Figure 5.Figure 5.--Small portion of a stem of a morel showing cell filaments. Highly magnified.—Longyear.
Figure 5.--Small portion of a stem of a morel showing cell filaments. Highly magnified.—Longyear.
If the cap or stem of a mushroom is examined with a microscope of high magnifying power it will be found to be made up of a continuation of the mycelial filaments, interlaced and interwoven, branching, and the tubular filaments often delicately divided, giving the appearance of cells. Figure 5 represents a small portion of a Morel stem highly magnified showing the cell filaments. In soft fungi the mycelial threads are more loosely woven and have thin walls with fewer partitions.
Theveilis a thin sheet of mycelial threads covering the gills, sometimes remaining on the stem, forming aringorannulus. This sometimes remains for a time on the margin of the cap when it is said to beappendiculate. Sometimes it resembles a spider's web when it is calledarachnoid.
Thevolvais a universal wrapper, surrounding the entire plant when young, but which is soon ruptured, leaving a trace in the form of scales on the cap and a sheath around the base of the stem, or breaking up into scales or a scaly ring at the base of the stem. All plants having this universal volva should be avoided, further than for the purpose of study. Care should be taken that, in their young state, they are not mistaken for puff-balls. Frequently when found in the egg state they resemble a small puff-ball. Figure 6 represents a section of an Amanita in the egg-state and also the Gemmed puff-ball. As soon as a section is made and carefully examined the structure of the inside will reveal the plant at once. There is but little danger of confusing the egg stage of an Amanita with the puff-ball, for they resemble each other only in their oval shape, and not in the least in their marking on the surface.
Figure 6.Figure 6.—The lefthand figure represents a vertical section through a young plant of the gemmed puff-ball showing the cellular structure of the stem-like lower half, called the subgleba. The righthand figure shows a vertical section of the egg stage of an Amanita, a very poisonous fungus which grows in woods and which might be mistaken for a young puff-ball if not cut open. The fungus forms just below the surface of the soil, finally bursting the volva, sending up a parasol mushroom. Natural size.—Longyear.
Figure 6.—The lefthand figure represents a vertical section through a young plant of the gemmed puff-ball showing the cellular structure of the stem-like lower half, called the subgleba. The righthand figure shows a vertical section of the egg stage of an Amanita, a very poisonous fungus which grows in woods and which might be mistaken for a young puff-ball if not cut open. The fungus forms just below the surface of the soil, finally bursting the volva, sending up a parasol mushroom. Natural size.—Longyear.
WHAT IS A FUNGUS OR A MUSHROOM?It is a cellular, flowerless plant, nourished by the mycelium which permeates the soil or other substances on which the fungus or mushroom grows. All fungi are either parasites or saprophytes which have lost their chlorophyll, and are incapable of supporting an independent existence.
There is a vast number of genera and species, and many have the parasitic habit which causes them to enter the bodies of other plants and of animals. For this reason all fungi are of economic importance, especially the microscopic forms classed under the head of Bacteria. Some recent writers are inclined to separate the Bacteria and slime-molds from the fungus group, and call themfungus animals. However this may be, they are true plants and have many of the characteristics of the fungi. They may differ from the fungi in their vegetative functions, yet they have so many things in common that I am inclined to place them under this group.
Many, such as the yeast fungus, the various fermentative fungi, and the Bacteria concerned in the process of decomposition, are indeed very useful. The enrichment and preparation of soils for the uses of higher plants, effected by Bacteria, are very important services.
Parasites derive their nourishment from living plants and animals. They are so constituted that when their nourishing threads come within range of the living plant they answer a certain impulse by sending out special threads, enveloping the host and absorbing nutrition. Saprophitic plants do not experience this reaction from the living plants. They are compelled to get their nourishment from decaying products of plants or animals, consequently they live in rich groundor leaf mold, on decayed wood, or on dung. Parasites are usually small, being limited by their host. Saprophytes are not thus limited for food supply and it is possible to build up large plants such as the common mushroom group, puff-balls, etc.
The spores are the seeds or reproductive bodies of the mushroom. They are very fine, and invisible to the naked eye except when collected together in great masses. Underneath mushrooms, frequently, the grass or wood will be white or plainly discolored from the spores. The hymenium is the surface or part of the plant which bears the spores. The hymenophore is the part which supports the hymenium.
In the common mushroom, and in fact many others, the spores develop on a certain club-like cell, called basidium (plural, basidia), on each of which four spores usually develop. In morels these cells are elongated into cylindrical membranous sacs called asci, in each of which eight spores are usually developed. The spores will be found of various colors, shapes, and sizes, a fact which will be of great assistance to the student in locating strange species and genera. In germination the spores send out slender threads which Botanists call mycelium, but which common readers know as spawn.
The method and place of spore development furnish a basis for the classification of fungi. The best way to acquire a thorough knowledge of both our edible and poisonous mushrooms is to study them in the light of the primary characters employed in their classification and their natural relation to each other.
There is a wide difference of opinion as to the classification of mushrooms. Perhaps the most simple and satisfactory is that of Underwood and Cook. They arrange them under six groups:
This class will include all gill-bearing fungi, Polyporus, Boletus, Hydnum, etc.
Fungi of this class are divided into four natural groups:
Under this group will be placed all fungi composed of membranes, fleshy, woody, or gelatinous, whether growing on the ground or on wood. The hymenium, or spore-bearing surface, is external at an early stage in the life of the plant. The spores are borne on basidia as explained in Figure 2, page 6. When the spores ripen they fall to the ground or are carried by the wind to a host that presents all the conditions necessary for germination; there they produce the mycelia or white thread-like vines that one may have noticed in plowing sod, in old chip piles, or decayed wood. If one will examine these threads there will be found small knots which will in time develop into the full grown mushroom. Hymenomycetes are divided into six families:
Figure 7.Figure 7.—Spore-print of Agaricus arvensis.
Figure 7.—Spore-print of Agaricus arvensis.
In the Agaricaceæ or common mushrooms, and in all other of similar structure, the spore-producing membranes are found on the under surface of the cap. They consist of thin lamellæ, or gills, attached by the upper edge to the cap and extending from the stem to the margin of the cap. Very frequently that space may be entirely utilized by shorter lamellæ, or gills, intervening between the longer, especially toward the margin of the cap. In a few species where the stem seems to be wanting, or where it is attached to the side of the cap, the lamellæ, or gills, radiate from the point of attachment or from the lateral stem to other parts of the circumference of the cap. Berkeley gives the following characteristics: Hymenium, inferior, spread over easily divisible gills or plates, radiating from a center or stem, which may be either simple or branched.
This family includes the following genera:
Therefore the gill-bearing fungi are known under the family name, Agaricaceæ, or more generally known as Agarics.
Figure 8.Figure 8.—Spore-print of Hypholoma sublatertium.
Figure 8.—Spore-print of Hypholoma sublatertium.
This family is divided into five series, according to the color of their spores. The spores when seen in masses possess certain colors, white, rosy, rusty, purple-brown and black. Therefore the first and most important part to be determined in locating a mushroom is to ascertain the color of the spores. To do this, take a fresh, perfect, and fully developed specimen, remove the stem from the cap. Place the cap with the gills downward on the surface of dark velvety paper, if you suspect the spores to be white. Invert a finger bowl or a bell glass over the cap to keep the airfrom blowing the spores away. If the spores should be colored, white paper should be used. If the specimen is left too long the spore deposit will continue upward between the gills and it may reach an eighth of an inch in height, in which case if great care is taken in removing the cap there will be a perfect likeness of the gills and also the color of the spores.
Figure 9.Figure 9.—Spore-print of a Flammula.
Figure 9.—Spore-print of a Flammula.
There are two ways of making these spore prints quite permanent. First take a piece of thin rice paper, muscilage it and allow it to dry, then proceed as above. In this way the print will stand handling quite a little. Another way, and that used to prepare the spore-prints in these photographs, is to obtain the spore-print upon Japanese paper as in the preceding method, then by an atomizer spray the print gently and carefully with a fixative such as is used in fixing charcoal drawings. Success in making spore-prints requires both time and care, but the satisfaction they give is ample recompense for the trouble. It is more difficult to obtain good prints from the white-spored mushrooms than from those bearing colored spores, because it is hard to obtain a black paper having a dull velvety surface, and the spores will not adhere well to a smooth-finished, glossy paper. For the prints illustrated I am indebted to Mrs. Blackford.
Figure 10.Figure 10.—Spore-print of a Boletus.
Figure 10.—Spore-print of a Boletus.
If the plant is dry it is well to moisten the fingerbowl or bell-glass on the inside before placing it over the mushroom. The spores of Boleti, and, indeed, all fungi can be caught and fixed in the same way.
From the study of these spore-prints we shall find five different colors of spores. This family is, therefore, divided into five series, determined by the color of the spores, which are always constant in color, size and shape.
The five series will be treated in the following order:
This key is largely based upon Cooke's analytical key. Its use will help to locate the plant in hand in the genus to which it belongs.
The first thing the student should do is to determine the color of the spore if it is not evident. This is best done according to the plan described on page 15.
The plant should be fresh and mature. Careful attention should be given to different stages of development. The habit of the plant should be considered; then, as soon as the color of the spores is determined, it will be an easy matter to locate the genus by means of the key.
Mycelium floccose, giving rise to a distinct hymenium, fungus fleshy, membranaceous, woody or gelatinous. Spores naked.
Hymenium, normally inferior—Hymenium with gillsAgaricaceæ.Hymenium with poresPolyporaceæ.Hymenium with teethHydnaceæ.Hymenium evenThelophoraceæ.Hymenium, superior—Hymenium on smooth surface, club-shaped,Clavariaceæ.Hymenium lobed, convolute, gelatinous,Tremellaceæ.
Hymenium inferior, pileus more or less expanded, convex, bell-shaped. Gills radiating from the point of attachment of the pileus with the stem, or from a lateral stem to other parts of the cap, simple or branched.
I. Spores white or slightly tinted.A.Plants fleshy, more or less firm, decaying soon.a.Stem fleshy, pileus easily separating from the stem.Volva present and ring on the stem.Pileus bearing warts or patches free from the cuticleAmanita.Volva present, ring wantingAmanitopsis.Pileus scaly, scales concrete with cuticle,Volva wanting, ring presentLepiota.Hymenophore confluent,Without cartilaginous bark,b.Stem central, ring present (sometimes vague),Volva wanting, gills attachedArmillaria.Without a ring,Gills sinuateTricholoma.Gills decurrent,Edges acuteClitocybe.Edges swollenCantharellus.Gills adnate,Parasitic on other mushroomsNyctalis.Not parasitic,MilkyLactarius.Not exuding juice when bruised,Rigid and brittleRussula.Quite viscid, waxy consistencyHygrophorus.c.Stem lateral or none, rarely centralPleurotus.d.Stem with cartilaginous bark,Gills adnateCollybia.Gills sinuateMycena.Gills decurrentOmphalia.Plants tough, fleshy, membranaceous, leathery,Stem central,Gills simpleMarasmius.Gills branchedXerotus.B.Plants gelatinous and leatheryHeliomyces.Stem lateral or wanting,Edge of gills serrateLentinus.Edge of gills entirePanus.Gills fold-like, irregularTrogia.Edge of gills split longitudinallySchizophyllum.C.Plants corky or woody,Gills anastomosing.Lenzites.II. Spores rosy or salmon color.A.Stem central.Gills free, stem easily separating from pileus.Without cartilaginous stem,Volva present and distinct, no ringVolvaria.Without a volva, with a ringAnnularia.Without a volva and without a ringPluteus.B.Stem fleshy to fibrous, margin of pileus at first incurved,Gills sinuate or adnateEntoloma.Gills decurrentClitopilus.C.Stem eccentric or none, pileus lateralClaudopus.Gills decurrent, pileus umbilicateEccilia.Gills not decurrent, pileus torn into scales, and slightly convex, margin at first involuteLeptonia.Pileus bell-shaped, margin at first straightNolanea.III. Spores rusty-brown or yellow-brown.A.Stem not cartilaginous,a.Stem central,With a ring,Ring continuousPholiota.Veilarachnoid,Gills adnate, powdery from sporesCortinarius.Gills decurrent or adnate, mostly epiphytalFlammula.Gills somewhat sinuate, cuticle of the pileus silky, or bearing fibrilsInocybe.Cuticle smooth, viscidHebeloma.Gills separating from the hymenophore and decurrentPaxillus.b.Stem lateral or absentCrepidotus.B.Stem cartilaginous,Gills decurrentTubaria.Gills not decurrent,Margin of the pileus at first incurvedNaucoria.Margin of pileus always straight,Hymenophore freePluteolus.Hymenophore confluentGalera.Gills dissolving into a gelatinous conditionBolbitius.IV. Spores purple-brown.A.Stem not cartilaginous,Pileus easily separating from the stem,Volva present, ring wantingChitonia.Volva and ring wantingPilosace.Volva wanting, ring presentAgaricus.Gills confluent, ring present on stemStropharia.Ring wanting, veil remaining attached to margin of pileusHypholoma.B.Stem cartilaginous,Gills decurrentDeconia.Gills not decurrent, margin of pileus at first incurvedPsilocybe.Margin of pileus at first straightPsathyra.V. Black spored mushrooms.Gills deliquescentCoprinus.Gills not deliquescent,Gills decurrentGomphidius.Gills not decurrent, pileus striatePsathyrella.Pileus not striate, ring wanting, veil often present on marginPanæolus.Ring wanting, veil appendiculateChalymotta.Ring presentAnellaria.
The species bearing the white spores seem to be higher in type than those producing colored spores. Most of the former are firmer, while the black spored specimens soon deliquesce. The white spores are usually oval, sometimes round, and in many cases quite spiny. All white-spored specimens will be found in clean places.
Amanitais supposed to be derived from Mount Amanus, an ancient name of a range separating Cilicia from Syria. It is supposed that Galen first brought specimens of this fungus from that region.
The genusAmanitahas both a volva and veil. The spores are white and the stem is readily separable from the cap. The volva is universal at first, enveloping the young plant, yet distinct and free from the cuticle of the pileus.
This genus contains some of the most deadly poisonous mushrooms, although a few are known to be very good. There is a large number of species—about 75 being known, 42 of which have been found in this country—a few being quite common in this state. All the Amanita are terrestrial plants, mostly solitary in their habits, and chiefly found in the woods, or in well wooded grounds.
In the button stage it resembles a small egg or puff-ball, as will be seen in Figure 6, page 11, and great care should be taken to distinguish it from the latter, if one is hunting puff-balls to eat; yet the danger is not great, since the volva usually breaks before the plant comes through the ground.
The Deadly Amanita.
Figure 11.Figure 11.—Amanita phalloides. Fr. Showing volva at the base, cap dark.
Figure 11.—Amanita phalloides. Fr. Showing volva at the base, cap dark.
Figure 012.Figure 12.—Amanita phalloides. Fr. White form showing volva, scaly stem, ring.
Figure 12.—Amanita phalloides. Fr. White form showing volva, scaly stem, ring.
Phalloidesmeans phallus-like. This plant and its related species are deadly poisonous. For this reason the plant should be carefully studied and thoroughly known by every mushroom hunter. In different localities, and sometimes in the same locality, the plant will appear in very different shades of color. There are also variations in the way in which the volva is ruptured, as well as in the character of the stem.
The beginner will imagine he has a new species often, till he becomes thoroughly acquainted with all the idiosyncrasies of this plant.
The pileus is smooth, even, viscid when young and moist, frequently adornedwith a few fragments of the volva, white, grayish white, sometimes smoky-brown; whether the pileus be white, oyster-color or smoky-brown, the center of the cap will be several shades darker than the margin. The plant changes from a knob or egg-shape when young, to almost flat when fully expanded. Many plants have a marked umbo on the top of the cap and the rim of the cap may be slightly turned up.
The gills are always white, wide, ventricose, rounded next to the stem, and free from it.
The stem is smooth, white unless in cases where the cap is dark, then the stem of those plants are apt to be of the same color, tapering upward as in the specimen (Fig. 11); stuffed, then hollow, inclined to discolor when handled.
The volva of this species is quite variable and more or less buried in the ground, where careful observation will reveal it.
One need never confound this species with the meadow mushroom, for the spores of that are always purple-brown, while a spore-print of this will always reveal white spores. I have seen a slight tint of pink in the gills of the A. phalloides but the spores were always white. Until one knows thoroughly both Lepiota naucina and A. phalloides before eating the former he should always hunt carefully for the remains of a volva and a bulbous base in the soil.
This plant is quite conspicuous and inviting in all of its various shades of color. It is found in woods, and along the margin of woods, and sometimes on lawns. It is from four to eight inches high and the pileus from three to five inches broad. There is a personality about the plant that renders it readily recognizable after it has once been learned. Found from August to October.
The Fresh-skinned Amanita. Poisonous.
Recutita, having a fresh or new skin. Pileus convex, then expanded, dry, smooth, often covered with small scales, fragments of the volva; margin almost even, gray or brownish.
The gills forming lines down the stem.
The stem stuffed, then hollow, attenuated upward, silky, white, ring distant, edge of volva not free, frequently obliterated.
Rather common where there is much pine woods. August to October.
This species differs from A. porphyria in ring not being brown or brownish.
The Poisonous Amanita.
Virosa, full of poison. The pileus is from four to five inches broad; the entire plant white, conical, then expanded; viscid when moist; margin often somewhat lobed, even.
The gills are free, crowded.
The stem is frequently six inches long, stuffed, round, with a bulbous base, attenuated upward, squamulose, ring near apex, volva large, lax.
The spores are subglobose, 8–10µ. This is probably simply a form of A. phalloides. It is found in damp woods. August to October.
The Fly Amanita. Poisonous.
Figure 13.Figure 13.—Amanita muscaria.—Linn.Cap reddish or orange, showing scales on the cap and at base of stem.
Figure 13.—Amanita muscaria.—Linn.Cap reddish or orange, showing scales on the cap and at base of stem.
Muscaria, from musca, a fly. The fly Amanita is a very conspicuous and handsome plant. It is so called because infusions of it are used to kill flies. I have frequently seen dead flies on the fully developed caps, where they had sipped of the dew upon the cap, and, like theLotos-eatersof old, had forgotten to move away. It is a very abundant plant in the woods of Columbiana county, this state. It is also found frequently in many localities about Chillicothe. It is often a very handsome and attractive plant, because of the bright colors of the cap in contrast with the white stem and gills, as well as the white scales on the surface of the cap. These scales seem to behave somewhat differently from those of other species of Amanita. Instead of shrivelling, curling, and falling off they are inclined to adhere firmly to the smooth skin of the pileus, turning brownish, and in the maturely expanded plant appear like scattered drops of mud which have dried upon the pileus, as you will observe in Figure 13.
The pileus is three to five inches broad, globose at first, then dumb-bell in shape, convex, then expanded, nearly flat in age; margin in matured plantsslightly striate; the surface of the cap is covered with white floccose scales, fragments of the volva, these scales being easily removed so that old plants are frequently comparatively smooth. The color of the young plant is normally red, then orange to pale yellow; late in the season, or in old plants, it fades to almost white. The flesh is white, sometimes stained yellow close to the cuticle.
The gills are pure white, very symmetrical, various in length, the shorter ones terminating under the cap very abruptly, crowded, free, but reaching the stem, decurrent in the form of lines somewhat broader in front, sometimes a slight tinge of yellow will be observed in the gills.
The stem is white, often yellowish with age, pithy and often hollow, becoming rough and shaggy, finally scaly, the scales below appearing to merge into the form of an obscure cup, the stem four to six inches long.
The veil covers the gills of the young plant and later is seen as a collar-like ring on the stem, soft, lax, deflexed, in old specimens it is often destroyed. The spores are white and broadly elliptical.
The history of this plant is as interesting as a novel. Its deadly properties were known to the Greeks and Romans. The pages of history record its undoing and its accessory to crime. Pliny says, alluding to this species, "very conveniently adapted for poisoning." This was undoubtedly the species that Agrippina, the mother of Nero, used to poison her husband, the Emperor Claudius; and the same that Nero used in that famous banquet when all his guests, his tribunes and centurions, and Agrippina herself, fell victims to its poisonous properties.
However, it is said this mushroom is habitually eaten by certain people as an intoxicant; indeed, it is used in Kamchatka and Asiatic Russia, generally, where the Amanita drunkard takes the place of the opium fiend and the alcohol bibber in other countries. By reading Colonel George Kennan in his "Tent-lifein Siberia," and Cooke's "Seven Sisters of Sleep," you will find a full description of the toxic employment of this fungus which will far surpass any possible imagination.
It caused the death of the Czar Alexis of Russia; also Count de Vecchi, with a number of his friends, in Washington in 1896. He was in search of the Orange Amanita and found this, and the consequences were serious.
In size, shape, and color of the cap there is similarity, but in other respects the two are very different. They may be contrasted as follows:
Orange Amanita, edible.—Capsmooth, gillsyellow, stemyellow, wrapperpersistent,membranaceous,white.
Fly Amanita, poisonous.—Capwarty, gillswhite, stemwhite, or slightlyyellowish, wrappersoon breakingintofragments or scales, white or sometimes yellowish brown.
Found along roadsides, wood margins, and in thin woods. It prefers poor soil, and is more abundant where poplar and hemlock grow. From June to frost.
Figure 14.Figure 14.—Amanita muscaria.—Linn.One-half natural size, showing development of the plant.
Figure 14.—Amanita muscaria.—Linn.One-half natural size, showing development of the plant.
Frost's Amanita. Poisonous.
Figure 15.Figure 15.—Amanita Frostiana.Photo by C. G. Lloyd.
Figure 15.—Amanita Frostiana.Photo by C. G. Lloyd.
Frostiana, named in honor of Charles C. Frost.
The pileus is convex, expanded, bright orange or yellow, warty, sometimes smooth, striate on the margin, pileus one to three inches broad.
The gills are free, white, or slightly tinged with yellow.
The stem is white or yellow, stuffed, bearing a slight, sometimes evanescent, ring, bulbous, at the base, the bulb slightly margined by the volva. The spores globose, 8–10µ in diameter.Peck.
Great care should be taken to distinguish this species from A. cæsarea because of its often yellow stem and gills. I found some beautiful specimens on Cemetery Hill and on Ralston's Run. It is very poisonous and should be carefully avoided, or rather, it should be thoroughly known that it may be avoided. The striations on the margin of its yellow tinge might lead one to mistake it for the Orange Amanita. It is found in shady woods and sometimes in open places where there is underbrush. June to October.
The Spring Amanita. Poisonous.
Figure 16.Figure 16.—Amanita verna. Two-thirds natural size, showing the volva cup and the ring.
Figure 16.—Amanita verna. Two-thirds natural size, showing the volva cup and the ring.
Verna, pertaining to spring. This species is considered by some only a white variety of Amanita phalloides. The plant is always a pure white. It can only be distinguished from the white form of the A. phalloides by its closer sheathing volva and perhaps a more ovate pileus when young.
The pileus is at first ovate, then expanded, somewhat depressed, viscid whenmoist, even, margin naked, smooth. The gills are free.
The stem is stuffed, with advancing age hollow, equal, floccose, white, ringed, base bulbous, volva closely embracing the stem with its free margin, ring forming a broad collar, reflexed. The spores are globose, 8µ broad.
This species is very abundant on the wooded hills in this section of the state. Its pure white color makes it an attractive plant, and it should be carefully learned. I have found it before the middle of June.
The Large Veiled Amanita. Poisonous.
Magnivelaris is frommagnus, large;velum, a veil.
The pileus is convex, often nearly plane, with even margin, smooth, slightly viscid when moist, white or yellowish-white.
The gills are free, close, white.
The stem is long, nearly equal, white, smooth, furnished with a large mebranaceous volva, the bulbous base tapering downward and rooting. The spores are broadly elliptical.
This species very closely resembles Amanita verna, from which it can be distinguished by its large, persistent annulus, the elongated downward-tapering bulb of its stem, and, especially, by its elliptical spores.
It is found solitary and in the woods. I found several on Ralston's Run under beech trees. Found from July to October.
Pileus at first campanulate, then expanded, slightly viscid, fleshy in center, attenuated at the margin; color a smooth bright red, deeper at the top, shaded into clear transparent yellow at the margin; glossy, flesh white, unchanging.
The gills are ventricose, free, numerous, yellow.
The stem is stuffed, ring descending, fugacious. Peck's 44th Report.
This species differs from Amanita cæsarea in having an even margin and a white stem. It is only a form of the cæsarea. The white stem will attract the attention of the collector.
The Solitary Amanita.