, and the general shape, except that the former is perhaps more irregular in form. It may, however, be in most cases easily distinguished from _C. cibarius_ by the absence of folds on the under or fruiting surface, since the fruiting surface is smooth, especially when the plants are young or middle age. However, when the plants get quite large and old, in some cases the fruiting surface becomes very uneven from numerous folds and wrinkles, which, however, are more irregular than the folds of _C. cibarius_.

=Craterellus cornucopioides= (L.) Pers., is another edible species. It grows on the ground in woods. It is of a dusky or dark smoky color, and is deeply funnel-shaped, resembling a "horn of plenty," though usually straight. The fruiting surface is somewhat uneven.

The genus _Stereum_ is a very common one on branches, etc., either entirely spread out on the wood, or with the margin or a large part of the pileus free. _Hymenochaete_ is like _Stereum_, but has numerous small black spines in the fruiting surface, giving it a velvety appearance.

_Corticium_ is very thin and spread over the wood in patches.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 81, FIGURE 209.--Lycoperdon cyathiforme (natural size).]

CHAPTER XIV.

PUFF-b.a.l.l.s: LYCOPERDACEAE.

This is not the place for a discussion of the different genera of the puff-b.a.l.l.s, etc., but it might be well to say that in recent years the old genus _Lycoperdon_ has been divided into several genera. The giant puff-ball, and the _L. cyathiforme_, where the wall or peridium ruptures irregularly, have been placed in a genus called _Calvatia_; certain other species which are nearly globose, and in which the wall is of a papery texture at maturity, are placed in the genus _Bovista_. There is one genus belonging to the same family as the lycoperdons, the species of which are very interesting on account of the peculiar way in which the wall is ruptured. This is the genus _Geaster_, that is, "earth star." The wall, or peridium, is quite thick in the members of this genus, and when it matures it separates into several layers which need not all be discussed here. A thick outer portion which separates from a thinner inner portion further splits radially into several star-like divisions, which spread outward and give to the plant the form of a star. Since the plants lie on the earth the name earth star was applied to them. This opens out in dry weather, even curving around under the plant, so that the plant is raised above the ground. Then in wet weather it closes up again. The inner portion of the wall opens at the apex in various ways, in the different species, so that the spores may escape. A closely related genus has several small perforations like a pepper box in the upper surface of the inner wall, _Myriostoma_.

LYCOPERDON Tourn.

To this genus belong most of the "puff-b.a.l.l.s," as they are commonly called, or, as they are denominated in the South, "Devil's snuff box."

All, or a large portion, of the interior of the plant at maturity breaks down into a powdery substance, which with the numerous spores is very light, and when the plant is squeezed or pressed, clouds of this dust burst out at the opening through the wall. The wall of the plant is termed the _peridium_. In this genus the wall is quite thin, and at maturity opens differently in different species. In several species it opens irregularly, the entire wall becoming very brittle and cracking up into bits, as in the giant puff-ball. In the remaining species it opens by a distinct perforation at the apex, and the remainder of the wall is more or less pliant and membranous. All of the puff-b.a.l.l.s are said to be edible, at least are harmless, if eaten when the flesh is white. They should not be eaten when the flesh is dark, or is changing from the white color.

=Lycoperdon giganteum= Batsch. =Edible.=--This, the giant puff-ball, is the largest species of the genus. Sometimes it reaches immense proportions, two to three or even four feet, but these large sizes are rare. It is usually 20 to 40 cm. (8--16 in.) in diameter. It grows on the ground in gra.s.sy places during late summer and in the autumn. It is a large rounded ma.s.s, resting on the ground, and near or at the center of the under side, it is attached to the cords of mycelium in the ground. It is white in color until it is ripe, that is, when the spores are mature, and it should be gathered for food before it is thus ripe.

When it is maturing it becomes yellowish, then dusky or smoky in color.

The flesh, which is white when young, changes to greenish yellow and finally brownish, with usually an olivaceous tinge, as the spores ripen.

The plant is so large that it may be sliced, and should be sliced before broiling. A single specimen often forms enough for a meal for a large family, and some of the larger ones would serve for several meals.

=Lycoperdon cyathiforme= Bosc. =Edible.=--This is called the beaker-shaped puff-ball because the base of the plant, after the spores have all been scattered, resembles to some extent a beaker, or a broad cup with a stout, stem-like base. These old sterile bases of the plant are often found in the fields long after the spores have disappeared.

The plants are somewhat pear-shaped, rounded above, and tapering below to the stout base. They are 7--15 cm. in diameter, and white when young.

At maturity the spore ma.s.s is purplish, and by this color as well as by the sterile base the plant is easily recognized. Of course these characters cannot be recognized in the young and growing plant at the time it is wanted for food, but the white color of the interior of the plant would be a sufficient guarantee that it was edible, granted of course that it was a member of the puff-ball family. Sometimes, long before the spores mature, the outer portion of the plant changes from white to pinkish, or brownish colors. At maturity the wall, or peridium, breaks into brittle fragments, which disappear and the purplish ma.s.s of the spores is exposed. The plant grows in gra.s.sy places or even in cultivated fields.

=Lycoperdon gemmatum= Batsch. =Edible.=--This puff-ball is widely distributed throughout the world and is very common. It grows in the woods, or in open places on the ground, usually. It is known from its characteristic top shape, the more or less erect scales on the upper surface intermingled with smaller ones, the larger ones falling away and leaving circular scars over the surface, which gives it a reticulate appearance. The plants are white, becoming dark gray or grayish brown when mature. They vary in size from 3--7 cm. high to 2--5 cm. broad.

They are more or less top-shaped, and the stem, which is stout, is sometimes longer than the rounded portion, which is the fruiting part.

The outer part of the wall (outer peridium) when quite young separates into warts or scales of varying size, large ones arranged quite regularly with smaller ones between. These warts are well shown in the two plants at the left in Fig. 210, and the third plant from the left shows the reticulations formed of numerous scars on the inner peridium where the larger scales have fallen away.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 210.--Lycoperdon gemmatum. Entirely white except when old (natural size). Copyright.]

The plant at the extreme right is mature, and the inner peridium has ruptured at the apex to permit the escape of the spores. The spore ma.s.s, together with brownish threads which are intermingled, are greenish yellow with an olive tinge, then they become pale brown. The spores are rounded, 3.5--4.5 in diameter, smooth or minutely warted.

Another small puff-ball everywhere common in woods is the _Lycoperdon pyriforme_, so called because of its pear shape. It grows on very rotten wood or on decaying logs in woods or groves, or in open places where there is rotting wood. It is somewhat smaller than the gem-bearing lycoperdon, is almost sessile, sometimes many crowded very close together, and especially is it characterized by prominent root-like white strands of mycelium which are attached to the base where the plant enters the rotten wood. While these small species of puff-b.a.l.l.s are not injurious to eat, they do not seem to possess an agreeable flavor. There are quite a number of species in this country which cannot be enumerated here.

Related to the puff-b.a.l.l.s, and properly cla.s.sed with them, are the species of _Scleroderma_. This name is given to the genus because of the hard peridium, the wall being much firmer and harder than in _Lycoperdon_. There are two species which are not uncommon, _Scleroderma vulgare_ and _S. verrucosum_. They grow on the ground or on very rotten wood, and are sessile, often showing the root-like white strands attached to their base. They vary in size from 2--6 cm. and the outer wall is cracked into numerous coa.r.s.e areas, or warts, giving the plant a verrucose appearance, from which one of the species gets its specific name.

=Calostoma cinnabarinum= Desv.--This is a remarkably beautiful plant with a general distribution in the Eastern United States. It has often been referred to in this country under the genus name _Mitremyces_, and sometimes has been confused with a rarer and different species, _Calostoma lutescens_ (Schw.) Burnap. It grows in damp woods, usually along the banks of streams and along mountain roads. It is remarkable for the brilliant vermilion color of the inner surface of the outer layer of the wall (_exoperidium_), which is exposed by splitting into radial strips that curl and twist themselves off, and by the vermilion color of the edges of the teeth at the apex of the inner wall (_endoperidium_). The plant is 2--8 cm. high, and 1--2 cm. in diameter.

When mature the base or stem, which is formed of reticulated and anastomosing cords, elongates and lifts the rounded or oval fruiting portion to some distance above the surface of the ground, when the gelatinous volva ruptures and falls to the ground or partly clings to the stem, exposing the peridium, the outer portion of which then splits in the manner described.

When the plant is first seen above the ground it appears as a globose or rounded body, and in wet weather has a very thick gelatinous layer surrounding it. This is the volva and is formed by the gelatinization of the outer layer of threads which compose it. This gelatinous layer is thick and also viscid, and when the plants are placed on paper to dry, it glues them firmly to the sheet. When the outer layer of the peridium splits, it does so by splitting from the base toward the apex, or from the apex toward the base. Of the large number of specimens which I have seen at Blowing Rock, N. C., the split more often begins at the apex, or at least, when the slit is complete, the strips usually stand out loosely in a radiate manner, the tips being free. At this stage the plant is a very beautiful object with the crown of vermilion strips radiating outward from the base of the fruit body at the top of the stem, and the inner peridium resting in the center and terminated by the four to seven teeth with vermilion edges. At this time also the light yellow spore ma.s.s is oozing out from between the teeth. The spores are oblong to elliptical, marked with very fine points, and measure 15--18 8--10 .

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 82, FIGURE 211.--Calostoma cinnabarinum. See text for colors (natural size).]

Figure 211 is from plants collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., in September, 1899. The _Mytremyces lutescens_ reported in my list of "Some Fungi of Blowing Rock, N. C.," in Jour. Elisha Mitch.e.l.l Sci. Soc. 9: 95--107, 1892, is this _Calostoma cinnabarinum_.

CHAPTER XV.

THE STINK-HORN FUNGI: PHALLOIDEAE Fries.

Most of the stink-horn fungi are characterized by a very offensive odor.

Some of them at maturity are in shape not unlike that of a horn, and the vulgar name is applied because of this form and the odor. The plants grow in the ground, or in decaying organic matter lying on the ground.

The sp.a.w.n or mycelium is in the form of rope-like strands which are usually much branched and matted together. From these cords the fruit form arises. During its period of growth and up to the maturity of the spores, the fruit body is oval, that is, egg form, and because of this form and the quite large size of these bodies they are often called "eggs." The outer portion of the egg forms the volva. It is always thick, and has an outer thin coat or membrane, and an inner membrane, while between the two is a thick layer of gelatinous substance, so that the wall of the volva is often 3--6 mm. in thickness, and is very soft.

The outline of the volva can be seen in Fig. 215, which shows sections of three eggs in different stages. Inside of the volva is the short stem (_receptacle_) which is in the middle portion, and covering the upper portion and sides of this short stem is the pileus; the fruit-bearing portion, which is divided into small chambers, lies on the outside of the pileus. In the figure there can be seen cross lines extending through this part from the pileus to the wall of the volva. These represent ridges or crests which anastomose over the pileus, forming reticulations. The stem or receptacle is hollow through the center, and this hollow opens out at the end so that there is a rounded perforation through the upper portion of the pileus.