Missouri Botanical 
Garden Bulletin 
Vol. V St. Louis, Mo., August, 1917 No. 8 
NATIVE WILD MUSHROOMS FOR FOOD 
Even in normal times there is considerable discussion 
each season about the tremendous waste of good food in 
the failure to use the native wild mushroom crop. In the 
present crisis, with every element of the nation alert to the 
conservation of the well-known economic products and to the 
use of less appreciated ones, there is certain to be wide-spread 
interest, especially in the early fall, in wild mushrooms. 
Undoubtedly numerous inquiries will be made regarding 
the commoner species, and from past experience it may be 
inferred that the questions asked will be chiefly along two 
lines: (1) What are the desirable species, and how can one 
distinguish the edible from those which are inedible or 
poisonous? (2) What is the food value of mushrooms, 
and how may they be preserved? 
It is a comparatively simple matter to state in general 
terms the food value of mushrooms and to discuss methods 
of conserving the surplus supply, but to give the layman 
or beginner an adequate idea of the innumerable species 
even in a single locality, and a method of distinguishing 
those which may be of greatest economic importance is by 
no means an easy task. It may be said at the outset that 
by mushrooms is meant not merely the cultivated form 
but any fleshy fungus whatever, wild or cultivated, good, 
bad, or indifferent as to edibility, and therefore including 
plants most diverse in size, texture, habit, and locality of 
growth. It is not practicable to divide these fungi into 
mushrooms and toadstools, but one may rather speak of 
them as edible, inedible, and poisonous mushrooms, de- 
nding upon their texture, flavor, and other properties. 
ot only chine which grow on the soil will be considered, 
but likewise passing reference will be made to some rep- 
resentatives which will be found upon trees or upon decay- 
ing logs or timber. 
Originally, of course, the edibility of any mushroom 
could only be determined by testing, so there is more or 
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