MISCELLANEOUS FUNGI 247 



with a flavor of oysters." According to the same au- 

 thority it yields also a " very good puree." The 

 " oyster " flavor is recognized in many of the epicu- 

 rean encomiums on this species. Various hints as 

 to its culinary treatment will be found in a later 

 chapter. 



THE CORAL OR CLUB FUNGUS 

 Clavaria 



What frequenter of the summer and autumn woods 

 has failed to observe that occasional dense cluster of 

 creamy-colored, coral-like growth such as I have indi- 

 cated at Plate 30, and who has thought to gather up 

 its fragile, succulent mass with designs 



A neglected on the cook } I have seen clusters of 



feast this fungus so dense and ample as to 



strikingly suggest a huge cauliflower, 



and representing many pounds in weight. But in 



the absence of popular appreciation it must needs 



decay by "whole hundred-weights" in the woods. 



This is the Clavaria, or coral fungus — more literal- 

 ly translated, though less appropriate to this partic- 

 ular species, " club fungus" — a representative of a 

 genus containing many edible species. 



The one presented in the Plate is Clavaria for- 

 mosa, or the elegant Clavaria. It grows from four 

 to six inches in height, is deep creamy yellow or pale 

 orange buff in color, and slightly reddish at tips of 

 branches. It has a sweet taste, a fragile, brittle con- 

 sistency, and white substance; its spores are pale- 

 ochre colored. Curtis gives thirteen edible native 

 species. Among them are the following, which hard- 



