KEPORT OF THE STATE BOTANIST 255 



This fungus has been held in high estimation as an article of 

 food from very ancient times. It was used by the Greeks and 

 Romans and having graced the table of a Roman emperor it 

 received the name " Caesar's mushroom," whence the botanical 

 name. One ancient writer terms it "Cibus Deorum," the 

 food of the gods. Imperial mushroom, Orange mushroom, 

 true Orange, Yellow-egg and Kaiserling are other names 

 applied to it. 



All authors who have written concerning its esculent qualities 

 agree in characterizing it as "delicious." Cordier says that it is 

 an exception to the general rule that young plants are better for 

 food than those fully grown. The inference is that the mature 

 individuals are just as tender and sapid as the young ones. I 

 have not tested this point. No charge or even suspicion of noxi- 

 ous quality seems to have been entertained against it in any case. 



There is but one harmful species with which it is possible to 

 confuse the Orange amanita. It is the Fly amanita, Amanita 

 muscaria. These two resemble each other in size, shape and 

 color of the cap, but in other respects they are quite distinct. 

 The chief distinctive characters may be contrasted as follows : 



Orange amanita. Cap smooth, gills yellow, stem yellow, \\\\i\^- 

 T^BT persistently membranous, white. 



Fly amanita. Cap loarty, gills lohite, stem white or slightly yel. 

 lowish, wrapper soon broken into fragments or scales, white or 

 yeUowish. 



In Europe there is said to be a variety of the Orange amanita 

 with the cap wholly white or whitish, but no such variety has 

 yet been recorded in this country, 



Amanita rubescens /K 

 Reddish Amanita. 



Plate 16. 



Pileus warty, even or but slightly striate on the margin, more 

 or less tinged with dingy-red or brownish-red hues; himolla3 

 white or whitish; stem annulate, bulbous at the bast', whitish, 

 but generally with dull reddish stains, especially towanl tlu* base ; 

 spores elliptical, .0003 to .00035 in. long. 



The Reddish amanita has a peculiarly sordid .uid uninviting 

 appearance, owing to the dingy character of its [colors. The 



