inncem. 



Order Hymenomycetes. ' Tribe Cupdati. 



Plate XLIII. 



POLYPORUS SUAYEOLENS, l 



Anise-scented Polyporus. 



Spec. Char. Polyporus srAVEOLENS. Pileus dimidiate, generally solitary, of a flesliy, somewhat corky 

 substance, zoneless, villous white. Pores rather large, brownish ; when dry very light and soft. Strongly scented 

 with aniseed. 



Polyporus suaveolens. Fries, Berkeley. 

 Boletus suaveolens, L'mneeus, Sowerby. 



Hah. On stumps of wiUow. Not common. Annual. 



LinuBEUs seems to have iiad a great liking for tlie flavour of Anise with whicli his countrymen try to 

 make their bad brandy palatable ; it has however certain rat-catching associations in England which have 

 perhaps been a reason for its exclusion from polite society in any form among us, so that unless it were 

 explained that by "sweet-scented" Linnaeus meant this peculiar odour, the English student would be 

 seeking for somethhig in which the rose or violet scent might be expected to predominate. After all, a love 

 for the smell of Anise is not a more remarkable national taste, than a thousand others acquired in different 

 places ; the " perfume " of the Italian Prumdus, for instance, is not exactly estimated by the Enghsh 

 labourer, whom we have heard complaining of the disagreeable task of exterminating its spawn ; and garlic is 

 nearly as unpalatable to a Briton, as its Persian substitute Assafoetida. Many vegetables also have a much 

 more refined and delicate odour when their freshness hangs about them, becoming rank and chemist-shop 

 like, after being distilled or resolved into essences ; all preparations of that most fragrant thing, a lemon, are 

 failm-es ; and so it is with both the anise-scented Agaric and Folyporns suaveolens : when in a fresh state and 

 sound condition, they are much more agreable than chemical prej)arations of Aniseed. This Folyporus 

 always retains some scent when dry, in which state it will keep for years ; and although the growth is annual, 

 the dried remains of a former season may be found in the stump wdiere a new pileus has replaced it. Wlien 

 any Polyjjonis then is called annual, it is not to lie taken in exactly the same sense, as when Phenogamous 

 plants are spoken of; many herbaceous flowers entirely disajipear except a few dried stems, and siioot 

 afresh from their buried but living roots every year, and these are perennial, not annual. Now the case of 

 a fungus, in wliich fresh pileuses spring from the old site containing their rudiments, while the dried up 

 skeleton of last season yet remains attached, seems parallel to that of herbaceous perennials ; but where 

 funguses are concerned the terms annual, biennial or perennial, apply not to the endurance of the substance, 

 but to the period required to bring it to perfection, and after which it ceases to grow. It is then whether the 

 increment of one particular fungus runs on from year to year, or whether it embraces two seasons, or ceases 

 with one, that is considered in classing them ; Polyporus Ljniar'ms continues with an annual aggregation of 

 substance for twenty years ; and its age may be ascertained by counting the concentric ridges, wdiicli, 

 alternating with depressions, mark periods of activity or of rest ; just as in a section from a tree, the age 



