SPECIMS OF CANTBABMLLUS. 39 



Woods, copses and open places. Common. June to September. 



The edible Chantarelle, though often irregular in shape, is beauti- 

 ful in color. The whole plant is of a clear, rich egg-yellow hue, and 

 this, with its solid stem, renders its identification easy. The Ameri- 

 can plant scarcely varies in color, but in Europe there is said to be a 

 white variety of it. When old, the margin first begins to dry, and 

 soon assumes a dull reddish-brown hue. The flesh both of the pileus 

 and stem is white, though often tinged with yellow near the surface. 

 Some authors attribute to it an odor like that of ripe apricots, but I 

 have not been able to detect any decided odor in it. The lamelhe 

 vary somewhat in their degree of proximity to each o'her and in 

 the extent of their ramification. They are sometimes wavy or 

 crisped as in some species of Paxillus. The interspaces are usually 

 venose. The length of the stem is generally about equal to the 

 breadth of the pileus. It is more frequently curved or flexuous 

 than straight, and sometimes it is narrowed downward. The spores 

 are described by most authors as white, but if they are collected on 

 white paper they have a slight yellowish or salmon^yellow tint. The 

 plant grows either in a scattered manner or arranged in curved lines, 

 as if attempting to form a " fairy ring." A favorite habitat is in 

 the deep shade of hemlock trees, but it also grows freely and plenti- 

 fully in thin woods of deciduous trees in damp, showery weather. 

 The species is quite celebrated for its edible qualities. Fries says 

 that "it is justly enumerated among the most sapid fungi ; " Bad- 

 ham, that "no fungus is more popular;" Berkeley, that "it is 

 occasionally served up at public dinners at the principal hotels in 

 London on state occasions, when every effort is made to secure the 

 rarest and most costly dainties ; " Cooke, that " it is alike esteemed 

 in France, Germany, Austria and Italy," and that "it is not at all 

 uncommon to hear from epicures rapturous encomiums of this golden 

 fungus." According to Badham, "it requires to be gently stewed, 

 and a long time, to make it tender ; but by soaking it in milk the 

 night before, less cooking will be requisite." 



Cantharellus cinnabarinus tSehw. 



Cinnabar-colored Chantarelle. 



Pileus fleshy, rather thin, firm, convex, then depressed or subin- 



fundibuliform, often irregular, cinnabar-red, the margin at first 



inflexed, often lobed in large specimens, flesh whitish, externally 



tino-ed with red : lamellae subdistant, branched, decurrent, cinnabar- 



