by side, but they are separate from each other, and do not form 
a continuous compact mass, as in the genera Boletus and Polypo- 
rus. They are at first very short, and resemble minute warts or 
papilee, but they become longer, cylindrical and hollow with age. 
We have one species, the Liver fistulina, Fistulina hepatica. 
This name was probably suggested by its dark-red color. It has 
other common names, such as 
“Oak tongue,” “Chestnut 
tongue,” “Beef tongue,” and 
“Beefsteak fungus,” given in 
allusion to its place of growth, 
its shape or its texture. Like 
many other wood-inhabiting 
fungi, it is a “side grower.” 
EISOHINE REDAEe Its cap is rough, especially 
when young, with minute 
papillee on the upper surface, and this, with its shape and color, 
may have suggested the name Beef tongue. Its stem is short, 
and often quite thick. The flesh is soft and juicy, but tough and 
fibrous when old and dry. The juice is reddish, and the flesh is 
streaked with red. The pores or tubes are pinkish or yellowish- 
pink when young, but they become dingy or brownish-ochraceous 
when old. The cap is commonly two to six inches broad, but it 
sometimes attains a much greater size. It grows in warm, wet 
weather from the base or from stumps of oak and chestnut trees, 
and may be found from July to September. 
This vegetable beefsteak has been highly praised by some Eu- 
ropean writers, as the following quotations show: “The taste re- 
sembles meat in a remarkable manner;” “It is good broiled with 
a steak and properly seasoned;” “If it is not beef itself, it is the 
sauce for it;”’ “No fungus yields a richer gravy, and though rather 
tough when broiled, it is scarcely to be distinguished from broiled 
meat.” It sometimes has a slightly acid flavor, but this is by no 
means disagreeable. 
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