COMMON MUSHROOMS OF THE UNITED STATES 



411 



Photograph by George Shiras, 3d 



an unusually beautiful coral mushroom (Hydmim laciniatum) GROWING ON 



A PROSTRATE TREE 



The species is closely related to H. coralloides, shown on page 410. It is edible when white 

 and fresh. Size : Individual clumps up to 10 inches. 



lowed by death. Convulsions may or may not 

 occur toward the end. 



The duration of the illness is from three to 

 eight days, depending upon the age of the 

 patient and upon the amount of fungus eaten. 

 There is no known antidote for the poisons, 

 and the death-rate is, therefore, very high, 

 ranging from 60 to 100 per cent. 



A description of Amanita phalloides and its 

 varieties : Cap 2 to 6 inches broad, fleshy, at 

 first egg-shaped to bell-shaped, then obtusely 

 convex, finally plane or depressed (concave 

 when old and overexpanded), usually a little 

 elevated in the center, but not umbonate, white 

 (in the spring form, A.verna, and in A.virosa, 

 the latter illustrated in Plate X), light yellow- 

 ish-white, dull yellow or light brown, grayish, 

 grayish-brown or olive-brown (livid purplish- 

 brown in A. porphyria), the disk frequently 

 darker in some individuals, approaching black 

 (see Plate XVI), citron-yellow {A. citrina, 

 illustrated by the figure on the extreme right 

 in Plate V), greenish yellow, green or olive- 

 green, occasionally streaked with darker shades 

 of the prevailing color or with dull reds. 



THE HONEY-COLORED MUSHROOM, 



OR OAK FUNGUS (Armillaria 



mellea). Edible 



(Upper figure, Color Plate VI) 



Tcte de Mcdusc is a French common name 

 for this agaric, the appearance of which in an 



orchard is as much feared by the owner of the 

 trees as was the Gorgon head of old. 



Its appetite for living, ligneous substance is 

 truly astounding. With equal zest it feeds 

 upon oaks, chestnuts, pines, larches, hemlocks, 

 and white cedars, reserving for dessert the 

 grapevine and most fruit trees. When times 

 are hard and "pickins' slim," it turns upon 

 the humble potato. Once, so far as we know, 

 its attack was met, and this by an orchid. 

 After a battle for supremacy, the two finally 

 came to an understanding and decided to work 

 together for their mutual benefit. 



Like most successful organisms, it has a 

 great capacity for adapting itself. Equally 

 at home on plains, mountain peaks, and in 

 mines, it pursues its prey relentlessly, its rapid 

 propagation being aided by blackish cords 

 (rhizomorphs) that do reconnoitering duty 

 under the ground and under the bark of trees. 

 Even the orchardist plowing over the site 

 of a tree killed by the Armillaria unwittingly 

 assists in its distribution by scattering" frag- 

 ments of these rhizomorphs over new feeding 

 ground. 



Much work has been done to combat this 

 fungus pest, latest among which is that by 

 Prof. W. T. Home, of the University of Cali- 

 fornia. 



As might be expected in so widely dis- 

 tributed and adaptable a plant, its tendency 

 to vary, both in color and in structure, is al- 

 most limitless (see pages 394 and 395). 



