480 



MUSHROOMS 



MUSHROOMS 



the soil from truffle regions has been spread on the 

 land, thus securing a sowing of the spores. A 

 double economic purpose has thus been accom- 

 plished, — reforestation and the encouragement of 

 truffle-growing. 



Terfa. Terfeziaeece. Fig. 711. 



The terfas, or kames, are fungi which in general 

 appearance resemble the white truffle of southern 

 Europe, but because of well-marked characters 

 they are placed in another related family, the Ter- 

 feziacem. They were among the earliest known 

 edible fungi, and were greatly prized by the an- 

 cient Greeks. At present the terfas are abundant in 

 parts of Asiatic Turkey and Persia, particularly 

 near Smyrna and Babylon, also in the Libyan Des- 

 ert of northern Africa and in the semi-desertic 

 regions of southern and southwestern Algeria. 

 They are highly prized by the Arabs, and wher- 

 ever they occur in quantity they constitute an 

 important food product. These fungi are found, as 

 a rule, under certain species of Cistaeece, although 

 they occur associated with the roots of other 



plants. They are found more readily than truffles. 

 They mature in the spring after the heavy rains, 

 and as they develop rapidly, they break or raise 

 the soil slightly, so that the locations may be 





Fig. 712. Truffle hunting (above) with a dog in the garigues 

 of southern France. Truffle hunting (below) with a pig in 

 an "orchard" of oaks, southern France. 



A broken tuckahoe. Much reduced. 



detected, although subterranean. They occur in 

 lime- containing, sandy soils, mostly in the flood 

 plains of small streams. The production of these 

 fungi is very evidently dependent on sufficient 

 winter rainfall, or inundations at some time in the 

 winter months. 



Tuckahoe. (Indian Bread, Indian Loaf. Okeepe- 

 nauk of the early Indians.) Fig. 713. 



The American tuckahoe is now considered to be 

 inedible. It is unquestionably the sclerotial stage 

 of some fungus, very probably of a pore-bearing 

 mushroom (supposedly of a Polyporus). The form 

 and size of this sclerotium is not unlike a coco- 

 nut. The exterior is also rough and bark-like. The 

 interior, however, when mature, is hard, white and 

 friable. The tuckahoe has been found in various 

 parts of the South and Southwest. It has received 

 tentatively, the name Paehyma cocos. 



Among other pore-bearing mushrooms which 

 may produce a somewhat similar sclerotial stage, 

 one of the most interesting is Polyporus Mylittm. 

 The sclerotium of this- fungus is known as " Native 

 Bread," and is said to be eaten by the native in- 

 habitants. P. Sapurema, found in Brazil, produces 

 a sclerotium weighing many kilos. In Italy, P. 

 tuberaster, produces a sclerotial mass of mycelium. 

 This mass will produce the edible sporophores of 

 the Polyporus until the stored-up nutriment is ex- 

 hausted. The sclerotial mass is therefore sought 

 in the open and brought in, so that none of the 

 mushrooms may be lost as produced. No form of 

 tuckahoe or allied structure is cultivated so far as 

 can be ascertained. 



Literature on mushrooms. 



Atkinson, Mushrooms, Edible, Poisonous, etc., 

 first edition, Andrus and Church, Ithaca, N. Y. 

 (1901); second edition, Henry Holt & Co., New 

 York City (1903); B. M. Duggar, The Principles of 

 Mushroom-Growing and Mushroom Spawn Making, 

 Bulletin No. 85, Bureau of Plant Industry, United 

 States Department of Agriculture (1905); W. G. 

 Farlow, Some Edible and Poisonous Fungi, Bulletin 

 No. 15, Division of Vegetable Physiology and 

 Pathology, United States Department of Agricul- 

 ture (1898); Wm. Hamilton Gibson, Our Edible 

 Toadstools and Mushrooms, and How to Distinguish 



