BBPORT OF TIIK STATE BOTANIST 207 



mering slowly for an hour. Cooke suggests that, owing to its 

 slight pungency of flavor both raw and cooked, it may serve as 

 a good substitute for mustard, and be placed with the meat ia 

 sandwiches. It may be dried and preserved for future use. 



Hydnum coralloides Scop. 



COKAL-LIKE HtDNIJM. 

 Plate 84. Figa. 11 to 13. 



Plant much branched, pure white, sometimes becoming yellow- 

 ish with age ; branches numerous, spreading, dense, angular or 

 flattened, bearing the numerous crowded awl-shaped teeth along 

 the lower side ; spores globose, uninucleate, .0002 in. in diameter. 



The Coral-like hj'dnum departs very decidedly from the usual 

 form of the species of this genus, and is so unlike the others that 

 it might easily be thought to belong to another genus, and, indeed, 

 some French authors have included it in a separate genus Dryo- 

 don. It is so white, and its branches and spines are so numerous 

 and dense, that it has been compared to a cauliflower in its 

 general appearance. Others have evidently thought it resembles 

 some species of coral. The plant is generally from two to four 

 inches high and nearly or quite as broad, but sometimes it 

 attains much larger dimensions. The stem is very short, dividing 

 into branches almost at the base. The larger branches are more 

 or less angular or compressed. The terminal ones are often 

 curved upwards and terminate in a crowded, somewhat spread- 

 ing, mass of spines. Generally the spines are closely arranged 

 along the lower side of the spreading branches and point down- 

 ward toward the earth. They vary from one-sixth to one-third 

 of an inch in length. They are easily broken. The pure 

 white color of the whole plant, when young and fresh, and the 

 unusual appearance of the branches, densely and stiffly fringed 

 by the pendulous spines, make this fungus a very noticeable and 

 an attractive object. It is said that a desire to study fungi was 

 first awakened in the illustrious Fries upon his beholding for the 

 first time this beautiful species growing in the woods . 



It occurs on prostrate trunks of trees of various kinds, but with 

 us it seems to prefer the beech. It is quite common in hilly and 

 mountainous woods in rainy weather. It appears from August 

 to October. 



