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FAMILY I.— HYMENOMYCETES. 



Order 2.— Polyporei. 



Hymeniuni lining the cavity of tubes or pores tehich are sonuiimes broken, 

 up into teeth, or concentric plates. 



Genus Fistvun a.— Bull. 



Hymenophorum fleshy, Hymenivm inferior, at first papillose, the papilla at length 

 elongated and forming distinct tubes, 

 9 

 FISTUIilNA HEPATICA.— Frt«3. 



LIVER FUNGUS, OR VEGETABLE BEEF-STEAK 



BOTANICAL CHARACTERS. 



Pileus : undivided, lobed, thick, soft and fleshy. At fii-st a dull pale 

 purplish red, it becomes more red and passes, through chocolate, to the black 

 misshapen mass it becomes in decay. The underside when young, is of a cream 

 colour, with occasional minute red points, becoming yellowish red. The flesh, 

 when cut, is streaked, red, and juicy, resembling (more or less) beet-root. 



Tubes : very slender, unequal, distinct from each other, scarcely half an inch 

 deep when of full size. They frequently overlap the edge of the pileus and 

 appear on the upper surface when they are short, take the red colour, and give 

 a velvet-like surface. Pores extremely minute. Spores yellow. 



This Fungus has received many other names. Boletus hcpaticus, SchaeflF., 

 Hads., Pers., Hook, &c. : — Agaricus porosus rubens, Ray syn, ; Fistulina hug- 

 lossoides. Bull. ; Buglossus quercinus, Wallemb. ; Hypodrys htpatiqtie, Roqucs ; 

 Fungus pauperibus esculenlus, "The poor man's Fungus," Schiefl. Cisalpinus calls 

 it Lingua;, and in Italy it is called Lingtm quercina, or Lingua di Oastagna. In 

 France it is also called " Lang ue -de-bo; vf," "foie-de-ba;uf," or glA-de-chSne.''' 



The "Vegetable beefsteak" is also a Fungus whit^h there is no possi- 

 bility of mistaking. Its size, its colour, its soft fleshy consistence, its great 

 juiciness when cut, and the streaked beetroot-like section are perfectly distinc- 

 tive ; when mature it really has a close resemblance to flesh, or liver. It is by no 

 means uncommon in Herefordshire when looked for in the proper localities, 

 that is about the stumps of hollow or decaying oaks, but it is also occasionally 

 found on the chesnut, ash, walnut, willow, or beech trees. 



The plate given is drawn to exact size from a very small Fungus, dw:irfed 

 by dry weather, and it wiU be better to consider it as one third of the usual 

 size. The yellowish cream colour of the imder surface is only seen imder the 

 corner turned up, but it extends beneath the whole of it. It frequently grows 

 to a size from four to six pounds in weight, and often much larger. It attains 

 its full size when the weather is favourable in about a fortnight, and decays 

 in another week. 



