MUSHROOMS 



4016 



MUSHROOMS 



The Poisonous Kinds. The most dreaded of 

 the poisonous mushrooms are two members of 

 the amanita group, one called the death cup, 

 and the other the fly amanita. 



hath cup grows in the woods from June 

 until fall. Its poison, for which there is no 

 ta like that of the rattle- 

 snake, separating the corpuscles of the blood 

 from the serum. The only hope for anyone 

 who has. eaten this mushroom is the prompt use 

 uich pump; but there are so few 

 cures that it is small wonder one variety of this 

 innocent-appearing plant has come to be known 

 as the destroying angel. Although it is so often 

 mistaken for the common mushroom that 

 comes to < a careful observer could 



not b for it has white gills, white 



spores and the fatal "poison cup," whereas the 

 edible plant has pink gills, brown spores, and 

 no cup. Many of the mistakes that are made 

 come from eating it in its button stage, when 

 it is not yet sufficiently developed to show its 

 true character. 



The fly mushroom "looks good enough to 

 eat" as it flaunts its bright red, yellow or orange 

 cap in the woods or along the roadside. Yet 

 the growing plant is surrounded by dead flies, 

 a few drops of its juice in a saucer make a 

 very powerful fly poison, and taken into the 

 human system it paralyzes the nerves which 

 control the heart action. It is a matter of his- 

 tory that a czar of Russia (Alexis) died from 

 eating this mushroom. Nevertheless, it is not 

 quite so deadly as the death cup if the stomach 

 is promptly emptied and injections of atropine 

 The earmark of this poisonous mush- 

 room is its combination of scaly cap and stem, 

 deep frill at the top, bulbous base and white 



There are other dangerous varieties, like Sa- 

 tan's mushroom, the emetic russula and the 

 m mushroom, all of which are poisonous 

 to some people and not to others. A most of- 

 mu.-hroom is the stinkhorn, sometimes 

 called the jitid iroml iritch, which often grows 

 in backyards or under open stairways, until it 

 is finally located by its sickening odor and 

 promptly uprooted. (See illustration under 

 FUNGI.) 



Suggestions for Picking Mushrooms. So much 

 experience and knowledge and >uch a well- 

 trained power of observation are necessary to 

 tell the edible mushrooms from their poisonous 

 relatives, beyond the possibility of a doubt, 

 that the safest rule is never to gather any va- 

 riety for the table unless some one on whose 



knowledge you can depend has pointed it out 

 dible and taught you to recognize its es- 

 sential eharacterist: 



The buttons of wild-growing mushrooms 

 must never be picked for eating, for the plant 

 is then too young to show positively to what 

 class it belongs. The market variety, however, 

 is nearly always gathered in the button stage. 

 It is wise to reject all mushrooms which have 

 either a cup or a swelling at the base of the 

 stem, particularly if the gills are white, for this 

 is a fairly-safe indication of danger. As the 

 cup is often hidden under earth, moss or lea 

 it is absolutely necessary at all times to dig up 

 the entire plant in order to avoid mistakes. 



Mushrooms must be fresh when eaten. No 

 mushroom that shows the least sign of decay, 

 or on which insects have been feeding, should 

 ever be eaten, nor any that have a milky juice, 

 unless the juice is reddish. 



The beginner can safely trust himself to pick 

 the coral mushrooms, morels and puffballs, as 

 none of these are on record as harmful, though 

 not all are palatable. Some mushrooms grow 

 to be a foot across, and such a specimen will 

 be enough for several families. 



Some people class all highly-colored mush- 

 rooms as poisonous, but this is incorrect, as 

 some of the most brilliant are among the most 

 wholesome. Just as unfounded is the popular 

 notion that only the poisonous varieties, when 

 cooking, will make a silver spoon turn black; 

 many edible kinds produce the same effect. 

 There are definite rules for testing mushrooms 

 by careful nibbling and then studying the ef- 

 fects, but such testing cannot safely be indulged 

 in by the amateur. 



Mushrooms as Food. From very early times 

 mushrooms have been used as a food. The 

 Greeks and Romans used to eat them, and to- 

 day they form the chief food of the natives of 

 Tierra del Fuego and some parts of Australia. 

 They are used much more extensively in Eu- 

 rope than in America. In most countries mush- 

 rooms are looked upon as a table delicacy 

 rather than a substantial food, for when ana- 

 lyzed they prove to be about eighty-eight 'per 

 cent water, with almost a half of the remaining 

 bulk indigestible. Experts on food values state 

 that mushrooms are not more nourishing than 

 juicy cabbage leaves would be. There are 

 various ways of preparing them for the table 

 by baking, frying, broiling, stewing, or as a 

 salad and most of the edible varieties can now 

 be bought at any season in canned or dried 

 form. 



