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

=CORTINA´RIUS= Fr. _Cortina_, a veil or curtain. =Veil= resembling the consistency of a cob-web, superficial, distinct from the cuticle of the pileus. =Flesh= of pileus and stem continuous. =Gills= persistent, dry, changing color, powdered with the spores. =Trama= fibrillose. =Spores= globose or oblong, somewhat ochraceous on white paper. _Fries._ This genus is not easily confounded with any other, the cob-webby veil stretched from stem to pileus in the young plant not being found in other fungi. This must be looked for only in youth, as from its tender character it soon breaks and often appears only as a very indistinct collar on the stem, colored from catching the falling spores. The colors are generally pronounced and often extremely bright, there being very few prettier toadstools than those inclined to the blue or purple shades, which are not uncommon in the immature form. The color of the spores is also a marked feature, being rusty or brownish-ochraceous, turning the gills to the same color at maturity. On account of this change it is generally necessary to have specimens at both stages of growth to accurately determine the species. The gills are thin, attached to the stem in various manners, rarely slightly decurrent. Cortinarius is distinguished from Flammula by growing on the ground and by the bright ferruginous color of its spores. Cortinarius is a sturdy, hardy genus preferring northern latitudes and autumnal months, though several of its species grow as far south as Alabama, and one, a new species described by Professor Peck, is found on the Helderberg mountains in May. The genus contains many species, most of which produce in great numbers, yet being woods-growing, and coming as they do when leaves are falling, they are often missed because of their similarity to their surroundings. Heretofore, less than a dozen species have been reported as eaten. This number is now doubled. While several species are bitter and others equally unpleasant, not one has been accused of harm. It is highly probable that other varieties than those herein given will prove equally acceptable as food. I have tested all I have found in sufficient quantity to warrant passing judgment upon them. The genus does not contain as many species of superior excellence as other fleshy genera of like numbers. The flesh is frequently dry and of a strong woody or musky flavor, which it does not lose in cooking. The stems are seldom cookable. All can be fried in butter, but cut in small pieces and well stewed, or stewed and served in patties, or made into croquettes are certain ways of keeping them in palate memory. ANALYSIS OF TRIBES. PHLEGMACIUM (_Gr_—shiny or clammy moisture). Page 308. Pileus viscid. Stem firm, dry. Veil partial, cobweb-like. _A._ CLIDUCHII (_Gr_—holding the keys—the typical subdivision). Page 308. Partial veil as a ring on the upper part of the stem which is equal or slightly expanded above. Not distinctly bulbous. * Gills pallid then clay-colored. ** Gills purplish then clay-colored. _B._ SCAURI (_Gr_—club-footed). Page 310. Bulbous. Bulb depressed or top-shaped, with a distinct margin caused by the pressure of the pileus before expansion. Veil generally ascending from the margin of the bulb. Gills somewhat sinuate. * Gills whitish then cinnamon. ** Gills blue then cinnamon. *** Gills brownish-white then cinnamon. MYXACIUM (_Gr_—mucus). Page 313. Universal veil glutinous. Pileus and stem viscid. Stem slightly bulbous. Gills adnate. INOLOMA (_Gr_—a fibrous fringe). Page 314. Pileus dry, not hygrophanous or viscid, covered at first with innate silky scales or fibrils, becoming smooth. Veil simple. Pileus and stem fleshy, rather bulbous. * Gills violaceous, then cinnamon. ** Gills pinkish-brown, then cinnamon. *** Gills yellow, then cinnamon. DERMOCYBE. Page 320. Pileus thin, equally fleshy, at first silky with a fine down, becoming smooth when adult. Not hygrophanous, but flesh watery when moist or colored. Stem equal or larger above, externally rigid, elastic or brittle, internally stuffed or hollow. Veil single, thread-like. TELAMONIA. Page 323. Pileus moist, hygrophanous, at first smooth or sprinkled with the whitish superficial evanescent fibrils of the veil. Flesh thin, or when thick it becomes abruptly thin toward the margin, scissile. Stem ringed below or coated from the universal veil, slightly veiled at the apex, hence with almost a double veil. HYGROCYBE. Page 325. Pileus hygrophanous, smooth or covered with superficial white fibrils, not viscid, moist when fresh, becoming discolored when dry. Flesh very thin or scissile, rarely more compact at the center. Stem rather rigid, bare. Veil thin, rarely collapsing and forming an irregular ring on the stem. PHLEGMA´CIUM. (_Gr_—clammy moisture.) _A._ CLIDUCHII. * _Gills pallid, then clay-colored._ =C. seba´ceus= Fr.—_sebum_, tallow. =Pileus= 2½-5 in. broad, unicolorous, _pale_, of the color of tallow, equally fleshy, convex then rather plane, commonly very repand, viscid, smooth, but at the first _covered over with a whitish pruinose luster_. =Flesh= white. =Stem= 3–4 in. long, ½-1 in. thick, solid, stout, compact, never bulbous, often twisted and compressed, slightly fibrillose, pale white. =Cortina= delicate, fugacious, adhering only to the margin of the pileus. =Gills= emarginate, _not crowded_, connected by veins, 4 lines broad, clay-color or pallid-cinnamon, paler at the sides. _Fries._ The flesh of the pileus is not compact at the disk and abruptly thin at the circumference, but equally attenuated toward the margin. The flesh of the stem is white. The gills never turn bluish-gray. Taste mild. _Stevenson._ =Spores= pip-shaped, 9×7µ _Cooke_. A very common and prolific species in West Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, North Carolina. _McIlvaine._ Pushing from the earth in great clusters it raises the mat of leaves above it into hut-like mounds through which it seldom bursts. Yet side openings to its huts show its coziness, and reveal the ground thickly dusted with its spores. Detecting these mounds is part of the woodcraft of a toad-stool hunter. Where clusters are not dense, or the fungus is solitary, the stem is frequently swollen at the base, even bulbous. Both caps and stems are edible, but the stems are not equal to the caps. It is a valuable food species, because of its lateness and quantity. It is not of best quality. =C. tur´malis= Fr.—_turma_, a troop. (Plate LXXXII, fig. 4, p. 306.) =Pileus= yellow-tan, most frequently darker at the disk, not changeable, compact, convex then plane, very obtuse, even, smooth (sometimes obsoletely piloso-virgate), when young veiled with pruinate but very fugacious villous down, soon naked, viscid. =Flesh= white. =Stem= sometimes 3 in., sometimes 6 in. long, 1 in. thick, solid, very hard, rigid, _cylindrical_, here and there attenuated at the base, shining white when dry, _when young sheathed with a white woolly veil_, naked when full grown. Cortina entirely fibrillose, superior and persistent in the form of a ring, at length ferruginous with the spores. =Gills= variously adnexed, rounded or emarginate, even decurrent with a tooth, crowded, _serrated_, white then clay-color. _Fries._ I find it edible and of great value, being plentiful in pine woods, Maryland. I have collected a bushel in less than an hour in October. Under pine needles forming mounds. _Taylor._ The localities and the habit of C. turmalis are very like that of C. sebaceus. The leaf mat broods the clusters. C. turmalis is on a par with C. sebaceus. Personally I prefer the latter. ** _Gills purplish, then clay-colored._ =C. va´rius= (Schaeff.) Fr.—_varius_, changeable. =Pileus= 2 in. and more broad, bright _ferruginous-tawny_, compact, hemispherico-flattened, very obtuse, regular, slightly viscid, even, smooth, the thin margin at first incurved, appendiculate with the cortina. =Flesh= firm, white. =Stem= curt, 1½-2½ in. long, 1 in. and more thick, _bulbous_, absolutely immarginate, compact, _shining white_, adpressedly flocculose, the superior veil pendulous. =Gills= emarginate, thin, somewhat crowded, _at first_ narrow, _violaceous-purplish_, then broader and ochraceous-cinnamon, always quite entire. Variable in stature, but the habit and colors are always unchangeable. It varies with the stem taller and somewhat equal, the pileus yellow-tawny, and the gills dark blue. _Fries._ In woods. Uncommon. September to November. _Stevenson._ Minnesota; Ohio. Edible. _Cooke_, 1891. _B._ SCAU´RI. * _Gills whitish then cinnamon._ =C. intru´sus= Pk. =Pileus= fleshy, rather thin, convex, then expanded, glabrous, somewhat viscid when moist, even or radiately wrinkled on the margin, yellowish or buff, sometimes with a reddish tint. =Flesh= white. =Lamellæ= thin, close, rounded behind, at first whitish or creamy-white, then cinnamon, often uneven on the edge. =Stem= equal or slightly tapering either upward or downward, stuffed or hollow, sometimes beautifully striate at the top only or nearly to the base, minutely floccose when young, soon glabrous, white. =Spores= broadly elliptical, brownish-cinnamon, 6–8×4–5µ. =Pileus= 1–2.5 in. broad. =Stem= 1–3 in. long, 3–6 lines thick. Mushroom beds, manured soil in conservatories or in plant pots. Boston, Mass. _R.K. Macadam._ Haddonfield, N.J. _C. McIlvaine._ This interesting species is closely allied to Cortinarius multiformis and belongs to the Section Phlegmacium. It has a slight odor of radishes and is pronounced edible by Mr. McIlvaine. Its habitat is peculiar, but it possibly finds its way into conservatories and mushroom beds through the introduction of manure or soil, or leaf mold from the woods. It seems strange, however, that it has not yet been detected growing in the woods or fields. Hebeloma fastibile is said sometimes to invade mushroom beds, and our plant resembles it in so many particulars that it is with some hesitation I separate it. The chief differences are in the stem and spores. The former, in Hebeloma fastibile, is described as solid and fibrous-squamose and the latter as 10×6 micromillimeters in size. The brighter color of the smaller spores and the stuffed or hollow smooth stem of our plant will separate it from this species. _Peck_, Bull. of the Torrey Bot. Club, October, 1896. Cortinarius intrusus was a happy find. Several pints of it were collected by the author in February—usually a famine month for the mycophagist. They grew on the ground, in beds among plants, and with potted plants in a hot-house in Haddonfield, N.J. The crop continued well into the spring. The species is delicate, savory, and a most accommodating renegade from its kind. I have never found it elsewhere. ** _Gills blue, then cinnamon._ =C. cærules´cens= Fr. =Pileus= 2–3 in. across, equally fleshy, convex then plane, obtuse, regular, even, almost glabrous, but often fibrilloso-streaked; viscid, when dry shining or opaque, dingy yellow, almost tan-colored, varying to yellowish-brown, etc. =Gills= slightly rounded behind, adnexed, thin, closely crowded, 2 lines broad, at first clear intense blue then becoming purplish, at length dingy cinnamon. =Stem= about 2 in. long, ½ in. thick (bulb more than an inch), firm, equally attenuated upward, at first fibrillose, bright violet, then becoming pale and whitish, naked, bulb often disappearing with age; veil fibrillose, fugacious. =Spores= elliptical, 9–10×5µ. Amongst moss in woods, etc. Neither the gills nor the flesh change color when broken, a point which distinguishes the present from C. purpurascens. When young every part is generally blue. Smell scarcely any. _Fries._ =Spores= 10–12×5µ _Cooke_. Haddonfield; West Virginia; Mt. Gretna, Pa. In woods September to frost. _McIlvaine._ The American species seldom entirely loses the bluish-purple color of its cap. The beautiful color fades somewhat or becomes splotched with yellow. Neither does the bulb ordinarily disappear with age. It is common. Taste of cap is mild, somewhat woody. They require long, slow stewing, and are better made into patties and croquettes. =C. purpuras´cens= Fr.—gills becoming purple when bruised. =Pileus= 4–5 in. across, fleshy, disk compact, obtuse, wavy, variable, covered with a dense layer of gluten, but opaque when dry, bay or reddish then tawny-olivaceous, spotted; often depressed round the margin, which is at first incurved then wavy, marked with a raised brown line. =Flesh= entirely clear blue. =Gills= broadly emarginate, 3 lines and more broad, crowded, bluish-tan, then cinnamon, violet-purple when bruised. =Stem= about 3 in. long, ⅔ in. and more thick, solid, bulbous, everywhere fibrillose, intensely pallid clear blue, very compact, juicy, becoming purplish-blue when touched, bulb submarginate. =Spores= elliptical, 10–12×5–6µ _Fries_. Var. _subpurpuras´cens_. Massachusetts. _Frost._ Plentiful in West Virginia mountains in mixed woods, 1882. On South Valley Hill, near Downington, Pa., October, 1887. Haddonfield, N.J.,