186 STUDIES OF AMERICAN FUNGI. 



FISTULINA Bull. 



In the genus Fistulina the tubes, or pores, are crowded together, 

 but stand separately, that is, they are not connected together, or 

 grown together into a stratum as in Boletus and other genera of the 

 family Polyporacece. When the plant is young the tubes are very 

 short, but they elongate with age. 



Fistulina hepatica Fr. Edible. This is one of the largest of the 

 species in the genus and is the most widely distributed and common 

 one. It is of a dark red color, very soft and juicy. It has usually a 

 short stem which expands out into the broad and thick cap. When 

 young the upper side of the cap is marked by minute elevations of a 

 different color, which suggest the papillae on the tongue ; in age 

 the tubes on the under surface have also some such suggestive ap- 

 pearance. The form, as it stands outward in a shelving fashion 

 from stumps or trees, together with the color and surface characters, 

 has suggested several common names, as beef tongue, beef-steak fun- 

 gus, oak or chestnut tongue. The plant is 10-20 cm. long, and 8-15 

 cm. broad, the stem very short and thick, sometimes almost wanting, 

 and again quite long. I have seen some specimens growing from a 

 hollow log in which the stems were 12-15 cm. long. 



The pileus is very thick, 2 cm. or more in thickness, fleshy, soft, 

 very juicy, and in wet weather very clammy and somewhat sticky 

 to the touch. When mature there are lines of color of different shades 

 extending out radially on the upper surface, and in making a longi- 

 tudinal section of the cap there are quite prominent, alternating, dark 

 and light red lines present in the flesh. The tubes, short at first, 

 become 2-3 mm. long, they are yellowish or tinged with flesh color, 

 becoming soiled in age. The spores are elliptical, yellowish, and 

 5-6 ix long. 



The plant occurs on dead trunks or stumps of oak, chestnut, etc., 

 in wet weather from June to September. I have usually found it on 

 chestnut. 



The beef-steak fungus is highly recommended by some, while 

 others are not pleased with it as an article of food. It has an acid 

 flavor which is disagreeable to some, but this is more marked in 

 young specimens and in those not well cooked. When it is sliced 

 thin and well broiled or fried, the acid taste is not marked. 



Fistulina pallida B. & Rav. {Fistulina firma Pk.) This rare and 

 interesting species was collected by Mrs. A. M. Hadley, near Man- 

 chester, New Hampshire, October, 1898, and was described. by Dr. 

 Peck in the Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, 26: 70, 1899, as 



