128 



STUDIES OF AMERICAN FUNGI. 



CANTHARELLUS Adanson. 



From the other white-spored agarics of a fleshy consistency Can- 

 tharellus is distinguished by the form of the gills. The gills are gen- 

 erally forked, once or several times, in a dichotomous manner, 

 though sometimes irregularly. They are blunt on the edge, not 

 acute as in most of the other genera. The gills are usually narrow 



and in many species 

 look like veins, folds, 

 or wrinkles, but in 

 some species, as in 

 Cantharelhis aurantia- 

 cus, they are rather 

 thin and broad. 



Cantharellus cibarius 

 Fr. Edible This plant 

 is known as the chan- 

 terelle. It has a very 

 wide distribution and 

 has long been regarded 

 as one of the best of 

 the edible mushrooms. 

 Many of the writers on 

 fungi speak of it in 

 terms of high praise. 

 The entire plant is a 

 uniform rich chrome 

 yellow. Sometimes 

 it is symmetrical in 

 form, but usually it is 

 more or less irregular 

 and unsymmetrical in 

 form. The plants are 

 5-10 cm. high, the cap 

 4-8 cm. broad, and the 

 stem short and rather 

 thick. 



Figure 126 Cantharellus cibarius. Under view showing 

 forked gills with veins connecting them. Entire plant rich 

 chrome yellow (natural size). 



The pileus is fleshy, rather thick, the margin thick and blunt and 

 at first inrolled. It is convex, becoming expanded or sometimes 

 depressed by the margin of the cap becoming elevated. The margin 

 is often wavy or repand, and in irregular forms it is only produced at 

 one side, or more at one side than at the other, or the cap is irregu- 



