Savory qualities
Though not common in my vicinity, I nevertheless succeed in obtaining a few specimens during the season. It varies greatly in size and shape. M. C. Cooke, in his admirable "plain and easy" account of British fungi, says of it: "When old it affords an excellent gravy, and when young, if sliced and grilled, would pass for a good beefsteak. Specimens are now and then met with that would furnish four or five men with a good dinner, and they have been collected weighing as much as thirty pounds. The liver, or paler pinkish meaty color, clammy viscidity, and streaky section are sufficient guides in the recognition of this species."
Culinary preparation
It is a highly prized article of diet on the Continent where the arts of the chef are ingeniously employed in endless recipes for its savory preparation, often, it would seem, with the main object of obliterating as far as possible all trace of the delicate flavor of the mushroomper se.
If the reader's experience correspond with the writer's in his mycological experiments "à la mode" he will gladly fall back to the plain plebeian method of simply broiling over the coals, or frying or roasting in the pan, with the least possible seasoning of pepper, salt, and butter, relying upon his mushroom to furnish the predominant zest and flavor.
Other hints for serving this fungus are given in a later chapter. Besides the common name of "beefsteak mushroom," it is also known on the Continent as the "oak tongue," and "chestnut tongue."
PLATE XXVTHE BEEFSTEAK MUSHROOM
Fistulina hepatica
Pileus:Diameter, average specimen, about six inches, occasionally twice or three times this size; color varying from pinkish to dark meaty red; surface roughened with minute papillæ; soft and moist.Flesh:Light red, streaked with darker red; tender and juicy in young specimens; juice light red.Tube surface:Creamy in color; tubes distinct from each other, crowded, very short, as shown in section opposite.Stem:Short or obsolete, growing at the side.Taste:Slightly acid.Habitat:On the stumps and trunks of oak and chestnut trees.Season:July-September.
Pileus:Diameter, average specimen, about six inches, occasionally twice or three times this size; color varying from pinkish to dark meaty red; surface roughened with minute papillæ; soft and moist.
Flesh:Light red, streaked with darker red; tender and juicy in young specimens; juice light red.
Tube surface:Creamy in color; tubes distinct from each other, crowded, very short, as shown in section opposite.
Stem:Short or obsolete, growing at the side.
Taste:Slightly acid.
Habitat:On the stumps and trunks of oak and chestnut trees.
Season:July-September.
PLATE XXV
Fistulina Hepatica.
Polyporus sulphureus
Probably the most conspicuous member of our native polyporei remains to be considered among the esculents, though until recently it was included in the black list, Dr. Curtis, of North Carolina, I believe, having first demonstrated its edibility, though pronouncing it merely "tolerable."
The brilliancy of its sulphur-yellow and orange-salmon colors, in association with its large size, renders it a most conspicuous object, especially from its habit of growing in dense clusters, often a number of such clusters in close contiguity upon a decaying stump or prostrate log, frequently so numerous and so crowded as to completely conceal the barkbeneath, as shown in the accompanying figure, or completely covering; a space of several square feet.
There lies before me even as I write a fragment of a single cluster which I plucked yesterday from the trunk of an apparently healthy red-oak near my studio, the remainder of the clump having been enjoyed as a special course in my dinner of last evening. InPlate 26I present a portrait of this specimen, the well-named Sulphur Polyporus—Polyporus sulphureus. It may be found frequently from July till frost upon its favorite habitat of old trunk, stump, log water-trough, or fencepost, usually upon wood in the early stages of decay. A single cluster will often measure a foot in diameter through its very solid mass of thickened pulpy branches, its early and esculent stage being thus compact with the subdivisions ascending from their common thick stem, the mass somewhat suggesting a cauliflower in shape, as shown in the illustration above.
The general color at this tender stage is pure sulphur-yellow, this being the ultimateloweror spore surface now exposed by its upright position. The true upper surface or cap of the later eccentrically branched fungus is of a bright orange-salmon color, and is mostly concealed by the crowded growth.
A voice in the wilderness
The specimen above alluded to would have weighed about two pounds, and this central mass was so crowded as to afford scarcely a glimpse of the pinkish-orange pileus surface. Upon showing my specimen to a friend, I was informed that a certain log by the roadside about two miles distant was covered with this same kind of fungus, which seemed to be spreading all over the ground. Doubtless ten or twenty pounds of good nourishing food was thus going begging by the way-side, even in sight of a rural homestead, whose lord and master finds the butcher's bill a serious drain upon his resources.
My plate shows a more open cluster of the fungus in its earlier stages, theonlytime when it is fit for food. In this condition it is tender, succulent, and juicy. In a few days the lobed fringes or fan-like divisions have lowered and spread out as widely as their crowded condition will permit, assuming the horizontal or even drooping position seen at C, and at D in the plate, as viewed from above. The pileus now being exposed, the fungus presents a deep orange-red or salmon color to the beholder, its sulphurous-hued pore surface being turned beneath. Its texture at this adult stage is tough, fibrous, and almost woody, especially as it approaches the stem, and no one would think of eating it.
The young specimen, however, is quite delicious and wholesome, and, considering that a single cluster will afford a dinner for a large family, its importance as a food product, especially to the farmer or peasant who finds economy a necessity, is thus manifest.Tasted at the tip, it yields for the first moment of mastication an acid flavor recalling that of theFistulina hepatica. This is followed by a sweet, slightly mucilaginous savor, which, in the realization that the species is wholesome, will at once prove an invitation to further experiment with the fungus as food.
Texture and quality
The texture of the young mushroom will be found to vary in its different parts, extremely tender at the thickened tuberculated tips, becoming fibrous as the stem is approached, and increasing in toughness, in fracture suggesting wood in appearance (see A, Plate 26), and unless the specimen isveryyoung this portion will have to be excluded from the diet. Excepting this precaution it needs no preparation for the table, assuming, of course, that the substance is free from grubs, which will presumably be the case, as I have never seen this fungus thus infested except in its more advanced woody growth.
Methods of cooking
I have not as yet satisfied myself as to the best methods of cooking this polyporus. Fried in butter it has a tendency to become slightly tough in consistency, in its white stringy fibre as well as in taste closely suggesting the "white meat" of chicken. It lends itself well to a stew or ragoût, and might, perhaps, to a curry, the substance being cut or broken in small pieces and treated after the manner of meat under similar recipes. Following the hints contained in our last chapter, many methods of its culinary treatment will suggest themselves.
PLATE XXVITHE SULPHUROUS POLYPORUS
Polyporus sulphureus
In the mature specimen the growth is horizontal, spreading fan-like from stem, undulating with radiating flutings. Upper surface salmon orange or orange red, the edge being smooth and unevenly thickened with nodule-like prominences. In young specimen ascending, under yellow surface outwardly exposed.Pore Surface:Bright sulphur yellow; pores very minute.Spores:Dingy white.Stem:Very short; a mere close attachment for the spreading growth.Taste:Slightly acid and mucilaginous when raw; after cooking somewhat suggesting white meat of chicken.Odor:Suggesting A. campestris.Habitat:: On tree trunks, particularly oaks, often growing in very large clusters.A. Section of fungus showing fibre.C. andD. Matured specimen.
In the mature specimen the growth is horizontal, spreading fan-like from stem, undulating with radiating flutings. Upper surface salmon orange or orange red, the edge being smooth and unevenly thickened with nodule-like prominences. In young specimen ascending, under yellow surface outwardly exposed.
Pore Surface:Bright sulphur yellow; pores very minute.
Spores:Dingy white.
Stem:Very short; a mere close attachment for the spreading growth.
Taste:Slightly acid and mucilaginous when raw; after cooking somewhat suggesting white meat of chicken.
Odor:Suggesting A. campestris.
Habitat:: On tree trunks, particularly oaks, often growing in very large clusters.
A. Section of fungus showing fibre.
C. andD. Matured specimen.
PLATE XXVI
Polyporus Sulphureus.
Its ornamental attributes
The freely expanded specimen of this species is full of beauty, in its wavy fan-like form and flowing lines and flutings presenting a suggestive decorative theme, whether in the branches of painting, sculpture, or the plastic arts. The pores upon its sulphurous surface are so minute as to be scarcely visible, but they shed a copious quantity of whitish spores. The pileus of the dried specimen is often more or less frosted with minute white crystals—binoxalate of potash—and the spore surface dulls to the color of buckskin.
Luminous by night
Another remarkable feature about this fungus, if report be true, is its visibility by night, not merely from its pale yellow hue, but by an actual flood of bluish luminous phosphorescent light, the environment of its haunt in the woods sometimes being lighted up by the effulgence from its ample mass of growth, a resource not uncommon among the fungi, and popularly known under the name of "foxfire." This phenomenon is frequently observable in woods at night, following rainy weather. An old stump or prostrate log will appear streaked with lines of brilliant light. If we approach and detach the loosened bark, its back and the decayed surface of the log thus exposed will prove ablaze in phosphorescence, whose presence had scarcely been suspected but for the chance fissures which revealed the telltale streaks. I recall from my boyhood experience one such midnight episode as this in which, from the peculiar outline of the fallen trunk and the coincident circumstance of two approximate dots of brilliantlight suggesting the eyes of a huge puma or tiger, I stood spell-bound with momentary fear, until I realized that the apparition was only a bugaboo after all. Approaching in the darkness, I soon laid hold of the rough head of the monster, and with a strong pull at the mass of bark of which it was composed, laid bare several square feet of blazing phosphorescence whose only hint had gleamed through those two imaginary eyes, which proved to be holes which had disclosed the hidden luminous fungus. One authority describes a single mass of this phosphorescence as extending the entire length of a prostrate trunk thirty feet long.
Hawthorne records having made good use of foxfire upon one occasion when, left in the lurch at night by a canal-boat, he procured a phosphorescent flambeau which effectually lighted his path for several miles through the otherwise impassable woods.
T
The species of fungi thus far described have been confined to the two great orders of the Agarics and the Polyporei, which include the large majority of our edible mushrooms and toadstools.
The remainder of my selection in the present chapter comprises scattered examples from four other orders: Hydnei (Spine-bearers), Clavariei (Coral-fungi), and the Trichogastres (Puff-balls), all belonging to the first great division of the Sporifera. The remaining two species considered—Morel and Helvella, of the order Elvellacei—are my only representatives of the second grand cohort of the Sporidiifera, whose botanical characters are described onpage 77.
In our previous examples the hymenium or spore-bearing surface has been disposed upon "gills," as in the Agarics, and on "tubes" in the Polypores. In the Hydnei group, which we will first consider, this disseminating surface is spread overspinesorteeth.
SECTION OF A HYDNUM
The examples selected from this order are both in the typical genus Hydnum; and the object of this present book on fungi being especially the presentation of only such varieties as are conspicuously self-placarded by some distinctive marks for identification, these delicious spine-bearing or "hedgehog" mushrooms should of course be included—a genus which cannot be mistaken for any other, and which isinstantlyrecognized by its own peculiar character, already mentioned, its spore surface being beset withsoft, drooping spinesinstead of pores or gills. There are more than a score of species. The two more or less common with us are theHydnum repandum, in outline suggesting an ordinary mushroom, and of which the above cut represents a section, and theH. caput-medusæ, or Medusa-head Hydnum. None of the group is accounted poisonous, though some of them are too tough to be acceptable as food.
PLATE XXVIITHE HEDGEHOG MUSHROOM
Hydnum repandum
Pileus:Diameter two to five inches, generally irregular, with the stem off centre. Color varying from pale buff, the typical hue, to a distinct bricky red.Spines:Beneath the cap, one-quarter to one-third inch in length; soft, creamy in tint, becoming darker in old specimens.Flesh:Creamy white, solid.Stem:Often set eccentrically into the cap; proportionately thick and short.Taste:Slightly aromatic.Habitat: Woods or shaded places in rich soil, often in clusters.Season:Summer and autumn.
Pileus:Diameter two to five inches, generally irregular, with the stem off centre. Color varying from pale buff, the typical hue, to a distinct bricky red.
Spines:Beneath the cap, one-quarter to one-third inch in length; soft, creamy in tint, becoming darker in old specimens.
Flesh:Creamy white, solid.
Stem:Often set eccentrically into the cap; proportionately thick and short.
Taste:Slightly aromatic.
Habitat: Woods or shaded places in rich soil, often in clusters.
Season:Summer and autumn.
PLATE XXVII
Hydnum Repandum.
Hydnum repandum
Characters and qualities
In this species, figured on Plate 27, bearing somewhat the contour of an Agaric, the spines are all confined to the lower surface of the expanded cap. The general color of the upper surface is buff, generally very pale, occasionally almost white. The spines being of similar hue, this color and the smoothness of texture have suggested the common popular English name of "doeskin mushroom." The flesh is firm and white or creamy, turning brownish when bruised. Its sweet but slightly pungent or peppery taste when raw disappears in cooking. It is quite frequent in our woods, and if fresh and free from insects may be eaten without the slightest hesitation. It is a species highly favored on the Continent, where the surplus yield is habitually dried and kept for winter use. The hot flavor of the raw Hydnum was formerly sufficient to brand it as poisonous, Roques, I believe, having been the first to demonstrate its edibility, and Dr. Badham to distinguish its mimetic flavor—"Hydna as good as oysters, which they somewhat resemble in taste."
Variations and varieties
Cooke and Berkeley describe a variety of this mushroom having a distinctly reddish pileus—H. rufescens—and Prof. Charles Peck gives the species quite arange in its color gamut. "Its color may be pale buff, rusty yellow, pale red, or sienna color." The "pale buff" will doubtless be found to be the most common. In the varietyrufescensthe size is smaller and the form more symmetrical, but the general shape and fringe-toothed spore surface are sufficient to identify the typical species under any disguise of color.
The cap is occasionally quite symmetrical, suggesting the outline of a Boletus in profile, but more commonly is irregular and eccentric, with stem attached towards its side, as indicated in section on previous page. It may reach the diameter of five inches in a fine specimen.
Its favorite haunt is the open woods, where it may be seen from the last of June until September, either singly or in clusters, lifting the dried leaves from their bed, or occasionally barely revealed beneath them.
But the most important and savory of the entire group of Hydnei is the species following:
H. caput-medusæ
A dinner thrown away
While driving through the White Mountain Notch, many years ago, I chanced upon a mass of cream-colored, fringy fungus growing upon a fallen beech-log by the side of the road. The fungus was then entirely new to me, and I lost no time in making a sketch of it, with notes. The growth covered a space possibly eighteen inches wide by eight in height, and I estimated it would weigh fully five pounds, its most marked feature being the dense growth of drooping spines. In my limited knowledge of edible fungi at the time, I cautiously left the specimen in the woods, afterwards to learn from Dr. Harkness, the mycologist, that I had "thrown away five pounds of the most delicious fungus meat known to the epicure." I have since found minor specimens many times, and can readily understand the enthusiastic encomiums of my connoisseur friend as to its esculent qualities.
PLATE XXVIIITHE MEDUSA MUSHROOM
Hydnum caput-medusæ
Spines:The long, soft spines cover the entire exposed portion of the fungus, which is disposed in fleshy branching divisions, each terminating in a "crown" of shorter, drooping teeth. The color is pale buff or dark creamy.Stem:Short, concealed beneath the growth.Taste:Sweet and aromatic, slightly pungent.Habitat:Trunks of trees, especially beech.Season:July to October.
Spines:The long, soft spines cover the entire exposed portion of the fungus, which is disposed in fleshy branching divisions, each terminating in a "crown" of shorter, drooping teeth. The color is pale buff or dark creamy.
Stem:Short, concealed beneath the growth.
Taste:Sweet and aromatic, slightly pungent.
Habitat:Trunks of trees, especially beech.
Season:July to October.
PLATE XXVIII
Hydnum Caput-Medusæ.
PlateXXIX.—HYDNUM CAPUT-MEDUSÆ
Haunt and description
This species (Plate 28) cannot be confounded with any other; it is of a dark creamy color, and usually grows sidewise upon dead beech wood (Plate 29), sometimes in great profusion, especially in the summer. The soft spines entirely cover the rounded branching protuberances of the fungus. The upper teeth are short and form a sort of "crown," falling from which the more and more elongated spines are firmly pendent beneath, somewhat suggesting as many heads of tiny skye-terriers in crowded convocation—or a tiny bleached "hedgehog," if you choose.
A fungus bearing such conspicuous characteristics may be gathered and eaten without fear, assuming the specimen to be fresh and free from grubs. It will be found an aromatic and savory morsel, though simply fried in butter and served on toast.
Moss-mushroom
One other species may be mentioned briefly, theH. coralloides, or Moss-mushroom, which is unfamiliar to the writer, but which Curtis includes among his edible fungi. It may be found growing sidewise"on old trunks of living trees,"at first white, then yellowish, resembling when young thechou-fleur(cauliflower). From its base, which is tender and fleshy, spring a large number of flexible branches, interlaced and assembled in tufts, bearing upon the summit of each of their divisions an expansion of long points or projections, at first straight, then pendent, and even curved under, and terminating in layers. Cordier says that it is "delicate food."
Professor Peck speaks enthusiastically of this species. "It is found in woods, especially in hilly and mountainous districts, and occurs during rainy or showery weather from August to October. It is a pretty fungus, and very attractive to those who are neither botanists nor fungus eaters, and it is as good as it is beautiful. In our botanical expeditions in the vast wilderness of the Adirondack region, we were often obliged to camp in the woods several nights in succession. On such occasions this fungus sometimes formed a luxurious addition to our ordinarily simple and sometimes limited bill of fare."
Hydnum in the kitchen
The Hydnei may be cooked in the same manner as employed for the ordinary mushroom, or gathered and dried for winter use, a very common custom on the Continent. Owing to the somewhat firm, compact substance of these mushrooms they should be cookedslowly, in order to preserve their tenderness. Berkeley recommends that they be "previously" steeped in hot water. Badham especially favors the Hydnum stew, which he claims is "an excellent dishwith a flavor of oysters." According to the same authority it yields also a "very good purée." The "oyster" flavor is recognized in many of the epicurean encomiums on this species. Various hints as to its culinary treatment will be found in a later chapter.
Clavaria
A neglected feast
What frequenter of the summer and autumn woods has failed to observe that occasional dense cluster of creamy-colored, coral-like growth such as I have indicated atPlate 30, and who has thought to gather up its fragile, succulent mass with designs on the cook? I have seen clusters of this fungus so dense and ample as to strikingly suggest a huge cauliflower, and representing many pounds in weight. But in the absence of popular appreciation it must needs decay by "whole hundred-weights" in the woods.
This is the Clavaria, or coral fungus—more literally translated, though less appropriate to this particular species, "club fungus"—a representative of a genus containing many edible species.
The one presented in the Plate isClavaria formosa, or the elegant Clavaria. It grows from four to six inches in height, is deep creamy yellow or pale orange buff in color, and slightly reddish at tips of branches. It has a sweet taste, a fragile, brittle consistency, and white substance; its spores are pale-ochre colored. Curtis gives thirteen edible native species. Among them are the following, which hardlycall for severe technical description, as the entire group are doubtless edible:
THE WHITE CORAL FUNGUS
Clavaria coralloides
Thetrue"coral fungus"—Clavaria coralloides—of our woods resemblesC. formosain general shape, but its color iswhite, or perhaps pale gray. Its thick stem is hollow, and its uneven, crowded branches are brittle and flesh-white. Its odor is like that of theAgaricus campestris, and it possesses a sweet, pleasant flavor. Cordier recommends it as eatable even when raw. This species is in great favor in Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, where it is desiccated for winter use.
PLATE XXXTHE CORAL FUNGUS
Clavaria formosa
Thickly branched from a stout pale base, the dense branchlets being tipped with two or three minute teeth.
Color:Saffron yellow. Tips generally darker and more rosy.Flesh:White.Spores:Ochre-tinted.Taste:Sweet, tender, and delicate.Height:Four to six inches.Habitat:Woods.
Color:Saffron yellow. Tips generally darker and more rosy.
Flesh:White.
Spores:Ochre-tinted.
Taste:Sweet, tender, and delicate.
Height:Four to six inches.
Habitat:Woods.
PLATE XXX
Clavaria Formosa.
PlateXXXI.—VARIOUS FORMS OF CLAVARIA.
Clavaria fastigiata
Clavaria fastigiatais a somewhat dwarf variety, usually found on lawns and pastures, seldom reaching a height of more than two inches. In general aspect it resembles Fig. 3 in Plate 31. It is of a yellow color, very densely branched from its short, slender stem close to the ground, the branches mostly terminating at the same height.
White-spored species edible
All of the above-mentioned species, exceptC. formosa, havewhite spores, and while none of the genus is considered poisonous, though some are so bitter and of such tough consistency as to make them unfit for food, it is generally conceded among the authorities thatall white-sporedClavariasare certainly edible. The spores are easily obtained by simply laying the fungus upon a dark surface and excluding the air, as directed in a later chapter.
The various forms assumed by the Clavarei are indicated in Plate 31.
Fig. 1 isC. flava; 2.C. stricta; 3.C. umbrina; 4.C. rugosa; 5.C. amethystina. Any specimen bearing resemblance to any of these in form, and which is found to havewhitespores, may be eaten without fear.
The Clavaria forms a most inviting relish by the simple process of frying in butter, with seasoning to taste. They have the advantage of being quite free from "fungus-worms," and in the larger species are occasionally so plentiful that a half-bushel may be gathered in a few moments.
Another species bearing the general shape suggested in Plate 31, fig. 1, is theC. botrytis. It has a thick, fleshy trunk and swollen branches. Its substance is very brittle; color creamy-yellow, with red-tipped branchlets. It is found in woods.
Morchella esculenta
In decided contrast to any of the foregoing fungi, and of unmistakable aspect, is the famous Morel,Morchella esculenta(Plate 32).
Botanical characters
The Morel belongs to a cohort of fungi known as the Sporidiifera, in which the spores areenclosed in bag-like envelopes, in distinction to the Sporifera, in which the spores arenakedandexposed, as shown in Plates35and36. These cysts, or bags, orasci, which resemble thecystidiumin Plate 35, and in the family of Ascomycetes, to which the Morel belongs, each contains about eight spores, which are finally liberated by the bursting of the tip of the bag, after the manner of a Puff-ball.
In the Morel the hymenium or spore-bearing surface is crowded with these cysts, and covers the entire exposed conical and pitted surface of the mushroom.
Description is hardly necessary with its portrait before us. No other fungus at all resembles it except those of the same genus, and inasmuch as they areall edible, we may safely add to our bill of fare any fungus which resembles our illustration. The Morel has long been considered as one of the rarest of delicacies, always at a fancy premium in the markets—abon-motfor the rich, a prize for the peasant. I could fill all my allotted space with the delicate schemes of the chefs in its preparation for the table.
PLATE XXXIITHE MOREL
Morchella esculenta
Pileus:Oval, elliptical, or round in outline; diameter one inch to three inches in a large specimen; hollow. Color pale yellowish brown, varying to greenish; surface more or less regularly honey-combed with deep depressions.Stem:Hollow, dingy white, united to the base of pileus.Taste:Sweet and pleasant.Habitat:Woods, orchards, and shaded grassy places.Season:May and June.
Pileus:Oval, elliptical, or round in outline; diameter one inch to three inches in a large specimen; hollow. Color pale yellowish brown, varying to greenish; surface more or less regularly honey-combed with deep depressions.
Stem:Hollow, dingy white, united to the base of pileus.
Taste:Sweet and pleasant.
Habitat:Woods, orchards, and shaded grassy places.
Season:May and June.
PLATE XXXII
Morchella Esculenta.
Dr. Badham's recommendation, among my list of recipes, is worth a trial for the sake of novelty, if nothing more. The hollow shape of our Morel thus suggests a variation on the conventional methods of cooking.
The color of the Morel in its prime is grayish-green, occasionally brownish. It is most commonly found in orchards, and is said to favor spots where charcoal or cinders have been thrown.
Helvella crispa
Specific characters
One of the most strikingly individual of all the mushrooms, and one which could not possibly be confounded with any other kind, is the example pictured inPlate 33. With this mere portrait as our guide, we might safely classify our specimen—at least, as to its genus; and inasmuch as no one of the group is poisonous, and all are edible with varying degrees of esculence, we can make no mistake even in our ventures as amateur mycophagists. When, therefore, we find a fungus with such a peculiar, irregularly fluted and hollowed stem, itself hollow within, or tubular, and surmounted with a rather thin, flexible, wavy cap, resembling our illustration, we may know that we have a specimen of Helvella. If this example happens to be creamy above and ochre-coloredbeneath, it is theHelvella crispaof our Plate. The specimen here shown is somewhat larger than in nature. Other species are differently formed and colored, one of them having the cap dark ash-colored or even black. There are three species occasionally met with, of which the first,H. crispa, is the most common and perhaps the most delectable.
Dried mushrooms
The peculiar texture of these mushrooms permits of their ready desiccation, and in Britain and on the Continent they are commonly strung on strings and dried for future use, in which condition they have been compared to dried "wash-leather" in texture. The famous aristocratic Morel (Morchella esculenta), already described, so prized as food in Europe, and to which the Helvella is closely allied, has a similar irregular, pitted, hollowed, and netted surface over its entire conical or globular gray cap, and the same texture. Most competent judges claim that the delicious Morel possesses no advantages over the more plebeian Helvella as a delicacy for the table. The flavor is identical, and the other qualities of the two mushrooms make them equally desirable.
The readiness with which they may be dried, and thus kept indefinitely, is another distinct advantage which the Morels and Helvellas possess over the ordinary gilled Agarics, many of which must be gathered in their young prime and immediately eaten.
There are numerous ways of serving these fungi, among which is the common method of frying with butter or oil, and variously seasoning with onion, garlic, herbs, etc., according to taste, and serving on toast, or with crisped bread-crumbs. Our chapter on recipes will suggest other more elaborate methods.
PLATE XXXIIITHE WHITE HELVELLA
Helvella crispa
Pileus:Two to three inches in diameter; wavy or curled, reflexed at edges, often puckered towards centre; white or pale creamy; somewhat leathery in texture in older specimens.Spore surface:On underside of cap, ochraceous.Stem:White, more or less furrowed with vertical hollows.Taste:Similar to Morel, to which it is closely allied.Habitat:Woods.Season:Summer and autumn.
Pileus:Two to three inches in diameter; wavy or curled, reflexed at edges, often puckered towards centre; white or pale creamy; somewhat leathery in texture in older specimens.
Spore surface:On underside of cap, ochraceous.
Stem:White, more or less furrowed with vertical hollows.
Taste:Similar to Morel, to which it is closely allied.
Habitat:Woods.
Season:Summer and autumn.
PLATE XXXIII
Helvella Crispa.
Lycoperdaceæ
SECTION OF PUFF-BALL—Earlier and Later Stages
A detailed discrimination of the Puff-balls is hardly necessary here, and I will therefore omit it. While I am not inclined to go so far as to contend, as was the quaint habit of old Dr. Culpeper, in hisHerbal, in which he was wont similarly to elude description of an herb, affirming that "he were a fool indeed who does not know this plant"—or words of similar import—it is perfectly safe to say that if there is one fungus more than another with which the populace isspecificallyfamiliar it is the Puff-ball.
Spore-cloud dissemination
In these fungi, of which there are many species, the spores are incased within the white or dingy peridium or more or less globular case—gasteromyceteæ, fromgaster, a stomach. The interior spore substance is at first white and firm in structure, atlength peppered with gray, both conditions being indicated in accompanying cut, and ultimately black or brown, after which the outer case becomes dry and papery, and soon bursts at the summit, liberating its clouds of spores with the slightest zephyr, or, later, becoming dislodged from its slender anchorage to the soil, is whisked before the breeze enveloped in its spore-smoke. Fries, the eminent fungologist, has reckoned the number of these spores in a single Puff-ball at ten millions—presumably a conservative estimate.
But it will surprise most people to know that the plebeian Puff-ball of our pastures is good for something besides the kick of the small boy.
There are a number of species of the Puff-ball, and none of them is known to be poisonous.
Various species
I have indicated an arbitrary group inPlate 34ranging in shape and size from the small white globular variety of an inch in diameter,L. saccatum, and the pear-shapedL. gemmatum, to the giant pasture species, which may frequently attain the dimensions of a football or a bushel basket. In its larger dimensions it is more spreading in shape, being somewhat wider than high.All the Puff-balls are edibleif gathered at thewhite stage—i.e., white pulp; those of yellow or darker fracture being excluded, as the fungus in this later stage is not considered fit for food.