l6 EDIBLE MUSHROOMS 



It is idle to attempt an adjudication of the vexed 

 " toadstool " and " mushroom " question here. The 

 toad is plainly the only final, appealable 

 "^"alfd""'" authority on this subject. It may be 

 "mushroom" questioned whether he is at pains to de- 

 termine the delectable or noisome qual- 

 ities — from the human standpoint — of a particular 

 fungus before deciding to settle his comfortable pro- 

 portions upon its summit — if, indeed, he even so 

 honors even the humblest of them. 



The oft-repeated question, therefore, " Is this fungus 

 a toadstool or a mushroom.?" may fittingly be met by 

 the counter query, " Is this rose a flower or a blossom.?" 

 The so-called distinction is a purely arbitrary, pop- 

 ular prejudice which differentiates the " toadstool " as 

 poisonous, the " mushroom " being considered harm- 

 less. But even the rustic authorities are rather mixed 

 on the subject, as may be well illustrated by a recent 

 incident in my own experience. 



Walking in the woods with a country friend in 



quest of fungi, we were discussing this " toadstool " 



topic when we came upon a cluster of 



Popular mushrooms at the base of a tree-trunk, 



discrimination their broad, expanded caps apparently 



upholstered in fawn-colored, undressed 



kid, their under surfaces being stuffed and tufted in 



pale greenish hue. 



" What would you call those ?" I inquired. 

 " Those are toadstools, unmistakably," he replied. 

 " Well, toadstools or not, you see there about two 

 pounds of delicious vegetable meat, for it is the com- 

 mon species of edible boletus— Bo/e^us edulis." 



