Aim. 



Order Htmenomycetes. Tribe Fikati. 



Plate X,VI . 



HYDNUM REPANDUM, i;^ 



The comimti Hi/diium. 



Gen. Cliar. llj'menium of the same substance as the pileus, composed of fi-ee spine-like processes. Name fi'om 

 vbvov, the classical name for a Fungus ' which has been confounded with the true Truffle. 



Spec. Cliar. Hydnum repandum. Fileita fleshy, more or less repand, smooth, zoneless ; from two to four 

 inches broad, the margin often arched, irregular iu form, lobed or imdulated, buflish, smooth. Spines unequal, ])ale, 

 conical, entii-e or sometimes bifid, or laciniated, even compressed or lamellated. Stem from one inch and a half to 

 three inches high, one inch thick, solid, paler than the pileus, sometimes clothed with white down, and at the 

 apex Avith aborted spines, almost always excentric, often lateral. There is a variety which has the pileus redder and 

 tomentose, and the spines pale cinnamon. 



Hab. Borders of woods and upland pastures, in large rings, or gregarious groups. 



In the account given of tlie Boletus tribe, it w'as stated that their distinguishing character, tlie arrange- 

 ment of the membrane containing the spores, is that it rvns up and lines the tubes of which the under part 

 of the pileus is composed ; in tlie Hi/dnums the position of tliis membrane is reversed, for it covers over 

 each of a mass of spinous processes, proceeding from the under side of the cap ; tliis spinous formation of 

 the hymenium has gained for the Iljdiiam various descriptive soubriquets, as " Arresteron ■", or Little Eake, 

 in Gascony ; " Barbe de Vaclie " in the Vosges ; " Steccherino ", from the sticks of a fan, in Italy ; in all 

 these countries it is considered an excellent article of food, and is so marked in character as quite to preclude 

 mistake. Our present subject, the Hijdnimi repandmii is the most palatable, but others are eaten, and iione 

 are unwholesome. 



In shape and consistence there is a resemblance between the CantJiarellus ciharius and this Kydnum ; 

 they both are apt to taste rather acrid when raw, but beyond tliis general resemblance the likeness fails ; the 

 colour of the Chanterelle is rich yellow, that of the Ilydnnm buff leather colour, in wliich a yeUow shade has 

 no share ; the hymenium also of the Cluinterelle consists of veins and corrugations, instead of spines ; the 

 two plants delight in similar situations, are brought to the foreign markets at the same season, may be cooked 

 in the same manner and are equally safe, so that any confusion between them is only to be deprecated in a 

 botanical point of view. As we have no vulgar name for the Ilydnmn except the general and opprobious one 

 "toadstool", the calling it "common" Hj/dmim is likely to lead to mistake, for it is by no means with us 

 a common Fungus ; true it is that in pai'ticular spots repandum is descriptive of its mode of growth, in great 

 troops or bodies, often in immense rings, but in some parts of England it has never been seen, and probably 

 is shy of the plough and spade, lOce most of the Fungus tribe ; during successive years it may be collected 

 under oaks and other forest trees, on the borders of old woodland and in parks, it abounded near Tuubridge 



' Probably Rhizopogoit, albus. 



