Underwood: north American helvellales. 485 



Of this family only Leotia lubrica is known to be edible. I have 

 frequently seen this species growing in wet woods in Connecticut 

 so abuadant that several quarts could be gathered from an area 

 of a few square rods. 



The Helvellaceae are distinguished by the pileate charac- 

 ter of the ascoma and especially by the method of dehiscence of 

 the asci by opercula. This family contains the largest species 

 of the order, some of them weighing a pound or more. Most 

 of the larger species and some of the smaller ones are edible, 

 and the morels and gyromitras form the most luscious of the 

 esculent fungi. There are five genera all represented in 

 America, distinguished as follows: — 



Pileus fleshy, hollow throughout or at least in the upper portion. 

 Pileus oval or conic, the upper surface consisting of deep pits 



formed by longitudinal and transverse ridges Morchella. 



Pileus irregular or lobed, the upper surface covered with 



gyrose wrinkles Gyromitra. 



Pileus tough or fleshy, attached to the stipe at the middle. 



Pileus campanulate Verpa. 



Pileus flat or arched, almost discoid Gidaris. 



Pileus lobed, irregular or saddle-shaped Helvella. 



Helvella is the largest genus, represented in this country by 

 twelve species. These are divided into three somewhat natural 

 groups according to the nature of the stipe. 



(1) Stipe thick, sulcate or furrowed. H. californica, crispa, 

 grisea, lacunosa, palustris. 



(2) Stipe thick, smooth. H. monachella. 



(3) Stipe slender, smooth (i. e. not sulcate). H. atra, elastica, 

 ephippum, gracilis, pezizoides, pusilla. 



Verpa contains two species and possibly a third representing 

 two well marked sections: — 



;? Ptychoverpa Boud. {Morchellaria Schroet. ) with thick, 

 simple or forked, longitudinal ridges on the pileus, is repres- 

 ented by V. bohemica, and 



§ Euverpa with a smooth pileus, is represented by V. conica, 

 and a second species with a dark colored pileus that may be 

 identical with V. atro-alba Pries. 



The first section was formerly regarded as a member of Mor- 

 chella, but its true position was first pointed out by Boudier 2 

 in which he has been followed by both Schroeter 3 and Rehm 4 . 



(2) Bull. Soo. Mycologique, 7: 141. 1892. 



(3) Engler-Prantl. Die uatiirl. Pflanzenfam. 1 : 170. 1894. 



(4) Rahenhorst. Krypt.Fl. Deutsch. Oesterr. und derSchweiz, Pilze, 3:1199. 1895. 



