Cortinarius (Inoloma) violaceus (L.) Fr. Edible.—This species is known by the violet or dark violet color which pervades all parts of the plant. The plants are 8—10 cm. high, the pileus 7—15 cm. broad, and the stem is bulbous, 6—8 mm. in thickness. The veil is single. It occurs in woods and open places during late summer and in the autumn. The flesh of the plant is also violet, and this color is imparted to the liquid when the plant is cooked. The flavor is said to be something like that of Agaricus campestris.

Cortinarius (Myxacium) collinitus (Pers.) Fr. Edible.—This is known as the smeared cortinarius because of the abundant glutinous substance with which the plant is smeared during moist or wet weather. It grows in woods. The plants are 7—10 cm. high, the cap 5—8 cm. in diameter, and the stem is 8—12 mm. in thickness. It is usually known by the smooth, even, tawny cap, the great abundance of slimy substance covering the entire plant when moist, and when dry the cracking of the gluten on the stem into annular patches.

The pileus is convex to expanded, smooth, even, glutinous when wet, shining when dry, tawny. The gills are adnate with a peculiar bluish gray tinge when young, and clay color to cinnamon when old. The spores are nearly elliptical, and 12—15 x 6—7 mu. The stem is cylindrical, even, and with patches of the cracked gluten when dry.

Cortinarius (Dermocybe) cinnamomeus (L.) Fr. Edible.—The cinnamon cortinarius is so called because of the cinnamon color of the entire plant, especially of the cap and stem. It grows in the woods during summer and autumn. It is a very pretty plant, and varies from 5—8 cm. high, the cap from 2—10 cm. broad, and the stem 4—6 mm. in thickness.

The pileus is conic, or convex, and nearly expanded, sometimes nearly plane, and again with a prominent blunt or conic umbo. Sometimes the pileus is abruptly bent downward near the margin as shown in the plants in Fig. 155, giving the appearance of a "hip-roof." The surface is smooth, silky, with innate fibrils. Sometimes there are cinnabar stains on parts of the pileus, and often there are concentric rows of scales near the margin. The flesh is light yellowish and with stains of cinnabar. The gills are adnate, slightly sinuate, and decurrent by a tooth, easily separating from the stem, rather crowded, slightly ventricose. The color of the gills varies greatly; sometimes they are the same color as the pileus, sometimes reddish brown, sometimes blood red color, etc. This latter form is a very pretty plant, and is var. semi-sanguineus Fr.



Figure 155 is from plants (No. 2883 C. U. herbarium) collected at Ithaca. The species is widely distributed in this country as well as in Europe.



Cortinarius (Dermocybe) ochroleucus (Schaeff.) Fr.—This is a very beautiful plant because of the soft, silky appearance of the surface of pileus and stem, and the delicate yellowish white color. It occurs in woods, on the ground among decaying leaves. The plants are 4—12 cm. high, the cap 4—7 cm. broad, and the stem above is 6—10 mm. in thickness, and below from 2—3 cm. in thickness.



The pileus is convex to nearly expanded, and sometimes a little depressed, usually, however, remaining convex at the top. It is dry, on the center finely tomentose to minutely squamulose, sometimes the scales splitting up into concentric rows around the cap. The cap is fleshy at the center, and thin at the margin, the color is from cream buff to buff, darker on the center. The gills are sinuate or adnate, slightly broader in the middle (ventricose) in age, pale at first, then becoming ochre yellow, and darker when the plant dries. The spores are tawny in mass, oval, elliptical, minutely tuberculate when mature, 6—9 x 4—6 mu. The stem is clavate, pale cream buff in color, solid, becoming irregularly fistulose in age, bulbous or somewhat ventricose below, the bulb often large and abrupt, 1.5—3 cm. in diameter. The veil is prominent and attached to the upper part of the stem, the abundant threads attached over an area 1 cm. in extent and forming a beautiful cortina of the same color as the pileus and stem, but becoming tawny when the spores fall on it. The stem varies considerably in length and shape, being rarely ventricose, and then only at the base; the bulbous forms predominate and the bulb is often very large.

Figures 156, 157 are from plants (No. 3674 C. U. herbarium) collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., during September, 1899.

BOLBITIUS Fries.

The genus Bolbitius contains a few species with yellowish or yellowish brown spores. The plants are very fragile, more or less mucilaginous when moist, usually with yellowish colors, and, what is the most characteristic feature beside the yellowish color of the spores, the gills are very soft, and at maturity tend to dissolve into a mucilaginous consistency, though they do not deliquesce, or only rarely dissolve so far as to form drops. The surface of the gills at maturity becomes covered with the spores so that they appear powdery, as in the genus Cortinarius, which they also resemble in the color of the spores. In the mucilaginous condition of the gills the genus approaches Coprinus. It is believed to occupy an intermediate position between Coprinus and Cortinarius. The species usually grow on dung or in manured ground, and in this respect resemble many of the species of Coprinus. Some of the species are, however, not always confined to such a substratum, but grow on decaying leaves, etc.



Bolbitius variicolor Atkinson.—This plant was found abundantly during May and June, 1898, in a freshly manured grass plat between the side-walk and the pavement along Buffalo street, Ithaca, N. Y. The season was rainy, and the plants appeared each day during quite a long period, sometimes large numbers of them covering a small area, but they were not clustered nor cespitose. They vary in height from 4—10 cm., the pileus from 2—4 cm. broad, and the stem is 3—8 mm. in thickness. The colors vary from smoky to fuliginous, olive and yellow, and the spores are ferruginous.

The pileus is from ovate to conic when young, the margin not at all incurved, but lies straight against the stem, somewhat unequal. In expanding the cap becomes convex, then expanded, and finally many of the plants with the margin elevated and with a broad umbo, and finely striate for one-half to two-thirds the way from the margin to the center. When young the pileus has a very viscid cuticle, which easily peels from the surface, showing the yellow flesh. The cuticle is smoky olive to fuliginous, darker when young, becoming paler as the pileus expands, but always darker on the umbo. Sometimes the fibres on the surface of the cap are drawn into strands which anastomose into coarse reticulations, giving the appearance of elevated veins which have a general radiate direction from the center of the cap. As the pileus expands the yellow color of the flesh shows through the cuticle more and more, especially when young, but becoming light olive to fuliginous in age. In dry weather the surface of the pileus sometimes cracks into patches as the pileus expands. The gills are rounded next the stem, adnate to adnexed, becoming free, first yellow, then ferruginous. The basidia are abruptly club-shaped, rather distant and separated regularly by rounded cells, four spored. The spores are ferruginous, elliptical, 10—15 x 6—8 mu, smooth. The stem is cylindrical to terete, tapering above, sulphur and ochre yellow, becoming paler and even with a light brown tinge in age. The stem is hollow, and covered with numerous small yellow floccose scales which point upward and are formed by the tearing away of the edges of the gills, which are loosely united with the surface of the stem in the young stage. The edges of the gills are thus sometimes finely fimbriate.

At maturity the gills become more or less mucilaginous, depending on the weather. Plants placed in a moist chamber change to a mucilaginous mass. When the plants dry the pileus is from a drab to hair brown or sepia color (Ridgeway's colors). Figure 158 is from plants (No. 2355 C. U. herbarium).

PAXILLUS Fr.

In the genus Paxillus the gills are usually easily separated from the pileus, though there are some species accredited to the genus that do not seem to possess this character in a marked degree. The spores are ochre or ochre brown. Often the gills are forked near the stem or anastomose, or they are connected by veins which themselves anastomose in a reticulate fashion so that the meshes resemble the pores of certain species of the family Polyporaceae. The pileus may be viscid or dry in certain species, but the plant lacks a viscid universal veil. The genus is closely related to Gomphidius, where the gills are often forked and easily separate from the pileus, but Gomphidius possesses a viscid or glutinous universal veil. Peck in the Bull. N. Y. State Mus. Nat. Hist. 2: 29—33, describes five species.

Paxillus involutus (Batsch.) Fr. Edible.—This plant is quite common in some places and is widely distributed. It occurs on the ground in grassy places, in the open, or in woods, and on decaying logs or stumps. The stem is central, or nearly so, when growing on the ground, or eccentric when growing on wood, especially if growing from the side of a log or stump. The plants are 5—7 cm. high, the cap 3—7 cm. broad, and the stem 1—2 cm. in thickness. The plant occurs from August to October.



The pileus is convex to expanded, and depressed in the center. In the young plant the margin is strongly inrolled, and as the pileus expands it unrolls in a very pretty manner. The young plant is covered with a grayish, downy substance, and when the inrolled margin of the cap comes in contact with the gills, as it does, it presses the gills against this down, and the unrolling margin is thus marked quite prominently, sometimes with furrows where the pressure of the gills was applied. The color of the pileus varies greatly. In the case of plants collected at Ithaca and in North Carolina mountains the young plant when fresh is often olive umber, becoming reddish or tawny when older, the margin with a lighter shade. As Dr. Peck states, "it often presents a strange admixture of gray, ochraceous, ferruginous, and brown hues." The flesh is yellowish and changes to reddish or brownish where bruised. The gills are decurrent, when young arcuate, then ascending, and are more or less reticulated on the stem. They are grayish, then greenish yellow changing to brown where bruised. The spores are oval, 7—9 x 4—5 mu. The stem is short, even, and of the same color as the cap.



At Ithaca, N. Y., the plant is sometimes abundant in late autumn in grassy places near or in groves. The Figure 159 is from plants (No. 2508 C. U. herbarium) growing in such a place in the suburbs of Ithaca. At Blowing Rock, N. C., the plant is often very abundant along the roadsides on the ground during August and September.

Paxillus rhodoxanthus (Schw.)—This species was first described by de Schweinitz as Agaricus rhodoxanthus, p. 83 No. 640, Synopsis fungorum Carolinae superioris, in Schriften der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft 1: 19—131, 1822. It was described under his third section of Agaricus under the sub-genus Gymnopus, in which are mainly species now distributed in Clitocybe and Hygrophorus. He remarks on the elegant appearance of the plant and the fact that it so nearly resembles Boletus subtomentosus as to deceive one. The resemblance to Boletus subtomentosus as one looks upon the pileus when the plant is growing on the ground is certainly striking, because of the reddish yellow, ochraceous rufus or chestnut brown color of the cap together with the minute tomentum covering the surface. The suggestion is aided also by the color of the gills, which one is apt to get a glimpse of from above without being aware that the fruiting surface has gills instead of tubes. But as soon as the plant is picked and we look at the under surface, all suggestion of a Boletus vanishes, unless one looks carefully at the venation of the surface of the gills and the spaces between them. The plant grows on the ground in woods. At Blowing Rock, N. C., where it is not uncommon, I have always found it along the mountain roads on the banks. It is 5—10 cm. high, the cap from 3—8 cm. broad, and the stem 6—10 mm. in thickness.

The pileus is convex, then expanded, plane or convex, and when mature more or less top-shaped because it is so thick at the middle. In age the surface of the cap often becomes cracked into small areas, showing the yellow flesh in the cracks. The flesh is yellowish and the surface is dry. The gills are not very distant, they are stout, chrome yellow to lemon yellow, and strongly decurrent. A few of them are forked toward the base, and the surface and the space between them are marked by anastomosing veins forming a reticulum suggestive of the hymenium of the Polyporaceae. This character is not evident without the use of a hand lens. The surface of the gills as well as the edges is provided with clavate cystidia which are filled with a yellow pigment, giving to the gills the bright yellow color so characteristic. These cystidia extend above the basidia, and the ends are rounded so that sometimes they appear capitate. The yellow color is not confined to the cystidia, for the sub-hymenium is also colored in a similar way. The spores are yellowish, oblong to elliptical or spindle-shaped, and measure 8—12 x 3—5 mu. The stem is the same color as the pileus, but paler, and more yellow at the base. It is marked with numerous minute dots of a darker color than the ground color, formed of numerous small erect tufts of mycelium.

Figure 160 is from plants (No. 3977 C. U. herbarium) collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., during September, 1899. As stated above, the plant was first described by de Schweinitz as Agaricus rhodoxanthus in 1822. In 1834 (Synop. fung. Am. Bor. p. 151, 1834) he listed it under the genus Gomphus Fries (Syst. Mycolog. 319, 1821). Since Fries changed Gomphus to Gomphidius (Epicrisis, 319, 1836—1838) the species has usually been written Gomphidius rhodoxanthus Schweinitz. The species lacks one very important characteristic of the genus Gomphidius, namely, the slimy veil which envelops the entire plant. Its relationship seems rather to be with the genus Paxillus, though the gills do not readily separate from the pileus, one of the characters ascribed to this genus, and possessed by certain species of Gomphidius in even a better degree. (In Paxillus involutus the gills do not separate so readily as they do in certain species of Gomphidius.) Berkeley (Decades N. A. Fungi, 116) has described a plant from Ohio under the name Paxillus flavidus. It has been suggested by some (see Peck, 29th Report, p. 36; Lloyd, Mycolog. Notes, where he writes it as Flammula rhodoxanthus!) that Paxillus flavidus Berk., is identical with Agaricus rhodoxanthus Schw.

Paxillus rhodoxanthus seems also to be very near if not identical with Clitocybe pelletieri Lev. (Gillet, Hymenomycetes 1: 170), and Schroeter (Cohn's Krypt, Flora Schlesien, 3, 1: 516, 1889) transfers this species to Paxillus as Paxillus pelletieri. He is followed by Hennings, who under the same section of the genus, lists P. flavidus Berk., from N. A. The figure of Clitocybe pelletieri in Gillet Hymenomycetes, etc., resembles our plant very closely, and Saccardo (Syll. Fung. 5: 192) says that it has the aspect of Boletus subtomentosus, a remark similar to the one made by de Schweinitz in the original description of Agaricus rhodoxanthus. Flammula paradoxa Kalch. (Fung. Hung. Tab. XVII, Fig. 1) seems to be the same plant, as well as F. tammii Fr., with which Patouillard (Tab. Anal. N. 354) places F. paradoxa and Clitocybe pelletieri.

=Paxillus atro=tomentosus= (Batsch) Fr.—This plant is not very common. It is often of quite large size, 6—15 cm. high, and the cap 5—10 cm. broad, the stem very short or sometimes long, from 1—2.5 cm. in thickness. The plant is quite easily recognized by the stout and black hairy stem, and the dark brown or blackish, irregular and sometimes lateral cap, with the margin incurved. It grows on wood, logs, stumps, etc., during late summer and autumn.



The pileus is convex, expanded, sometimes somewhat depressed, lateral, irregular, or sometimes with the stem nearly in the center, brownish or blackish, dry, sometimes with a brownish or blackish tomentum on the surface. The margin is inrolled and later incurved. The flesh is white, and the plant is tough. The gills are adnate, often decurrent on the stem, and easily separable from the pileus, forked at the base and sometimes reticulate, forming pores. Spores yellowish, oval, 4—6 x 3—4 mu. Stevenson says that the gills do not form pores like those of P. involutus, but Fig. 161 (No. 3362 C. U. herbarium) from plants collected at Ithaca, shows them well. There is, as it seems, some variation in this respect. The stem is solid, tough and elastic, curved or straight, covered with a dense black tomentum, sometimes with violet shades. On drying the plant becomes quite hard, and the gills blackish olive.

Paxillus panuoides Fr.—This species was collected during August, 1900, on a side-walk and on a log at Ithaca. The specimens collected were sessile and the pileus lateral, somewhat broadened at the free end, or petaloid. The entire plant is pale or dull yellow, the surface of the pileus fibrous and somewhat uneven but not scaly. The plants are 2—12 cm. long by 1—8 cm. broad, often many crowded together in an imbricated manner. The gills are pale yellow, and the spores are of the same color when caught on white paper, and they measure 4—5 x 3—4 mu, the size given for European specimens of this species. The gills are forked, somewhat anastomosing at the base, and sinuous in outline, though not markedly corrugated as in the next form. From descriptions of the European specimens the plants are sometimes larger than these here described, and it is very variable in form and often imbricated as in the following species.

Paxillus corrugatus Atkinson.—This very interesting species was collected at Ithaca, N. Y., on decaying wood, August 4, 1899. The pileus is lateral, shelving, the stem being entirely absent in the specimens found. The pileus is 2—5 cm. broad, narrowed down in an irregular wedge form to the sessile base, convex, then expanded, the margin incurved (involute). The color of the cap is yellow, maize yellow to canary yellow, with a reddish brown tinge near the base. It is nearly smooth, or very slightly tomentose. The flesh is pale yellow, spongy. The gills are orange yellow, 2—3 mm. broad, not crowded, regularly forked several times, thin, blunt, very wavy and crenulate, easily separating from the hymenophore when fresh; the entire breadth of the gills is fluted, giving a corrugated appearance to the side. The spores in these specimens are faintly yellow, minute, oblong, broadly elliptical, short, sometimes nearly oval, 3 x 1.5—2 mu. The basidia are also very minute. The spores are olive yellow on white paper. The plant has a characteristic and disagreeable odor. This odor persists in the dried plant for several months.

Figure 162 is from the plants (No. 3332 C. U. herbarium) collected as noted above on decaying hemlock logs in woods. A side and under view is shown in the figure, and the larger figure is the under-view, from a photograph made a little more than twice natural size, in order to show clearly the character of the gills. The two smaller plants are natural size. When dry the plant is quite hard.



CHAPTER IX.

THE TUBE-BEARING FUNGI. POLYPORACEAE.

The plants belonging to this family are characterized especially by a honey-combed fruiting surface, that is, the under surface of the plants possesses numerous tubes or pores which stand close together side by side, and except in a very few forms these tubes are joined by their sides to each other. In Fistulina the tubes are free from each other though standing closely side by side. In Merulius distinct tubes are not present, but the surface is more or less irregularly pitted, the pits being separated from each other by folds which anastomose, forming a network. These pits correspond to shallow tubes.

The plants vary greatly in consistency, some are very fleshy and soft and putrify readily. Others are soft when young and become firmer as they age, and some are quite hard and woody. Many of the latter are perennial and live for several or many years, adding a new layer in growth each year. The larger number of the species grow on wood, but some grow on the ground; especially in the genus Boletus, which has many species, the majority grow on the ground. Some of the plants have a cap and stem, in others the stem is absent and the cap attached to the tree or log, etc., forms a shelf, or the plant may be thin and spread over the surface of the wood in a thin patch.

In the genus Daedalea the tubes become more or less elongated horizontally and thus approach the form of the gills, while in some species the tubes are more or less toothed or split and approach the spine-bearing fungi at least in appearance of the fruit-bearing surface. Only a few of the genera and species will be described.

The following key is not complete, but may aid in separating some of the larger plants:

Tubes or pores free from each other, though standing closely side by side, Fistulina. Tubes or pores not free, joined side by side, 1. 1—Plants soft and fleshy, soon decaying, 2. Plants soft when young, becoming firm, some woody or corky, stipitate, shelving, or spread over the wood, Polyporus. Tubes or pores shallow, formed by a network of folds or wrinkles, plants thin, sometimes spread over the wood, and somewhat gelatinous, Merulius. 2—Mass (stratum) of tubes easily separating from the cap when peeled off, cap not with coarse scales, tubes in some species in radiating lines, Boletus. Stratum of tubes separating, but not easily, cap with coarse, prominent scales, Strobilomyces. Stratum of tubes separating, but not easily, tubes arranged in distinct radiating lines. In one species (B. porosus) the tubes do not separate from the cap, Boletinus.

This last genus is apt to be confused with certain species of Boletus which have a distinct radiate arrangement of the tubes. It is questionable whether it is clearly distinguished from the genus Boletus.

BOLETUS Dill.

Of the few genera in the Polyporaceae which are fleshy and putrescent, Boletus contains by far the largest number of species. The entire plant is soft and fleshy, and decays soon after maturity. The stratum of tubes on the under side of the cap is easily peeled off and separates as shown in the portion of a cap near the right hand side of Fig. 169. In the genus Polyporus the stratum of tubes cannot thus be separated. In the genera Strobilomyces and Boletinus, two other fleshy genera of this family, the separation is said to be more difficult than in Boletus, but it has many times seemed to me a "distinction without a difference."

The larger number of the species of Boletus grow on the ground. Some change color when bruised or cut, so that it is important to note this character when the plant is fresh, and the taste should be noted as well.

Boletus edulis Bull. Edible. [Ag. bulbosus Schaeff. Tab. 134, 1763. Boletus bulbosus (Schaeff.) Schroeter. Cohn's Krypt, Flora. Schlesien, p. 499, 1889].—This plant, which, as its name implies, is edible, grows in open woods or their borders, in groves and in open places, on the ground. It occurs in warm, wet weather, from July to September. It is one of the largest of the Boleti, and varies from 5—12 cm. high, the cap from 8—25 cm. broad, and the stem 2—4 cm. in thickness.



The pileus is convex to expanded, smooth, firm, quite hard when young and becoming soft in age. The color varies greatly, from buff to dull reddish, to reddish-brown, tawny-brown, often yellowish over a portion of the cap, usually paler on the margin. The flesh is white or tinged with yellow, sometimes reddish under the cuticle. The tubes are white when young and the mouths are closed (stuffed), the lower surface of the tubes is convex from the margin of the cap to the stem, and depressed around the stem, sometimes separating from the stem. While the tubes are white when young, they become greenish or greenish-yellow, or entirely yellow when mature. The spores when caught on paper are greenish-yellow, or yellow. They are oblong to fusiform, 12—15 mu long. The stem is stout, even, or much enlarged at the base so that it is clavate. The surface usually shows prominent reticulations on mature plants near the tubes, sometimes over the entire stem. This is well shown in Fig. 164 from plants (No. 2886, C. U. herbarium) collected at Ithaca, N. Y.



Figure 165 represents plants (No. 4134, C. U. herbarium) collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., in September, 1899. The plant is widely distributed and has long been prized as an esculent in Europe and America. When raw the plant has an agreeable nutty taste, sometimes sweet. The caps are sometimes sliced and dried for future use. It is usually recommended to discard the stems and remove the tubes since the latter are apt to form a slimy mass on cooking.

Boletus felleus Bull. Bitter.—This is known as the bitter boletus, because of a bitter taste of the flesh. It usually grows on or near much decayed logs or stumps of hemlock spruce. It is said to be easily recognized by its bitter taste. I have found specimens of a plant which seems to have all the characters of this one growing at the base of hemlock spruce trees, except that the taste was not bitter. At Ithaca, however, the plant occurs and the taste is bitter. It is one of the large species of the genus, being from 8—12 cm. high, the cap 7—20 cm. broad, and the stem 1—2.5 cm. in thickness.

The pileus is convex becoming nearly plane, firm, and in age soft, smooth, the color varying from pale yellow to various shades of brown to chestnut. The flesh is white, and where wounded often changes to a pink color, but not always. The tubes are adnate, long, the under surface convex and with a depression around the stem. The tubes are at first white, but become flesh color or tinged with flesh color, and the mouths are angular. The stem is stout, tapering upward, sometimes enlarged at the base, usually reticulated at the upper end, and sometimes with the reticulations over the entire surface (Fig. 166). The color is paler than that of the cap. The spores are oblong to spindle-shaped, flesh color in mass, and single ones measure 12—18 x 4—5 mu.

The general appearance of the plant is somewhat like that of the Boletus edulis, and beginners should be cautioned not to confuse the two species. It is known by its bitter taste and the flesh-colored tubes, while the taste of the B. edulis is sweet, and the tubes are greenish-yellow, or yellowish or light ochre.

Plate 55 represents three specimens in color.

Boletus scaber Fr. Edible.—This species is named the rough-stemmed boletus, in allusion to the rough appearance given to the stem from numerous dark brown or reddish dots or scales. This is a characteristic feature, and aids one greatly in determining the species, since the color of the cap varies much. The cap is sometimes whitish, orange red, brown, or smoky in color. The plant is 6—15 cm. high, the cap 3—7 cm. broad, and the stem 8—12 mm. in thickness.

The pileus is rounded, becoming convex, smooth, or nearly so, sometimes scaly, and the flesh is soft and white, sometimes turning slightly to a reddish or dark color where bruised. The tubes are small, long, the surface formed by their free ends is convex in outline, and the tubes are depressed around the stem. They are first white, becoming darker, and somewhat brownish. The stem is solid, tapering somewhat upward, and roughened as described above.

The plant is one of the common species of the genus Boletus. It occurs in the woods on the ground or in groves or borders of woods in grassy places. Writers differ as to the excellence of this species for food; some consider it excellent, while others regard it as less agreeable than some other species. It is, at any rate, safe, and Peck considers it "first-class."

Boletus retipes B. & C.—This species was first collected in North Carolina by Curtis, and described by Berkeley. It has since been reported from Ohio, Wisconsin, and New England (Peck, Boleti of the U. S.). Peck reported it from New York in the 23d Report, N. Y. State Mus., p. 132. Later he recognized the New York plant as a new species which he called B. ornatipes (29th Report, N. Y. State Mus., p. 67). I collected the species in the mountains of North Carolina, at Blowing Rock, in August, 1888. During the latter part of August and in September, 1899, I had an opportunity of seeing quite a large number of specimens in the same locality, for it is not uncommon there, and two specimens were photographed and are represented here in Fig. 167. The original description published in Grevillea 1: 36, should be modified, especially in regard to the size of the plant, its habit, and the pulverulent condition of the pileus. The plants are 6—15 cm. high, the cap 5—10 cm. broad, and the stem 0.5—1.5 cm. in thickness.



The pileus is convex, thick, soft and somewhat spongy, especially in large plants. The cap is dry and sometimes, especially when young, it is powdery; at other times, and in a majority of cases according to my observations, it is not powdery. It is smooth or minutely tomentose, sometimes the surface cracked into small patches, but usually even. The color varies greatly between yellowish brown to olive brown, fuliginous or nearly black. The tubes are yellow, adnate, the tube surface plane or convex. The spores are yellowish or ochraceous, varying somewhat in tint in different specimens. The stem is yellow, yellow also within, and beautifully reticulate, usually to the base, but sometimes only toward the apex. It is usually more strongly reticulate over the upper half. The stem is erect or ascending.

The plant grows in woods, in leaf mold or in grassy places. It is usually single, that is, so far as my observations have gone at Blowing Rock. Berkeley and Curtis report it as cespitose. I have never seen it cespitose, never more than two specimens growing near each other.

Boletus ornatipes Pk., does not seem to be essentially different from B. retipes. Peck says (Boleti U. S., p. 126) that "the tufted mode of growth, the pulverulent pileus and paler spores separate this species" (retipes) "from the preceding one" (ornatipes). Inasmuch as I have never found B. retipes tufted, and the fact that the pileus is not always pulverulent (the majority of specimens I collected were not), and since the tint of the spores varies as it does in some other species, the evidence is strong that the two names represent two different habits of the same species. The tufted habit of the plants collected by Curtis, or at least described by Berkeley, would seem to be a rather unusual condition for this species, and this would account for the smaller size given to the plants in the original description, where the pileus does not exceed 5 cm. in diameter, and the stem is only 5 cm. long, and 6—12 mm. in thickness. Plants which normally occur singly do on some occasions occur tufted, and then the habit as well as the size of the plant is often changed.

A good illustration of this I found in the case of Boletus edulis during my stay in the North Carolina mountains. The plant usually occurs singly and more or less scattered. I found one case where there were 6—8 plants in a tuft, the caps were smaller and the stems in this case considerably longer than in normal specimens. A plant which agrees with the North Carolina specimens I have collected at Ithaca, and so I judge that B. retipes occurs in New York.

Boletus chromapes Frost.—This is a pretty boletus, and has been reported from New England and from New York State. During the summer of 1899 it was quite common in the Blue Ridge mountains, North Carolina. The plant grows on the ground in woods. It is 6—10 cm. high, the cap is 5—10 cm. in diameter, and the stem is 8—12 mm. in thickness. It is known by the yellowish stem covered with reddish glandular dots.



The pileus is convex to nearly expanded, pale red, rose pink to vinaceous pink in color, and sometimes slightly tomentose. The flesh is white, and does not change when cut or bruised. The tube surface is convex, and the tubes are attached slightly to the stem, or free. They are white, then flesh color, and in age become brown. The stem is even, or it tapers slightly upward, straight or ascending, whitish or yellow above, or below, sometimes yellowish the entire length. The flesh is also yellowish, especially at the base. The entire surface is marked with reddish or pinkish dots.



Figure 168 is from plants (No. 4085 C. U. herbarium) collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., during September, 1899.

Boletus vermiculosus Pk.—This species was named B. vermiculosus because it is sometimes very "wormy." This is not always the case, however. It grows in woods on the ground, in the Eastern United States. It is from 6—12 cm. high, the cap from 7—12 cm. broad, and the stem 1—2 cm. in thickness.

The pileus is thick, convex, firm, smooth, and varies in color from brown to yellowish brown, or drab gray to buff, and is minutely tomentose. The flesh quickly changes to blue where wounded, and the bruised portion, sometimes, changing to yellowish. The tubes are yellowish, with reddish-brown mouths, the tube surface being rounded, free or nearly so, and the tubes changing to blue where wounded. The stem is paler than the pileus, often dotted with short, small, dark tufts below, and above near the tubes abruptly paler, and sometimes the two colors separated by a brownish line. The stem is not reticulated. Figure 169 is from a photograph of plants (No. 4132 C. U. herbarium) collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., during September, 1899.

Boletus obsonium (Paul.) Fr.—This species was not uncommon in the woods at Blowing Rock, N. C., during the latter part of August and during September, 1899. It grows on the ground, the plants usually appearing singly. It is from 10—15 cm. high, the cap 8—13 cm. broad, and the stem 1—2 cm. in thickness, considerably broader at the base than at the apex.

The pileus is convex to expanded, vinaceous cinnamon, to pinkish vinaceous or hazel in color. It is soft, slightly tomentose, and when old the surface frequently cracks into fine patches showing the pink flesh beneath. The thin margin extends slightly beyond the tubes, so that it is sterile. The flesh does not change color on exposure to the air. The tubes are plane, adnate, very slightly depressed around the stem or nearly free, yellowish white when young, becoming dark olive green in age from the color of the spores. The tube mouths are small and rotund. The spores caught on white paper are dark olive green. They are elliptical usually, with rounded ends, 12—15 x 4—5 mu. The stem is white when young, with a tinge of yellow ochre, and pale flesh color below. It is marked with somewhat parallel elevated lines, or rugae below, where it is enlarged and nearly bulbous. In age it becomes flesh color the entire length and is more plainly striate rugose with a yellowish tinge at the base. The stem tapers gradually and strongly from the base to the apex, so that it often appears long conic.

The plant is often badly eaten by snails, so that it is sometimes difficult to obtain perfect specimens. Figure 170 is from a photograph of plants (No. 4092 C. U. herbarium) from Blowing Rock, N. C.

Boletus americanus Pk.—This species occurs in woods and open places, growing on the ground in wet weather. It occurs singly or clustered, sometimes two or three joined by their bases, but usually more scattered. It is usually found under or near pine trees. The plant is 3—6 cm. high, the cap 2—7 cm. broad, and the stem is 4—8 mm. in thickness. It is very slimy in wet weather, the cap is yellow, streaked or spotted with faint red, and the stem is covered with numerous brown or reddish brown dots.

The pileus is rounded, then convex, becoming nearly expanded and sometimes with an umbo. It is soft, very slimy or viscid when moist, yellow. When young the surface gluten is often mixed with loose threads, more abundant on the margin, and continuous with the veil, which can only be seen in the very young stage. As the pileus expands the margin is sometimes scaly from remnants of the veil and of loose hairs on the surface. The cap loses its bright color as it ages, and is then sometimes streaked or spotted with red. The tube surface is nearly plane, and the tubes join squarely against the stem. The tubes are rather large, angular, yellowish, becoming dull ochraceous. The stem is nearly equal, yellow, and covered with numerous brownish or reddish brown glandular dots. No ring is present.

This species grows in the same situations as the B. granulatus, sometimes both species are common over the same area. Figure 171 is from plants (No. 3991 C. U. herbarium) collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., September, 1899. The species is closely related to B. flavidus Fr., and according to some it is identical with it.

Boletus granulatus L. Edible.—This species is one of the very common and widely distributed ones. It grows in woods and open places on the ground. Like B. americanus, it is usually found under or near pines. It occurs during the summer and autumn, sometimes appearing very late in the season. The plants are 3—6 cm. high, the cap is 4—10 cm. broad, and the stem is 8—12 mm. in thickness. The plants usually are clustered, though not often very crowded.



The pileus is convex to nearly expanded, flat. When moist it is very viscid and reddish brown, paler and yellowish when it is dry, but very variable in color, pink, red, yellow, tawny, and brown shades. The flesh is pale yellow. The tubes are joined squarely to the stem, short, yellowish, and the edges of the tubes, that is, at the open end (often called the mouth), are dotted or granulated. The stem is dotted in the same way above. The spores in mass are pale yellow; singly they are spindle-shaped.



The species is edible, though some say it should be regarded with suspicion. Peck has tried it, and I have eaten it, but the viscid character of the plant did not make it a relish for me. There are several species closely related to the granulated Boletus. B. brevipes Pk., is one chiefly distinguished by the short stem, which entirely lacks the glandular dots. It grows in sandy soil, in pine groves and in woods.

Boletus punctipes Pk.—This species has been reported from New York State by Peck. During September, 1899, I found it quite common in the Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina, at an elevation of between 4000 and 5000 feet. It grows on the ground in mixed woods. The plants are 5—8 cm. high, the caps 5—7 cm. broad, and the stem 6—10 mm. in thickness.



The pileus is convex, sometimes becoming nearly plane, and it is quite thick in the center, more so than the granulated boletus, while the margin is thin, and when young with a minute gray powder. The margin often becomes upturned when old; the cap is viscid when moist, dull yellow. The tubes are short, their lower surface plane, and they are set squarely against the stem. They are small, the mouths rounded, brownish, then dull ochraceous, and dotted with glandules. The stem is rather long, proportionately more so than in the granulated boletus. It distinctly tapers upwards, is "rhubarb yellow," and dotted with glandules. This character of the stem suggested the name of the species. The spores are 8—10 x 4—5 mu. Figure 172 is from plants (No. 4067 C. U. herbarium) collected at Blowing Rock, N. C. It is closely related to B. granulatus and by some is considered the same.

Boletus luteus Linn. (B. subluteus Pk.) This species is widely distributed in Europe and America, and grows in sandy soil, in pine or mixed woods or groves. The plants are 5—8 cm. high, the cap 3—12 cm. in diameter, and the stem 6—10 mm. in thickness. The general color is dull brown or yellowish brown, and the plants are slimy in moist weather, the stem and tubes more or less dotted with dark points. These characters vary greatly under different conditions, and the fact has led to some confusion in the discrimination of species.



The pileus is convex, becoming nearly plane, viscid or glutinous when moist, dull yellowish to reddish brown, sometimes with the color irregularly distributed in streaks. The flesh is whitish or dull yellowish. The tube surface is plane or convex, the tubes set squarely against the stem (adnate), while the tubes are small, with small, nearly rounded, or slightly angular mouths. The color of the tubes is yellowish or ochre colored, becoming darker in age, and sometimes nearly brown or quite dark. The stem is pale yellowish, reddish or brownish, and more or less covered with glandular dots, which when dry give a black dotted appearance to the stem. In the case of descriptions of B. luteus the stem is said to be dotted only above the annulus, while the description of B. subluteus gives the stem as dotted both above and below the annulus. The spores are yellowish brown or some shade of this color in mass, lighter yellowish brown under the microscope, fusiform or nearly so, and 7—10 x 2—4 mu. The annulus is very variable, sometimes collapsing as a narrow ring around the stem as in Fig. 173, from plants collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., September, 1899 (B. subluteus Pk.), and sometimes appearing as a broad, free collar, as in Fig. 174. The veil is more or less gelatinous, and in an early stage of the plant may cover the stem as a sheath. The lower part of the stem is sometimes covered at maturity with the sheathing portion of the veil, the upper part only appearing as a ring. In this way, the lower part of the stem being covered, the glandular dots are not evident, while the stem is seen to be dotted above the annulus. But in many cases the veil slips off from the lower portion of the stem at an early stage, and then in its slimy condition collapses around the upper part of the stem, leaving the stem uncovered and showing the dots both above and below the ring (B. subluteus).



An examination of the figures of the European plant shows that the veil often slips off from the lower portion of the stem in B. luteus, especially in the figures given by Krombholtz, T. 33. In some of these figures the veil forms a broad, free collar, and the stem is then dotted both above and below, as is well shown in the figures. In other figures where the lower part of the veil remains as a sheath over the lower part of the stem, the dots are hidden. I have three specimens of the B. luteus of Europe from Dr. Bresadola, collected at Trento, Austria-Hungary: one of them has the veil sheathing the lower part of the stem, and the stem only shows the dots above the annulus; a second specimen has the annulus in the form of a collapsed ring near the upper end of the stem, and the stem dotted both above and below the annulus; in the third specimen the annulus is in the form of a broad, free collar, and the stem dotted both above and below. The plants shown in Fig. 174 (No. 4124, C. U. herbarium) were collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., during September, 1899. They were found in open woods under Kalmia where the sun had an opportunity to dry out the annulus before it became collapsed or agglutinated against the stem, and the broad, free collar was formed. My notes on these specimens read as follows: "The pileus is convex, then expanded, rather thick at the center, the margin thin, sometimes sterile, incurved. In color it runs from ecru drab to hair-brown with streaks of the latter, and it is very viscid when moist. When dried the surface of the pileus is shining. The tubes are plane or concave, adnate, tawny-olive to walnut-brown. The tubes are small, angular, somewhat as in B. granulatus, but smaller, and they are granulated with reddish or brownish dots. The spores are walnut brown, oblong to elliptical, 8—10 x 2—3 mu. The stem is cylindrical, even, olive yellow above, and black dotted both above and below the annulus."



Boletinus pictus Pk.—This very beautiful plant is quite common in damp pine woods. It is easily recognized by the reddish cottony layer of mycelium threads which cover the entire plant when young, and form a veil which covers the gills at this time. As the plant expands the reddish outer layer is torn into scales of the same color, showing the yellowish, or pinkish, flesh beneath, and the flesh often changes to pink or reddish where wounded. The tubes are first pale yellow, but become darker in age, often changing to pinkish, with a brown tinge where bruised. The stem is solid, and is thus different from a closely related species, B. cavipes Kalchb. The stem is covered with a coat like that on the pileus and is similarly colored, though often paler. The spores are ochraceous, 15—18 x 6—8 mu. The plants are 5—8 cm. high, the caps 5—8 cm. broad, and the stems 6—12 mm. in thickness.

Figure 175 is from plants collected in the Blue Ridge mountains, Blowing Rock, N. C., September, 1899.

Boletinus porosus (Berk.) Pk.—This very interesting species is widely distributed in the Eastern United States. It resembles a Polyporus, though it is very soft like a Boletus, but quite tenacious. The plants are dull reddish-brown, viscid when moist, and shining. The cap is more or less irregular and the stem eccentric, the cap being sometimes more or less lobed. The plants are 4—6 cm. high, the cap 5—12 cm. broad, and the short stem 8—12 mm. in thickness. It occurs in damp ground in woods.

The pileus is fleshy, thick at the middle, and thin at the margin. The tubes are arranged in prominently radiating rows, the partitions often running radiately in the form of lamellae, certain ones of them being more prominent than others as shown in Fig. 176. These branch and are connected by cross partitions of less prominence. This character of the hymenium led Berkeley to place the plant in the genus Paxillus, with which it does not seem to be so closely related as with the genus Boletus. The stratum of tubes, though very soft, is very tenacious, and does not separate from the flesh of the pileus, thus resembling certain species of Polyporus. Figure 176 is from plants collected at Ithaca.



Strobilomyces strobilaceus Berk. Edible.—This plant has a peculiar name, both the genus and the species referring to the cone-like appearance of the cap with its coarse, crowded, dark brown scales, bearing a fancied resemblance to a pine cone. It is very easily distinguished from other species of Boletus because of this character of the cap. The plant has a very wide distribution though it is not usually very common. The plant is 8—14 cm. high, the cap 5—10 cm. broad, and the stem 1—2 cm. in thickness.

The pileus is hemispherical to convex, shaggy from numerous large blackish, coarse, hairy, projecting scales. The margin of the cap is fringed with scales and fragments of the veil which covers the tubes in the young plants. The flesh is whitish, but soon changes to reddish color, and later to black where wounded or cut. The tubes are adnate, whitish, becoming brown and blackish in the older plants. The mouths of the tubes are large and angular, and change color where bruised, as does the flesh of the cap. The stem is even, or sometimes tapers upward, often grooved near the apex, very tomentose or scaly with soft scales of the same color as the cap. The spores are in mass dark brown, nearly globose, roughened, and 10—12 mu long. Figs. 177—179 are from plants collected at Ithaca, N. Y. Another European plant, S. floccopus Vahl, is said by Peck to occur in the United States, but is much more rare. The only difference in the two noted by Peck in the case of the American plants is that the tubes are depressed around the stem in S. floccopus.



FISTULINA Bull.

In the genus Fistulina the tubes, or pores, are crowded together, but stand separately, that is, they are not connected together, or grown together into a stratum as in Boletus and other genera of the family Polyporaceae. When the plant is young the tubes are very short, but they elongate with age.

Fistulina hepatica Fr. Edible.—This is one of the largest of the species in the genus and is the most widely distributed and common one. It is of a dark red color, very soft and juicy. It has usually a short stem which expands out into the broad and thick cap. When young the upper side of the cap is marked by minute elevations of a different color, which suggest the papillae on the tongue; in age the tubes on the under surface have also some such suggestive appearance. The form, as it stands outward in a shelving fashion from stumps or trees, together with the color and surface characters, has suggested several common names, as beef tongue, beef-steak fungus, oak or chestnut tongue. The plant is 10—20 cm. long, and 8—15 cm. broad, the stem very short and thick, sometimes almost wanting, and again quite long. I have seen some specimens growing from a hollow log in which the stems were 12—15 cm. long.

The pileus is very thick, 2 cm. or more in thickness, fleshy, soft, very juicy, and in wet weather very clammy and somewhat sticky to the touch. When mature there are lines of color of different shades extending out radially on the upper surface, and in making a longitudinal section of the cap there are quite prominent, alternating, dark and light red lines present in the flesh. The tubes, short at first, become 2—3 mm. long, they are yellowish or tinged with flesh color, becoming soiled in age. The spores are elliptical, yellowish, and 5—6 mu long.

The plant occurs on dead trunks or stumps of oak, chestnut, etc., in wet weather from June to September. I have usually found it on chestnut.

The beef-steak fungus is highly recommended by some, while others are not pleased with it as an article of food. It has an acid flavor which is disagreeable to some, but this is more marked in young specimens and in those not well cooked. When it is sliced thin and well broiled or fried, the acid taste is not marked.



Fistulina pallida B. & Rav. (Fistulina firma Pk.)—This rare and interesting species was collected by Mrs. A. M. Hadley, near Manchester, New Hampshire, October, 1898, and was described by Dr. Peck in the Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, 26: 70, 1899, as Fistulina firma. But two plants were then found, and these were connected at the base. During August and September it was quite common in a small woods near Ithaca, N. Y., and was first collected growing from the roots of a dead oak stump, August 4 (No. 3227 C. U. herbarium), and afterward during October. During September I collected it at Blowing Rock, N. C., in the Blue Ridge mountains, at an elevation of nearly 5000 feet, growing from the roots of a dead white oak tree. It was collected during September, 1899, by Mr. Frank Rathbun at Auburn, N. Y. It was collected by Ravenel in the mountains of South Carolina, around a white oak stump by Peters in Alabama, and was first described by Berkeley in 1872, in Grev. 1: 71, Notices of N. A. F. No. 173. Growing from roots or wood underneath the surface of the ground, the plant has an erect stem, the length of the stem depending on the depth at which the root is buried, just as in the case of Polyporus radicatus, which has a similar habitat. The plants are 5—12 cm. high, the cap is 3—7 cm. broad, and the stem 6—8 mm. in thickness.



The pileus is wood brown to fawn, clay color or isabelline color. It is nearly semi-circular to reniform in outline, and the margin broadly crenate, or sometimes lobed. The stem is attached at the concave margin, where the cap is auriculate and has a prominent boss or elevation, and bent at right angles with a characteristic curve. The pileus is firm, flexible, tough and fibrous, flesh white. The surface is covered with a fine and dense tomentum. The pileus is 5—8 mm. thick at the base, thinning out toward the margin. The tubes are whitish, 2—3 mm. long and 5—6 in the space of a millimeter. They are very slender, tubular, the mouth somewhat enlarged, the margin of the tubes pale cream color and minutely mealy or furfuraceous, with numerous irregular, roughened threads. The tubes often stand somewhat separated, areas being undeveloped or younger, so that the surface of the under side is not regular. The tubes are not so crowded as is usual in the Fistulina hepatica. They are not decurrent, but end abruptly near the stem. The spores are subglobose, 3 mu in diameter. The stem tapers downward, is whitish below, and near the pileus the color changes rather abruptly to the same tint as the pileus. The stem is sometimes branched, and two or three caps present, or the caps themselves may be joined, as well as the stems, so that occasionally very irregular forms are developed, but there is always the peculiar character of the attachment of the stem to the side of the cap.

Figure 180 is from plants (No 3676, C. U. herbarium) collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., September, 1899. Figures on the colored plate represent this plant.

Polyporus frondosus Fr. Edible.—This plant occurs in both Europe and America, and while not very common seems to be widely distributed. It grows about old stumps or dead trees, from roots, often arising from the roots below the surface of the ground, and also is found on logs. The plant represents a section of the genus Polyporus, in which the body, both the stem and the cap, are very much branched. In this species the stem is stout at the base, but it branches into numerous smaller trunks, which continue to branch until finally the branches terminate in the expanded and leaf-like caps as shown in Figs. 181—182. The plants appear usually during late summer and in the autumn. The species is often found about oak stumps. Some of the specimens are very large, and weigh 10 to 20 pounds, and the mass is sometimes 30 to 60 cm. (1—2 feet) in diameter.

The plant, when young and growing, is quite soft and tender, though it is quite firm. It never becomes very hard, as many of the other species of this family. When mature, insects begin to attack it, and not being tough it soon succumbs to the ravages of insects and decay, as do a number of the softer species of the Polyporaceae. The caps are very irregular in shape, curved, repand, radiately furrowed, sometimes zoned; gray, or hair-brown in color, with a perceptibly hairy surface, the hairs running in lines on the surface. Sometimes they are quite broad and not so numerous as in Plate 67, and in other plants they are narrow and more numerous, as in Plate 68. The tubes are more or less irregular, whitish, with a yellowish tinge when old. From the under side of the cap they extend down on the stem. When the spores are mature they are sometimes so numerous that they cover the lower caps and the grass for quite a distance around as if with a white powder.

This species is edible, and because of the large size which it often attains, the few plants which are usually found make up in quantity what they lack in numbers. Since the plant is quite firm it will keep several days after being picked, in a cool place, and will serve for several meals. A specimen which I gathered was divided between two families, and was served at several meals on successive days. When stewed the plant has for me a rather objectionable taste, but the stewing makes the substance more tender, and when this is followed by broiling or frying the objectionable taste is removed and it is quite palatable. The plants represented in Plates 67 and 68 were collected at Ithaca.



There are several species which are related to the frondose polyporus which occur in this country as well as in Europe. Polyporus intybaceus Fr., is of about the same size, and the branching, and form of the caps is much the same, but it is of a yellowish brown or reddish brown color. It grows on logs, stumps, etc., and is probably edible. It is not so common at Ithaca as the frondose polyporus.



Polyporus umbellatus Fr.—This species is also related to the frondose polyporus, but is very distinct. It is more erect, the branching more open, and the caps at the ends of the branches are more or less circular and umbilicate. The branches are long, cylindrical and united near the base. The spreading habit of the branching, or the form of the caps, suggests an umbel or umbrella, and hence the specific name umbellatus.

The tufts occur from 12—20 cm. in diameter, and the individual caps are from 1—4 cm. in diameter. It grows from underground roots and about stumps during summer. It is probably edible, but I have never tried it. Figure 183 is from a plant (No. 1930, C. U. herbarium) collected in Cascadilla woods, Ithaca.

Polyporus sulphureus (Bull.) Fr. Edible. (Boletus caudicinus Schaeff. T. 131, 132: Polyporus caudicinus Schroeter, Cohn's Krypt. Flora, Schlesien, p. 471, 1899).—The sulphur polyporus is so-called because of the bright sulphur color of the entire plant. It is one of the widely distributed species, and grows on dead oak, birch, and other trunks, and is also often found growing from wounds or knot-holes of living trees of the oak, apple, walnut, etc. The mycelium enters at wounds where limbs are broken off, and grows for years in the heart wood, disorganizing it and causing it to decay. In time the mycelium has spread over a considerable area, from which nutriment enough is supplied for the formation of the fruiting condition. The caps then appear from an open wound when such an exit is present.

The color of the plant is quite constant, but varies of course in shades of yellow to some extent. In form, however, it varies greatly. The caps are usually clustered and imbricated, that is, they overlap. They may all arise separately from the wood, and yet be overlapping, though oftener several of them are closely joined or united at the base, so that the mass of caps arises from a common outgrowth from the wood as shown in Fig. 184. The individual caps are flattened, elongate, and more or less fan-shaped. When mature there are radiating furrows and ridges which often increase the fan-like appearance of the upper surface of the cap. Sometimes also there are more or less marked concentric furrows. The caps may be convex, or the margin may be more or less upturned so that the central portion is depressed. When young the margin is thick and blunt and of course lighter in color, but as the plant matures the edge is usually thinner.

In some forms of the plant the caps are so closely united as to form a large rounded or tubercular mass, only the blunt tips of the individual caps being free. This is well represented in Fig. 185, from a photograph of a large specimen growing from a wound in a butter-nut tree in Central New York. The plant was 30 cm. in diameter. The plants represented in Plate 69 grew on an oak stump. The tree was affected by the fungus while it was alive, and the heart wood became so weakened that the tree broke, and later the fruit form of the fungus appeared from the dead stump.



The tubes are small, and the walls thin and delicate, and are sometimes much torn, lacerated, and irregular. When the mycelium has grown in the interior of a log for a number of years it tends to grow in sheets along the line of the medullary rays of the wood or across in concentric layers corresponding to the summer wood. Also as the wood becomes more decomposed, cracks and rifts appear along these same lines. The mycelium then grows in abundance in these rifts and forms broad and extensive sheets which resemble somewhat chamois skin and is called "punk." Similar punk is sometimes formed in conifers from the mycelium of Fomes pinicola.



Polyporus sulphureus has long been known as an edible fungus, but from its rather firm and fibrous texture it requires a different preparation from the fleshy fungi to prepare it for the table, and this may be one reason why it is not employed more frequently as an article of food. It is common enough during the summer and especially during the autumn to provide this kind of food in considerable quantities.



Polyporus brumalis (Pers.) Fr.—This pretty plant is found at all seasons of the year, and from its frequency during the winter was named brumalis, from bruma, which means winter. It grows on sticks and branches, or on trunks. It usually occurs singly, sometimes two or three close together. The plants are 3—6 cm. high, the cap 2—6 cm. in diameter, and the stem is 3—6 mm. in thickness.

The cap is convex, then plane, and sometimes depressed at the center or umbilicate. When young it is somewhat fleshy and pliant, then it becomes tough, coriaceous, and hard when dry. During wet weather it becomes pliant again. Being hard and firm, and tough, it preserves long after mature, so that it may be found at any season of the year. The cap is smoky in color, varying in shade, sometimes very dark, almost black, and other specimens being quite light in color. The surface is hairy and the margin is often fimbriate with coarse hairs. The stem is lighter, hairy or strigose. The tubes are first white, then become yellowish. The tubes are very regular in arrangement.

Figure 186 represents well this species, three plants being grouped rather closely on the same stick; two show the under surface and one gives a side view. The upper portion of the plate represents two of the plants enlarged, the three lower ones being natural size. The plant is very common and widely distributed over the world. Those illustrated in the plate were collected at Ithaca. This species is too tough for food.

Many of the thin and pliant species of Polyporus are separated by some into the genus Polystictus. The species are very numerous, as well as some of the individuals of certain species. They grow on wood or on the ground, some have a central stem, and others are shelving, while some are spread out on the surface of the wood. One very pretty species is the Polystictus perennis Fr. This grows on the ground and has a central stem. The plant is 2—3 cm. high, and the cap 1—4 cm. broad. The pileus is thin, pliant when fresh and somewhat brittle when dry. It is minutely velvety on the upper surface, reddish brown or cinnamon in color, expanded or umbilicate to nearly funnel-shaped. The surface is marked beautifully by radiations and fine concentric zones. The stem is also velvety. The tubes are minute, the walls thin and acute, and the mouths angular and at last more or less torn. The margin of the cap is finely fimbriate, but in old specimens these hairs are apt to become rubbed off. The left hand plant in Fig. 187 is Polyporus perennis.

Polystictus cinnamomeus (Jacq.) Sacc., (P. oblectans Berk. Hook. Jour. p. 51, 1845, Dec. N. A. F. No. 35: P. splendens Pk., 26th Report N. Y. State Mus., p. 26) is a closely related species with the same habit, color, and often is found growing side by side with P. perennis. The margin of the cap is deeply and beautifully lacerate, as shown in the three other plants in Fig. 187. Polystictus connatus Schw., grows in similar situations and one sometimes finds all three of these plants near each other on the ground by roadsides. P. connatus has much larger pores than either of the other two, and it is a somewhat larger plant. Figure 187 is from a photograph of plants collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., during September, 1899.



Polystictus versicolor (L.) Fr., is a very common plant growing on trunks and branches. It is more or less shelving, with a leaf-like pileus, marked by concentric bands of different colors. P. hirsutus Fr., is a somewhat thicker and more spongy plant, whitish or grayish in color, with the upper surface tomentose with coarse hairs. P. cinnabarinus (Jacq.) Fr., is shelving, spongy, pliant, rather thick, cinnabar colored. It grows on dead logs and branches. It is sometimes placed in the genus Trametes under the same specific name. Polystictus pergamenus Fr., is another common one growing on wood of various trees. It is thin and very pliant when fresh, somewhat tomentose above when young, with faint bands, and the tubes are often violet or purple color, and they soon become deeply torn and lacerate so that they resemble the teeth of certain of the hedgehog fungi.



Polyporus lucidus (Leys.) Fr. [Fomes lucidus (Leys.) Fr.]—This species is a very striking one because of the bright red or chestnut color, the hard and brittle crust over the surface of the cap, which has usually the appearance of having been varnished. It grows on trunks, logs, stumps, etc., in woods or groves. The cap is 5—20 cm. in diameter, and the stem is 5—20 cm. long, and 1—2 cm. in thickness. The stem is attached to one side of the pileus so that the pileus is lateral, though the stem is more or less ascending.

The cap is first yellowish when young, then it becomes blood red, then chestnut color. The stem is the same color, and the tubes are not so bright in color, being a dull brown. The substance of the plant is quite woody and tough when mature. When dry it is soon attacked and eaten by certain insects, which are fond of a number of fungi, so that they are difficult to preserve in good condition in herbaria without great care.

The surface of the pileus is quite uneven, wrinkled, and coarsely grooved, the margin sometimes crenate, especially in large specimens. Figure 188 represents the plant growing on a large hemlock spruce stump in the woods. The surface character of the caps and the general form can be seen. This photograph was taken near Ithaca, N. Y.

Polyporus applanatus (Pers.) Fr. [Fomes applanatus (Pers.) Wallr.]—This plant is also one of the very common woody Polyporaceae. It grows on dead trunks, etc., and sometimes is found growing from the wounds of living trees. It is very hard and woody. It has a hard crust, much harder than that of the Polyporus lucidus. The surface is more or less marked by concentric zones which mark off the different years' growth, for this plant is perennial. At certain seasons of the year the upper surface is covered with a powdery substance of a reddish brown color, made up of numerous colored spores or conidia which are developed on the upper surface of this plant in addition to the smaller spores developed in the tubes on the under surface.

The plant varies in size from 5—20 cm. or more in diameter, and 1—10 cm. in thickness, according to the rapidity of growth and the age of the fungus. The fruiting surface is white, and the tubes are very minute. They scarcely can be seen with the unaided eye. Bruises of the tubes turn brown, and certain "artists" often collect these plants and sketch with a pointed instrument on the tube surface. For other peculiarities of this plant see page 15. The age of the plant can usually be told by counting the number of the broader zones on the upper surface, or by making a section through the plant and counting the number of tube strata on the lower surface of the cap at its base.

Polyporus leucophaeus Mont., is said to differ from this species in being more strongly zonate, and in the crust being whitish instead of reddish brown.

Polyporus fomentarius (L.) Fr. [Fomes fomentarius (L.) Fr.,] is hoof-shaped, smoky in color, or gray, and of various shades of dull brown. It is strongly zoned and sulcate, marking off each year's growth. The margin is thick and blunt, and the tube surface concave, the tubes having quite large mouths so that they can be readily seen, the color when mature being reddish brown. Sections of the plant show that the tubes are very long, the different years' growth not being marked off so distinctly as in P. applanatus and leucophaeus. The plant grows on birch, beech, maple, etc. The inner portion was once used as tinder.

Polyporus pinicola (Swartz.) Fr. [Fomes pinicola (Swartz.) Fr.] occurs on dead pine, spruce, balsam, hemlock spruce, and other conifers. The cap is about the width of the F. applanatus, but it is stouter, and does not have the same hard crust. The young growth at the margin, which is very thick, is whitish yellow, while the old zones are reddish. The tubes are yellowish, and sections show that they are in strata corresponding to the years' growth. Polyporus igniarius (L.) Fr. [Fomes igniarius (L.) Fr.] is a black species, more or less triangular, or sometimes hoof-shaped. The yearly zones are smaller, become much cracked, and the tubes are dark brown. One of these plants which I found on a birch tree in the Adirondacks was over 80 years old.

The genus Merulius has a fruiting surface of irregular folds or wrinkles, forming shallow, irregular pits instead of a deeply honey-combed surface. Merulius lacrymans (Jacq.) Fr., the "weeping" merulius, or "house fungus," often occurs in damp cellars, buildings, conduit pipes, etc. It is very destructive to buildings in certain parts of Europe (see Figs. 189, 190). Merulius tremellosus Schrad., is very common in woods during autumn. It is of a gelatinous consistency, and spread on the under surface of limbs or forms irregular shelves from the side (see Figs. 191, 192).



CHAPTER X.

HEDGEHOG FUNGI: HYDNACEAE.

The plants belonging to this family vary greatly in size, form, and consistency. Some of them are very large, some quite small, some are fleshy in consistency, some are woody, corky; some membranaceous; and if we include plants formerly classed here, some are gelatinous, though there is a tendency in recent years on the part of some to place the gelatinous ones among the trembling fungi. The special character which marks the members of this family is the peculiarity of the fruiting surface, just as a number of the other families are distinguished by some peculiarity of the fruiting surface. In the Hydnaceae it covers the surface of numerous processes in the form of spines, teeth, warts, coarse granules, or folds which are interrupted at short intervals. These spines or teeth always are directed toward the earth when the plant is in the position in which it grew. In this way the members of the family can be distinguished from certain members of the club fungi belonging to the family Clavariaceae, for in the latter the branches or free parts of the plant are erect.

In form the Hydnaceae are shelving, growing on trees; or growing on the ground they often have a central or eccentric stem, and a more or less circular cap; some of them are rounded masses, growing from trees, with very long spines extending downward; others have ascending branches from which the spines depend; and still others form thin sheets which are spread over the surface of logs and sticks, the spines hanging down from the surface, or roughened with granules or warts, or interrupted folds (see Phlebia, Figs. 193, 194). In one genus there is no fruit body, but the spines themselves extend downward from the rotten wood, the genus Mucronella. This is only distinguished, so far as its family position is concerned, from such a species as Clavaria mucida by the fact that the plant grows downward from the wood, while in C. mucida it grows erect.

HYDNUM Linn.

The only species of the Hydnaceae described here are in the genus Hydnum. In this genus the fruiting surface is on spine, or awl-shaped processes, which are either simple or in some cases the tips are more or less branched. The plants grow on the ground or on wood. The species vary greatly in form. Some are provided with a more or less regular cap and a stem, while others are shelving or bracket shaped, and still others are spread out over the surface of the wood (resupinate).



Hydnum coralloides Scop. Edible.—Among the very beautiful species of the genus Hydnum is the coral one, Hydnum coralloides. It grows in woods forming large, beautiful, pure white tufts on rotten logs, branches, etc. The appearance of one of these tufts is shown in Fig. 195. There is a common stem which arises from the wood, and this branches successively into long, ascending, graceful shoots. The spines are scattered over the entire under side of these branches and hang down for 3—6 mm. They are not clustered at the ends of the branches, as in the bear's head hydnum, and the species can be easily distinguished by giving attention to the form of the branching and the distribution of the spines on the under side of the branches. Figure 195 represents a plant collected at Ithaca, and it is natural size. They grow, however, much larger than this specimen. The species is widely distributed, and not uncommon. It is excellent for food.



Hydnum caput-ursi Fr. Edible.—This plant is also a beautiful one. It is more common than the coral hydnum so far as my observation goes. It is known by the popular name of "bear's head hydnum" in allusion to the groups of spines at the ends of the branches. It occurs in woods with a similar habit of growing on trunks, branches, etc. This plant also arises from the wood with a single stout stem, which then branches successively, the ends of the branches having groups of long pendant spines appearing like numerous heads. Sometimes the spines on the top of the group are twisted or curled in a peculiar way. Large tufts are sometimes formed, varying from 12—20 or more centimeters in diameter. Figure 196 is from a plant collected at Ithaca.



Hydnum caput-medusae Bull. Edible.—The medusa's head hydnum is a rarer species than either of the above in this country. It forms a large, tubercular mass which does not branch like the coral hydnum or the bear's head, but more like the Satyr's beard hydnum, though the character of the spines will easily separate it from the latter. The spines cover a large part of this large tubercle, and hang downward. The plant is known by the additional character, that, on the upper part of the tubercle, the spines are twisted and interwoven in a peculiar fashion.

Hydnum erinaceus Bull. Edible.—This plant is sometimes called "Satyr's beard." It grows on dead trunks in the woods or groves, and is often found growing from wounds in living trees. It forms a large, tubercular mass which does not branch. The spines are very long and straight and hang downward in straight parallel lines from the sides of the mass. The spines are from 1—2 cm. or more long. Figure 197 represents one of the plants, showing the long spines.

Hydnum repandum L. Edible.—This plant is not uncommon, and it is widely distributed. It grows usually in woods, on the ground. It varies greatly in size, from very small specimens, 1—2 cm. high to others 10—12 cm. high. The cap is 2—18 cm. broad, and the stem 6—12 mm. in thickness.



It is entirely white or the cap varies to buff, dull yellow reddish or dull brown. It is very brittle, and must be handled with the utmost care if one wishes to preserve the specimen intact. The pileus is more or less irregular, the stem being generally eccentric, so that the pileus is produced more on one side than on the other, sometimes entirely lateral at the end of the stem. The margin is more or less wavy or repand. The spines are white, straight, and very brittle. The stem is even or clavate. Figure 198 is from plants collected at Ithaca during August, 1899, and represents one of the large specimens of the species. In one plant the pileus is entirely lateral on the end of the long clavate stem, and is somewhat reniform, the stem being attached at the sinus. In the other plant the stem is attached near the center. This species is considered one of the best mushrooms for the table.



Hydnum imbricatum L. Edible.—This is a very variable species both in size and in the surface characters of the pileus. It occurs in woods, groves, or in open places under trees. The plants are 3—7 cm. high, and the pileus varies from 5—15 cm. broad, the stem from .5—2.5 cm. in thickness. The pileus is convex and nearly expanded, fleshy, thinner at the margin, regular or very irregular. The color is grayish in the younger and smaller plants to umber or quite dark in the larger and older ones. The surface is cracked and torn into triangular scales, showing the whitish color of the flesh between the scales. The scales are small in the younger plants and larger in the older ones. Figure 200 is from plants collected at Ithaca, and the pileus in these specimens is irregular. The species is edible, but bitter to the taste.



Hydnum putidum Atkinson.—This plant grows on the ground in woods, and was collected in the Blue Ridge mountains at Blowing Rock, N. C., at an elevation of about 4000 feet. It is remarkable for its peculiar odor, resembling, when fresh, that of an Ethiopian; for its tough, zonate pileus with a prominent white edge, and the stout irregular stem, resembling the stem of Hydnum velutinum. The plants are 8—12 cm. high, the cap 8—12 cm. broad, and the stem 2—4 cm. in thickness. The plants grow singly, or sometimes a few close together, and then two or more may be conjoined.

The pileus is first umbilicate or depressed, becoming depressed or infundibuliform, irregular, eccentric, the margin repand, and sometimes lobed, and lobes appearing at times on the upper surface of the cap. The surface is first tomentose or pubescent, becoming smooth, with prominent concentric zones probably marked off by periodical growth; the color is first white, so that the edge is white, becoming cream color to buff, and in age dull brown and sometimes blackish brown in the center of the old plants. The pubescence disappears from the old portions of the cap, so that it is smooth. The pubescence or tomentum is more prominent on the intermediate zones. The margin is rather thick, somewhat acute or blunt, the upper portion of the flesh is spongy and the middle portion tough and coriaceous, and darker in color. The pileus is somewhat pliant when moist or wet, and firm when dry, the dark inner stratum hard.

The spines are first white or cream color, in age changing through salmon color, or directly into grayish or grayish brown. The spines when mature are long, slender, crowded, and decurrent on the upper part of the stem. The spores are white, globose, echinulate, 3—4 mu. The stem is stout and irregular, very closely resembling the stem of Hydnum velutinum, with a thick, spongy, outer layer and a central hard core.

The odor, which resembles that of a perspiring darkey, before the plant is dry, disappears after drying, and then the plant has the same agreeable odor presented by several different species of Hydnum. The odor suggests H. graveolens, but the characters of the stem and surface of the pileus separate it from that species, while the tough and pliant character of the cap separates it from H. fragile. Figure 199 is from plants (No. 4334, C. U. herbarium) collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., during September, 1899.



CHAPTER XI.

CORAL FUNGI: CLAVARIACEAE.

This family is a very characteristic one, and very interesting from the large number of beautiful species in one genus, the genus Clavaria. The plants all are more or less erect, or at least stand out from the substratum, that is, the substance on which they are growing. The fruiting surface covers the entire upper part of the plant, all but the bases of the stems. Some of the branched species of the Thelephoraceae resemble the branched species of the Clavariaceae, but in the former there is a more or less well defined upper portion on the tips of the branches which is flat, or truncate, and sterile, that is, lacks the fruiting surface. Some of the species are simple, elongate and clavate bodies. Some stand singly, others are clustered, or others are joined by their bases, and others still are very much branched. All of the species are said to be edible, that is, they are not poisonous. A few are rather tough, but they are mostly the small species which would not be thought of for food. The spores are borne on club-shaped basidia, as in the common mushrooms.



CLAVARIA Vaill.

The genus Clavaria is one of the most common ones in the family, and is one of the most attractive from the variety and beauty of several of the species. All of the plants are more or less erect, and at least stand out from the substratum on which they grow. They are either long and simple and more or less club-shaped, as the name implies, or they are branched, some but a few times, while others are very profusely branched. The plants vary in color, some are white, some yellow, some red, and some are red-tipped, while others are brownish in color.



Clavaria formosa Pers. Edible.—This is one of the handsomest of the genus. It is found in different parts of the world, and has been collected in New England and in the Carolinas in this country. It is usually from 15—20 cm. high, and because of the great number of branches is often broader in extent. There is a stout stem from 2—4 cm. in diameter, deep in the ground. This branches into a few stout trunks, which then rapidly branch into slender and longer branches, terminating into numerous tips. The entire plant is very brittle, and great care is necessary to prevent its breaking, both before drying and afterward. When the plant is young and is just pushing out of the ground, the branches, especially the tips, are bright colored, red, pink, or orange, the color usually brighter when young in the younger plants. As the plant becomes older the color fades out, until at maturity the pink or red color has in many cases disappeared, and then the entire plant is of a light yellowish, or of a cream buff color. The spores are in mass light yellow, and the spores on the surface of the plant probably give the color to the plant at this stage. The spores are long, oval or oblong, 10—15 x 2.5—3 mu, and are minutely spiny. Figure 201 is from a plant (No. 4343, C. U. herbarium) collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., in September, 1899. The plant is very common in the mountain woods of North Carolina.



Specimens of this Clavaria were several times prepared for table use during my stay in the mountains, but the flavor was not an agreeable one, possibly due to the fact that it needs some special preparation and seasoning.

Clavaria botrytes Pers. Edible.—This plant is much smaller than C. formosa, but has much the same general habit and color, especially when C. formosa is young. The plant has a stout stem which soon dissolves into numerous branches, which are red tipped. The spores are white, and in this way it may be distinguished from C. formosa, or from Clavaria aurea (Schaeff.), which has yellow or ochre spores, and which has also much the same habit as C. botrytes, and is nearer in size.



Clavaria pistillaris Linn. Edible.—This plant is a characteristic one because of its usually large size and simple form. It is merely a club-shaped body, growing from the ground. It has a wide range, both in Europe and North America, but does not seem to be common, though I have found it more common in the mountain woods of North Carolina than in New York. The plant is 5—20 cm. high, and 1—3 cm. thick at the upper end. It is smooth, though often irregularly grooved and furrowed, due probably to unequal tensions in growth. The apex in typical specimens is rounded and blunt. It is dull white or tan color or rufescent. The flesh is white, and very spongy, especially in age, when it is apt to be irregularly fistulose. Figure 203 is from plants collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., during September 1899.

There is what seems to be an abnormal form of this species figured by Schaeffer, Table 290, which Fries separated as a distinct species and placed in the genus Craterellus, one of the Thelephoraceae, and called by him Craterellus pistillaris. This plant has been found at Ithaca, and the only difference between this and the Clavaria pistillaris L., seems to be in the fact that in Craterellus pistillaris the end is truncate or in some specimens more or less concave. The spores seem to be the same, and the color and general habit of the two plants are the same. It is probably only a form of Clavaria pistillaris.

Clavaria mucida Pers.—This is one of the smallest species of the genus Clavaria. It grows on rotten wood, and appears throughout the year. It is usually simple and clavate, but sometimes branched. The plant is white, or yellowish, or sometimes rose color, and measures from 0.5 to 2 cm. in height, though I have usually found it from 0.5—1 cm. in height. It is soft and watery. Figure 204 is from plants (No. 4998, C. U. herbarium) collected at Ithaca in October, 1899.



CHAPTER XII.

THE TREMBLING FUNGI: TREMELLINEAE.

These fungi are called the trembling fungi because of their gelatinous consistency. The colors vary from white, yellow, orange, reddish, brownish, etc., and the form is various, often very irregular, leaf-like, or strongly folded and uneven. They are when fresh usually very soft, clammy to the touch, and yielding like a mass of gelatine. They usually grow on wood, but some species grow on the ground, and some are parasitic. The fruit surface usually covers the entire outer surface of the plant, but in some it is confined to one side of the plant. The basidia are peculiar to the order, are deeply seated in the substance of the plant, rounded or globose, and divided into four cells in a cruciate manner. From each one of these cells of the basidium a long, slender process (sterigma) grows out to the surface of the plant and bears the spore. A few species only are treated of here.

TREMELLA Dill.

In this genus the plants are gelatinous or cartilaginous. The form of the plant is usually very much contorted, fold-like or leaf-like, and very much branched. The fruiting surface extends over the entire upper surface of the plant.



Tremella lutescens Pers.—This plant is entirely yellow, and occurs on branches. It is 2—5 cm. in diameter, and is strongly folded, somewhat like the folds of a brain (gyrose). It is very soft and inclined to be watery and fluid, and is of a bright yellow color, spread out on the surface of rotten wood. It is of world-wide distribution, and appears from mid-summer to late autumn.

Tremella mycetophila Pk.—This plant is interesting from the fact that it is parasitic on a mushroom, Collybia dryophila. It grows on the stem or on the top of the cap of the Collybia, and it is white, or yellowish, very much contorted (gyrose-plicate), nearly rounded, and 8—16 mm. in diameter. Figure 205 represents this Tremella growing on the Collybia dryophila, from plants collected at Freeville woods near Ithaca.



Tremella frondosa Fr.—This is said to be the largest species of the genus. It grows on rotten wood. It occurs in Europe, has been collected in New York State, and the Fig. 206 is from a plant (No. 4339, C. U. herbarium) collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., in September, 1899. The plant figured here was 10 cm. long and about 8 cm. high. It is very much twisted and contorted, leaf-like, and the middle and base all united. It is of a pinkish yellow color, one plant being vinaceous pink and another cream buff in color. When young the leaf-like lobes do not show well, but as it expands they become very prominent.

Several other species of Tremella are probably more common than the ones illustrated here. One of the commonest of the Tremellineae probably is the Exidia glandulosa, which in dry weather appears as a black incrustation on dead limbs, but during rains it swells up into a large, black, very soft, gelatinous mass. It is commonly found on fallen limbs of oak, and occurs from autumn until late spring. It is sometimes called "witch's butter."



Tremella fuciformis Berk.—This is a very beautiful white tremella growing in woods on leaf mold close to the ground. It forms a large white tubercular mass resting on the ground, from the upper surface of which numerous stout, short, white processes arise which branch a few times in a dichotomous manner. The masses are 10—15 cm. in diameter, and nearly or quite as high. The flesh is very soft, and the parts are more or less hollow. The basidia are like those of the genus, globose, sunk in the substance of the plant, and terminate with four long, slender, sterigmata which rise to the surface and bear the spores. The spores are white, nearly ovoid, but inequilateral and somewhat reniform, continuous, 7—9 x 5—6 mu.

Figure 207 is from a plant collected in a woods near Ithaca, in August, 1897.

GYROCEPHALUS Pers.

The genus Gyrocephalus differs from the other Tremellineae in having the fruiting surface on the lower side of the fruit body, while the upper side is sterile.



Gyrocephalus rufus (Jacq.) Bref.—This species is sometimes very abundant. It grows on the ground, generally from buried wood, or from dead roots. It is erect, stout at the base, and the upper end flattened and thinner. It is more or less spatulate, the upper side somewhat concave, and the lower somewhat convex. In some plants the pileus is more regular and there is then a tendency to the funnel form. It is reddish, or reddish yellow in color, smooth, clammy, watery, and quite gelatinous. When dry it is very hard. Figure 208 represents the form of the plant well, from plants collected at Ithaca. The plant is quite common in the damp glens and woods at Ithaca during the autumn.



CHAPTER XIII.

THELEPHORACEAE.

Many of the species of the Thelephoraceae to which the following two species belong are too tough for food. A large number of these grow on wood. They are known by their hard or membranaceous character and by the fruiting surface (under surface when in the position in which they grew) being smooth, or only slightly uneven, or cracked.

Craterellus cantharellus (Schw.) Fr., is an edible species. In general appearance it resembles the Cantharellus cibarius. The color is the same, and the general shape, except that the former is perhaps more irregular in form. It may, however, be in most cases easily distinguished from C. cibarius by the absence of folds on the under or fruiting surface, since the fruiting surface is smooth, especially when the plants are young or middle age. However, when the plants get quite large and old, in some cases the fruiting surface becomes very uneven from numerous folds and wrinkles, which, however, are more irregular than the folds of C. cibarius.

Craterellus cornucopioides (L.) Pers., is another edible species. It grows on the ground in woods. It is of a dusky or dark smoky color, and is deeply funnel-shaped, resembling a "horn of plenty," though usually straight. The fruiting surface is somewhat uneven.

The genus Stereum is a very common one on branches, etc., either entirely spread out on the wood, or with the margin or a large part of the pileus free. Hymenochaete is like Stereum, but has numerous small black spines in the fruiting surface, giving it a velvety appearance. Corticium is very thin and spread over the wood in patches.



CHAPTER XIV.

PUFF-BALLS: LYCOPERDACEAE.

This is not the place for a discussion of the different genera of the puff-balls, etc., but it might be well to say that in recent years the old genus Lycoperdon has been divided into several genera. The giant puff-ball, and the L. cyathiforme, where the wall or peridium ruptures irregularly, have been placed in a genus called Calvatia; certain other species which are nearly globose, and in which the wall is of a papery texture at maturity, are placed in the genus Bovista. There is one genus belonging to the same family as the lycoperdons, the species of which are very interesting on account of the peculiar way in which the wall is ruptured. This is the genus Geaster, that is, "earth star." The wall, or peridium, is quite thick in the members of this genus, and when it matures it separates into several layers which need not all be discussed here. A thick outer portion which separates from a thinner inner portion further splits radially into several star-like divisions, which spread outward and give to the plant the form of a star. Since the plants lie on the earth the name earth star was applied to them. This opens out in dry weather, even curving around under the plant, so that the plant is raised above the ground. Then in wet weather it closes up again. The inner portion of the wall opens at the apex in various ways, in the different species, so that the spores may escape. A closely related genus has several small perforations like a pepper box in the upper surface of the inner wall, Myriostoma.