Helvellaceae 



Since 1882 myself and friends have repeatedly eaten it. In no instance Gyromitra. 

 was the slightest discomfort felt from it. It was always enjoyed. Mr. 

 Charles H. Allen, San Jose, Cal., writes to me that G. esculenta grows 

 plentifully in his region, and that it is not only edible, but he has found 

 it one of the best. But the species, though long ago esteemed highly 

 in Europe and by many in America, now rests under decided suspicion. 

 It is not probable that in our great food-giving country anyone will be 

 narrowed to G. esculenta for a meal. Until such an emergency arrives, 

 the species would be better let alone. 



Gr. Cur'tipes Fr. curtus, short; pes, afoot. PileilS inflated, gyrosely 

 undulated, oblong, rotund, at first pallid then brownish; margin of 

 pileus closely adnexed to the stem. Stem irregular, short or almost 

 absent. Asci cylindrical. Sporidia .30x9^ fusiform, uninucleate. 

 Paraphyses clavate. 



On the ground. Spring. Readily distinguished from other species 

 by the almost obliterated stem. Fries commends it highly as an 

 esculent. 



Separated from G. esculenta by paler color, shorter stem and differ- 

 ent spores. 



Gr. Carolinia'na (Bosc.) Fr. PileilS rotund, base free, surface 

 woven into deep irregular undulating folds. Stem conical, sulcate. 

 Asci cylindrical. Sporidia 3-3.2x1/1,; somewhat fusiform; paraphyses 

 thickened toward the top. 



In woods. Esculent. 



Massachusetts. Sprague. 



(Plate CXLVIII.) 



G. brun'nea Underwood br^mne^ts, brown. A 

 stout, fleshy, stipitate plant, 3-5 in. high, bearing 

 a broad, much contorted, brown ascoma. Stem 

 %-i.5 in. thick, more or less enlarged and spongy, 

 solid at the base, hollow below, rarely slightly 

 fluted, clear white; receptacle 24 in. across in the 

 widest direction, the two diameters usually consid- 

 erably unequal, irregularly lobed and plicate, in places 



, . , i j j- GYROMITRA BRUN- 



faintly marked into areas by indistinct anastomosing 



ridges, closely cohering with the stem in the various 



547 



