466 



BOTANY 



I'AKT II 



Many of the Mushrooms found growing in the woods and fields are highly 

 esteemed as articles of food. Of edible species the following may be named : the 

 common Field- Mushroom, now extensively cultivated, Psalliota campestris (Fig. 

 416), with whitish pileus and lamellae at first white, then turning flesh-colour, 

 and finally becoming chocolate-coloured ; Cantharellus cibarius, having an orange- 

 coloured pileus ; Ladaria deliciosa, which has a reddish-yellow pileus and contains 

 a similarly-coloured milky juice in special hyphal tubes ; Ladaria volema has a 

 brownish-red cap, a stout stalk, and white milky juice ; Tricholoma equestre has 

 the upper side of the pileus yellowish brown while elsewhere it is of a sulphur- 

 yellow colour ; Lepiota procera, whose white pileus is flecked with brown scales ; 



FIG. 418. Amanita phalloides. ( nat. size.) 

 VERY POISONOUS. 



FIG. 419. Amanita mappa. (J nat. size.) 



POISONO US. 



Amanita caesarea with an orange pileus bearing a few white scales and yellow 

 lamellae. The brownish fructifications of Armillaria mellea are also edible. 

 This species is a very injurious parasite, especially in Pine woods ; its mycelium 

 is characterised by the production of photogenic substances which cause the 

 infected wood to appear phosphorescent in the dark ( 5 ). The mycelium forms, as 

 a resting stage, blackish branched strands (rhizomorphs) beneath the bark or 

 between the roots of the host plants. 



Of the poisonous Agaricineae the following are best known : Amanita muscaria 

 (Fig. 417), with white lamellae ; Amanita phalloides (Fig. 418), often confounded 

 with the Mushroom, with lighter or darker green pileus ; A. verna, with white 

 pileus, and A. mappa (Fig. 419), yellow or yellowish white. All three have white 



