Toadstools, mushrooms, fungi, edible and poisonous; one thousand American fungi

=A. strobilifor´mis= Vitt.—_strobilis_, a pine-cone, from the shape of the warts. (Plate VIII, fig. 3, p. 18.) =Cap= 3–10 in. across, convex or nearly plane, white or cinereous, sometimes yellow on the disk, rough with angular, mostly persistent warts which sometimes fall away and leave the pileus nearly smooth; generally whitish, sometimes tinged with brown; the margin even and extending a little beyond the lamellæ. =Gills= free, rounded behind. =Veil= large and portions sometimes adhere to margin of cap. =Stem= 3–8 in. long, up to 1¼ in. thick, equal or slightly tapering upward, solid, floccose-scaly, white, bulbous, the bulb very large, sometimes weighing a pound, margined above and furnished with one or two concentric furrows, somewhat pointed below, firmly and deeply imbedded in the earth, floccose-mealy when young. =Spores= elliptical, 13–15×8–10µ _Peck_. Open woods and borders. June to October. Edible. _W.G. Smith_, _Curtis_, _Peck_. This is among the best of species. Its size, solidity, flavor are marked. I have found specimens weighing a pound and a half. It grows singly, but when one is found several are apt to be neighbors. When young, the cap is but a small knob upon a beet or top-shaped base, which is largely under ground. It cuts like a soft turnip, and has a strong, pungent, unmistakable odor, like chloride of lime, which entirely disappears in cooking. As the plant develops the bulb decreases in size. On all the many specimens the author has seen and eaten, the scabs are light brown and reddish-brown. =A. solita´ria= Bull.—growing alone. =Pileus= convex or plane, warty, white or whitish, even on the margin. =Gills= reaching the stem, white or slightly tinged with cream color. =Stem= at first mealy or scaly, equal, solid, white, bulbous, the bulb scaly or mealy, narrowed below into a root-like prolongation. =Ring= lacerated, often adhering in fragments to the margin of the pileus and gills. =Spores= elliptical-oblong, 8–13×6.5µ. =Plant= 4–8 in. high. =Pileus= 3–6 in. broad. =Stem= 4–6 lines thick. _Peck_, 33d Rep. N.Y. State Bot. Solitary in woods and open places. July to October. Georgia, _H.N. Starnes_; Indiana, _H.I. Miller_; West Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, _McIlvaine_. Edible. _Curtis_, _H.N. Starnes_, Philadelphia Myc. Club. In many localities I find it quite plentiful, and it is so reported from Georgia. Southern and middle New Jersey woods abound with it, and at Mt. Gretna, Pa., it is always present in its growing months. The cap is sometimes tinged with brown as are the angular, erect warts which are generally numerous, but often falling off or few and scattered. The flesh is white and smells like chloride of lime, but not nearly so strong as A. strobiliformis. The volva is broken up into floccose scales which cling to bulb and lower part of stem. These scales may be white and mealy or brownish. The entire fungus has a fluffy exterior, which is easily removed by rubbing. The annulus is torn, a part often adhering to the margin of the pileus and the gills. This and the long, tapering, rooting bulb are marked characteristics. The bulb is brittle. It is difficult to get the fungus from the ground entire. Stem and cap are juicy, tender, mild in flavor, wholesome. It is not equal in flavor to A. rubescens, but is more delicate. By many its properties have been stated as poisonous, doubtful. Quantities of it have been eaten by myself and friends. Hypodermic injection of its juices into the blood circulation of live animals prove it perfectly harmless. =A. can´dida Pk.=—shining white. =Pileus= thin, broadly convex or nearly plane, verrucose with numerous small, erect, angular or pyramidal, easily separable warts, often becoming smooth with age, white, even on the margin. =Flesh= white. =Gills= rather narrow, close, reaching to the stem, white. =Stem= solid, bulbous, floccose-squamose, white, the annulus attached to the top of the stem, becoming pendent and often disappearing with age, floccose-squamose on the lower surface, striate on the upper, the bulb rather large, ovate, squamose, not margined, tapering above into the stem and rounded or merely abruptly pointed below. =Spores= elliptical, 10–13×8µ. =Pileus= 3–6 in. broad. =Stem= 2.5–5 in. long, 5–8 lines thick, the bulb 1–1.5 in. thick in the dried specimens. This is a fine large species related to A. solitaria, but differing from it in the character of its bulb and of its annulus. The bulb is not marginate nor imbricately squamose. Its scales are small and numerous. Nor is it clearly radicating, though sometimes it has a slight abrupt point or myceloid-agglomerated mass of soil at its base. The veil or annulus is large and well developed, but it is apt to fall away and disappear with age. Its attachment at the very top of the stem brings it closely in contact with the lamellæ of the young plant and the striations of its upper surface appear to be due to the pressure of the edges of these upon it. It separates readily from the margin of the pileus and is not lacerated. In the mature plant the warts have generally disappeared from the pileus and sometimes its margin is curved upward _Peck_, Bull. Torr. Bot. Club, Vol. 24, No. 3. Woods. Auburn, N.Y., Alabama, _U. and E._; Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New Jersey, August to October, _McIlvaine_. A dozen or more specimens were found in oak woods near Philadelphia, and carefully tested. Their edible qualities were found to be precisely the same as A. solitaria. *** _Whole volva friable, etc._ =A. rubes´cens= Pers.—_rubesco_, to become red. (Plate VIII, fig. 2, p.