Tuberacese 



(Plate CLV.) 



identical with an edible species found in Italy. All species found in Tuber. 

 California are said to be edible, but to be too rare to be of food value. 



There is a well known growth, found from New Jersey south to the 

 Gulf and west to Kansas, called Tucka- 

 hoe (Pachyma cocos) . (Plate CLV), 

 an Indian name meaning a round loaf or 

 cake, and famed for its edible qualities. 

 Its exact place in plant growth has been 

 variously determined. It is now con- 

 ceded that it is the sclerotium or cellular 

 reservoir of reserve material of some 

 fungus. It is usually found attached to 

 the roots of trees, in low marshy places. 

 It grows several feet below the surface, 

 and to the size of a man's head. It 

 varies in shape, being oblong or round, 

 having a coarse brown covering, looking 

 like a cocoanut. Its interior is white, 

 compact, without cellular structure; it 

 has no mycelium or trace of fructifica- 

 tion. It contains, as high as 77 per cent, of pectose and is therefore 

 highly nutritious. 



For full accounts see Torrey Bulletin, October, 1882; Smithsonian 

 Inst. Rep., 1881, p. 693; article by Professor). Howard Gore; also 

 Garden and Forest, IX, p. 302. 



The illustration is after that in the Century Dictionary, " Tuckahoe." 



PACHYMA cocos "TUCKAHOE." 



After Century Dictionary. 



A. Mass of Tuckahoe. B. Showing 



method of growing around a root. 



567 



