Clavariaceae 



CLAVARIA CINEREA. 

 Two-thirds natural size. 



Clavaria. (Plate CXL.) pressed, wrinkled, irregular, some- 



what obtuse or flattened and divided 

 into slender points. 



Its gray color easily distinguishes 

 it from others. It is variable in its 

 mode of growth and in its shape. 



On ground in woods. Common. 

 June to frost. 



Eatable, but injurious in quantities. 

 Cordier. Edible, but provokes in- 

 digestion in delicate stomachs. 

 Leuba. 



Eaten generally in Europe. In 

 France it is called pied de cog. 



Plentiful in United States, in mixed woods. June to frost. 

 The writer and his friends have eaten it for fifteen years, and know 

 of no Clavaria equalling it. 



C. tetrago'na Schw. Four-angled. Very fragile, deep orange-yel- 

 low, twice forked. Stem and branches quadrangular, 1-1^2 in. tall. 



Moist shady places. 



New York. Ground in shaded places. August and September. 

 Poughkeepsie, Gerard, Peck, 24th Rep. ; North Carolina, Schweinitz, 

 Curtis; Pennsylvania, Schweinits. 



Edible. Curtis. 



C. crista'ta Pers. crista, a crest. (Plate CXLI, p. 518.) Height 

 1-5 in., whitish, tufts of broad flattened branches cut on margins or 

 crested. Base short, stout. Branches numerous, irregular, flattened 

 upward and divided like moose horns, tough, stuffed, dingy. This pe- 

 culiarity distinguishes it and separates it from C. coralloides. 



Spores pale ochraceous, pointed, iox8/>i Massee. 



Woods. Common. Summer and autumn. Indiana, H. I. Miller; 

 West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Mcllvaine. 



Edible. Curtis. 



After a summer rain the crested Clavaria is usually abundant where 

 there is good encouragement of mossy beds or mats of rich wood-soil 

 in woods where leaves and mold accumulate. It is not as tender as 



518 



