Studies of American Fungi. Mushrooms, Edible, Poisonous, etc. Part 5

The =spores= are rusty to dark brown, or nearly black, fusoid or oblong, and measure 15--22 5--6 .

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 51.--Gomphidius nigricans. Under view with portion of gills stripped off from hymenoph.o.r.e, showing forked character of gills (natural size). Copyright.]

In Fig. 50 a side and under view of the plant are given, and in Fig. 51 a view after a portion of the lamellae have been peeled off, showing how nicely the separation takes place, as well as showing the forked character of the lamellae and the processes of the pileus, which extend between the laminae of the lamellae.

This plant seems to be very near _Gomphidius glutinosus_ (Schaeff.), Fr., if not identical with it, though the ill.u.s.trations cited in Schaeffer and in Krombholz seem to indicate a stouter plant. The descriptions say nothing as to the appearance of the dried plant.

CHAPTER VI.

THE WHITE-SPORED AGARICS.

The spores are white in ma.s.s, or sometimes with a faint yellowish or lilac tinge. For a.n.a.lytical keys to the genera see Chapter XXIV.

AMANITA Pers.

The genus _Amanita_ has both a volva and a veil; the spores are white, and the stem is easily separable from the cap. In the young stage the volva forms a universal veil, that is, a layer of fungus tissue which entirely envelops the young plant. In the b.u.t.ton stage, where this envelope runs over the cap, it is more or less free from it, that is, it is not "concrete" with the surface of the pileus. As the pileus expands and the stem elongates, the volva is ruptured in different ways according to the species. In some the volva splits at the apex and is left as a "cup" at the base of the stem. In others it splits circularly, that is, transversely across the middle, the lower half forming a shallow cup with a very narrow rim, or in other cases it is closely fitted against the stem, while the upper half remains on the cap and is broken up into patches or warts. In still other cases the volva breaks irregularly, and only remnants of it may be found on either the base of the stem or on the pileus. For the various conditions one must consult the descriptions of the species. The genus is closely related to _Lepiota_, from which it is separated by the volva being separate from the pileus. This genus contains some of the most deadly poisonous mushrooms, and also some of the species are edible. Morgan, Jour. Mycol.

=3=: 25--33, describes 28 species. Peck, 33d Report N. Y. State Mus., pp. 38--49, describes 14 species. Lloyd, A Compilation of the Volvae of the U. S., Cincinnati, 1898, gives a brief synopsis of our species.

=Amanita muscaria= Linn. =Poisonous.=--This plant in some places is popularly known as the fly agaric, since infusions of it are used as a fly poison. It occurs during the summer and early autumn. It grows along roadsides near trees, or in groves, and in woods, according to some preferring a rather poor gravelly soil. It attains its typical form usually under these conditions in groves or rather open woods where the soil is poor. It is a handsome and striking plant because of the usually brilliant coloring of the cap in contrast with the white stems and gills, and the usually white scales on the surface. It usually ranges from 10--15 cm. high, and the cap from 8--12 cm. broad, while the stem is 1--1.5 cm. in thickness, or the plant may be considerably larger.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 12, FIGURE 52.--Amanita muscaria, "b.u.t.tons,"

showing different stages of rupture of the volva or universal veil, and formation of inner veil (natural size). Copyright.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 13, FIGURE 53.--Amanita muscaria. Further stages in opening of plant, formation of veil and ring. Cap yellowish, or orange.

Scales on cap and at base of stem white; stem and gills white (natural size). Copyright.]

The =pileus= pa.s.ses from convex to expanded and nearly flat in age, the margin when mature is marked by depressed lines forming parallel striations, and on the surface are numbers of scattered floccose or rather compact scales, formed from the fragments of the upper part of the volva or outer veil. These scales are usually white in color and are quite easily removed, so that old plants are sometimes quite free from them. The scales are sometimes yellowish in color. The color of the pileus varies from yellow to orange, or even red, the yellow color being more common. Late in the season the color is paler, and in old plants also the color fades out, so that white forms are sometimes found. The flesh is white, sometimes yellowish underneath the cuticle. The =gills= in typical forms are white, in some forms accredited to this species they are yellowish. The =stem= is cylindrical, hollow, or stuffed when young, and enlarged below into a prominent bulb. It is white, covered with loose floccose scales, or more or less lacerate or torn, and the lower part of the stem and upper part of the bulb are marked usually by prominent concentric scales forming interrupted rings. These are formed by the splitting of the outer veil or volva, and form the remnants of the volva present on the base of the stem.

The main features in the development of the plant are shown in Figs.

52--54, where a series from the b.u.t.ton stage to the mature plant is represented. In the youngest specimens the outline of the bulb and the young convex or nearly globose cap are only seen, and these are covered with the more or less floccose outer veil or volva. The fungus threads composing this layer cease to grow, and with the expansion of the cap and the elongation of the stem, the volva is torn into patches. The upper and lower surface of the inner veil is attached to the edge of the gills and to the outer surface of the stem by loose threads, which are torn asunder as the pileus expands. Floccose scales are thus left on the surface of the stem below the annulus, as in the left hand plant of Fig.

53. The veil remains attached longer to the gills and is first separated from the stem. Again, as in the right hand plant, it may first be separated from the gills when it is later ripped up from the stem.

The fly agaric is one of the well known poisonous species and is very widely distributed in this country, as well as in other parts of the world. In well developed forms there should be no difficulty in distinguis.h.i.+ng it from the common mushroom by even a novice. Nor should there be difficulty in distinguis.h.i.+ng it from the royal agaric, or Caesar's agaric (_Amanita caesarea_), by one who has become reasonably familiar with the characters and appearance of the two. But small and depauperate specimens of the two species run so nearly together in form, color, and surface characters, that it becomes a matter of some difficulty for even an expert to distinguish them.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 54.--Amanita muscaria. View of upper side of cap (natural size). Colors as in Fig. 53. Copyright.]

Figures 52--54 are from plants (No. 2065 C. U. herbarium) collected in an open woods near Ithaca. For the poisonous property of the plant see Chapter XX.

=Amanita frostiana= Pk. =Poisonous.=--According to Dr. Peck, who published the first description of this plant, it grows in company with _Amanita muscaria_, but seems to prefer more dense woods, especially mixed or hemlock woods, and occurs from June to October. The plant is 5--8 cm. high, the caps 2--5 cm. broad, and the stems 3--6 mm. in thickness.

The =pileus= is "convex to expanded, bright orange or yellow, warty, sometimes nearly or quite smooth, striate on the margin; =lamellae= white or tinged with yellow; =stem= white or yellowish, stuffed, bearing a slight, sometimes evanescent annulus, bulbous at the base, the bulb _slightly margined_ by the volva; spores globose," 7.5--10 in diameter. He notes that it appears like a small form of _A. muscaria_, to which it was first referred as _var. minor_,--"The only characters for distinguis.h.i.+ng it are its small size and its globose spores." It is near _A. muscaria var. puella_ Pers.

I have several times found this plant in the Adirondack mountains, N.

Y., and Ithaca, and also at Blowing Rock, N. C. The volva is often yellowish, so that the warts on the pileus are also yellow, and sometimes the only remnants of the volva on the base of the stem are yellow or orange particles. The annulus is also frequently yellow. In our plants, which seem to be typical, the spores are nearly globose, varying to oval, and with the minute point where the spore was attached to the sterigma at the smaller end, the spores usually being finely granular, 6--9 in diameter, and rarely varying towards short elliptical, showing a tendency to approach the shape of the spores of _A. muscaria_. The species as I have seen it is a very variable one, large forms being difficult to separate from _A. muscaria_, on the one hand, and others difficult to separate from the depauperate forms of _A.

caesarea_. In the latter, however, the striae are coa.r.s.er, though the yellow color may be present only on portions of the pileus. The spores of _A. caesarea_ are from globose to oval, ovate or short elliptical, the globose ones often agreeing in size with the spores of _A. frostiana_, but they usually contain a prominent oil drop or "nucleus," often nearly filling the spore. In some specimens of _A. frostiana_ the spores are quite variable, being nearly globose, ovate to elliptical, approaching the spores of _A. muscaria_. These intermediate forms should not in themselves lead one to regard all these three species as representing variations in a single variable species. With observations in the field I should think it possible to separate them.

=Amanita phalloides= Fr. =Deadly Poisonous.=--The _Amanita phalloides_ and its various forms, or closely related species, are the most dangerous of the poisonous mushrooms. For this reason the _A.

phalloides_ is known as the _deadly agaric_, or _deadly amanita_. The plant is very variable in color, the forms being pure white, or yellowish, green, or olive to umber. Variations also occur in the way in which the volva ruptures, as well as in the surface characters of the stem, and thus it is often a difficult matter to determine whether all these forms represent a single variable species or whether there are several species, and if so, what are the limits of these species.

Whether these are recognized as different forms of one species or as different species, they are all very poisonous. The plant usually occurs in woods or along the borders of woods. It does, however, sometimes occur in lawns. It varies from 6--20 cm. high, the cap from 3--10 cm.

broad, and the stem 6--10 mm. in thickness.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 55.--Amanita phalloides, white form, showing cap, stem, ring, and cup-like volva with a free, prominent limb (natural size).]

The =pileus= is fleshy, viscid or slimy when moist, smooth, that is, not striate, orbicular to bell-shaped, convex and finally expanded, and in old specimens more or less depressed by the elevation of the margin. The cap is often free from any remnants of the volva, while in other cases portions of the volva or outer veil appear on the surface of the cap in rather broad patches, or it may be broken up into a number of smaller ones quite evenly distributed over the surface of the cap. The presence or absence of these scales on the cap depends entirely on the way in which the volva ruptures. When there is a clean rupture at the apex the pileus is free from scales, but if portions of the apex of the volva are torn away they are apt to remain on the cap.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 14, FIGURE 56.--Amanita phalloides, brownish, umber, or olive-brown form (natural size). Caps brownish or whitish, and streaked with brown, scales white, gills and stem white, stem slowly turning dull brown where bruised. Copyright.]

The white form is common in this country, and so is the olive or umber form. The yellow form is rarer. Sometimes there is only a tinge of yellow at the center of the white pileus, while in other cases a large part of the pileus may be yellow, a deeper shade usually on the center.

The green form is probably more common in Europe than in this country.

The olive form varies considerably also in the depth of the color, usually darker on the center and fading out to light olive or gray, or whitish, on the margin. In other cases the entire pileus may be dark olive or umber color. The =gills= in all the forms are white, and free from the stem or only joined by a narrow line. The stem is stuffed when young, but in age is nearly or quite hollow. It is cylindrical, 6--20 cm. long 6--12 mm. in thickness. In the larger specimens the bulb is quite prominent and abrupt, while in the smaller specimens it is not always proportionally so large. The =stem= is usually smooth and the color is white, except in the dark forms, when it is dingy or partakes more or less of the color of the pileus, though much lighter in shade.

There is a tendency in these forms to a discoloration of the stem where handled or bruised, and this should caution one in comparing such forms with the edible _A. rubescens_.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 57.--Amanita phalloides, volva circ.u.mscissile, cap scaly, limb of volva not prominent, cap dark, scales white (natural size). Copyright.]

Perhaps no part of the plant is more variable than the outer veil or volva. Where the volva is quite thick and stout it usually splits at the apex, and there is a prominent free limb, as shown in Fig. 55. Sometimes thin portions of the volva are caught, and remain on the surface of the pileus. But when the volva is thinner and of a looser texture, it splits transversely about the middle, circ.u.mscissile, and all or a large part of the upper half of the volva then clings to the cap, and is separated into patches. Between this and the former condition there seem to be all gradations. Some of these are shown in Fig. 56, which is from a photograph of dark olive and umber forms, from plants collected in the Blue Ridge mountains, at Blowing Rock, N. C., during September, 1899. In the very young plant the volva split transversely (in a circ.u.mscissile fas.h.i.+on) quite clearly, and the free limb is quite short and distant from the stem on the margin of the saucer-like bulb. In the large and fully expanded plant at the center, the volva ruptured irregularly at the apex, and portions of the thin upper half remain as patches on the cap while the larger part remains as the free limb, attached at the margin of the broad saucer-shaped bulb, and collapsed up against the base of the stem.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 58.--Amanita phalloides, volva circ.u.mscissile, concave bulb margined by definite short limb of volva; upper part of volva has disappeared from cap; cap whitish, tinged with brown.]

Figure 58 and the small plant in Fig. 56, both from photographs of the sooty form of _Amanita phalloides_, show in a striking manner the typical condition of the circ.u.mscissile volva margining the broad saucer-like bulb as described for _Amanita mappa_. The color of _A.

mappa_ is usually said to be straw color, but Fries even says that the color is as in _A. phalloides_, "now white, now green, now yellow, now dark brown" (Epicrisis, page 6). According to this, Fig. 58 would represent _A. mappa_.

The variable condition in this one species _A. phalloides_, now splitting at the apex, now tearing up irregularly, now splitting in a definitely circ.u.mscissile manner, seems to bid defiance to any attempt to separate the species of _Amanita_ into groups based on the manner in which the volva ruptures. While it seems to be quite fixed and characteristic in certain species, it is so extremely variable in others as to lead to the suspicion that it is responsible in some cases for the multiplication and confusion of species. At the same time, the occurrence of some of these forms at certain seasons of the year suggests the desirability of prolonged and careful study of fresh material, and the search for additional evidence of the unity of these forms, or of their definite segregation.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 59.--Amanita verna, white (natural size).

Copyright.]

Since the _Amanita phalloides_ occurs usually in woods, or along borders of woods, there is little danger of confounding it with edible mushrooms collected in lawns distant from the woods, and in open fields. However, it does occur in lawns bordering on woods, and in the summer of 1899 I found several of the white forms of this species in a lawn distant from the woods. This should cause beginners and those not thoroughly familiar with the appearance of the plant to be extremely cautious against eating mushrooms simply because they were not collected in or near the woods.

Furthermore, sometimes the white form of the deadly amanita possesses a faint tinge of pink in the gills, which might lead the novice to mistake it for the common mushroom. The bulb of the deadly amanita is usually inserted quite deep in the soil or leaf mold, and specimens are often picked leaving the very important character of the volva in the ground, and then the plant might easily be taken for the common mushroom, or more likely for the smooth lepiota, _Lepiota naucina_, which is entirely white, the gills only in age showing a faint pink tinge. It is very important, therefore, that, until one has such familiarity with these plants that they are easily recognized in the absence of some of these characters, the stem should be carefully dug from the soil. In the case of the specimens of the deadly amanita growing in the lawn on the campus of Cornell University, the stems were sunk to three to four inches in the quite hard ground.

=Amanita verna= Bull. =Deadly Poisonous.=--The _Amanita verna_ is by some considered as only a white form of the _Amanita phalloides_. It is of a pure white color, and this in addition to its very poisonous property has led to its designation as the "destroying angel."

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 60.--Amanita verna, "b.u.t.tons," cap bursting through the volva; left hand plant in section (natural size).

Copyright.]

The =pileus= is smooth and viscid when moist; the gills free; the =stem= stuffed or hollow in age; the =annulus= forms a broad collar, and the =volva= is split at the apex, and being quite stout, the free limb is prominent, and it hugs more or less closely to the base of the stem.

Figure 59 represents the form of the plant which Gillet recognizes as _A. verna_; the pileus convex, the annulus broad and entire, and the stem scaly. These floccose scales are formed as a result of the separation of the annulus from the outer layer of the stem.

The characters presented in the formation of the veil and annulus in this species are very interesting, and sometimes present two of the types in the formation of the veil and annulus found in the genus _Amanita_. In the very young plant, in the b.u.t.ton stage, as the young gills lie with their edges close against the side of the stem, loose threads extend from the edges of the gills to the outer layer of the stem. This outer layer of the stem forms the veil, and is more or less loosely connected with the firmer portion of the stem by loose threads.

As the pileus expands, the threads connecting the edges of the gills with the veil are stronger than those which unite the veil with the surface of the stem. The veil is separated from the stem then, simultaneously, or nearly so, throughout its entire extent, and is not ripped up from below as in _Amanita velatipes_.

As the pileus expands, then, the veil lies closely over the edges of the gills until finally it is freed from them and from the margin of the pileus. As the veil is split off from the surface of the stem, the latter is torn into numerous floccose scales, as shown in Fig. 59.

In other cases, in addition to the primary veil which is separated from the stem in the manner described above, there is a secondary veil formed in exactly the same way as that described for _Amanita velatipes_.