COMMON MUSHROOMS OF THE UNITED STATES 



413 



A HUGE, CONSPICUOUS MUSHROOM SOMETIMES EOUND IN FORESTS (SpamSSlS 



herbstii) . Edible 



This rare and beautiful fungus should be looked for in oak woods. About one-half 



natural size. 



Because of the acrid taste that is usually 

 present in the raw plant, it is not rated very 

 high as an edible species. 



This mushroom grows wherever there is 

 wood to be attacked in the open, commonly in 

 woods, on the ground, or on decaying stumps 

 and trunks of trees, singly, scattered, or in 

 dense clusters ; time, mainly in the autumn, 

 though it may occur as early as June; distri- 

 bution, cosmopolitan. 



THE GARLIC MUSHROOM (Marasmius 



scorodonius). Edible 



(See Color Plate VI) 



Some people enjoy the flavor of garlic. To 

 these it will be interesting news that they may 

 have their garlic in mushroom form if they 

 will enter a pine or spruce forest. Here, in 

 vast hordes, covering the fallen twigs, sticks, 

 and needles, grows the little Marasmius. One 

 cannot mistake the plant, for the odor is so 

 pronounced that the ''nose knows" it before 

 the eye sees it. 



It may be used like garlic, in dressings, and 

 as a flavor for roasts, etc. Since it occurs in 

 great abundance and dries readily, it can be 

 stored for use in the winter, when it will also 

 prove a reminder of the pleasant days spent 

 in mushroom-hunting. The dried plants must 

 be steeped in water before they are employed 

 in the kitchen. 



The Garlic mushroom grows in woods, espe- 

 cially of pines, on needles, twigs, etc.; time, 

 July to October, very plentiful after heavy 

 rains ; distribution, temperate North America 

 and Europe; also in Siberia. 



THE LITTLE WHEEL MUSHROOM 

 (Marasmius rotula). Edible 



(See Color Plate VI) 



After a summer shower it pays to scrutinize 

 closely the decaying debris of a near-by wood. 

 Almost certainly one will see on bark, roots, 

 and old leaves tufts of this delicate and mar- 

 velously made little agaric. 



Note particularly the manner in which the 

 hair-like stem is set into the tiny socket, the 

 sparsity of the gill development, and the fine 

 furrows and scallopings of the margin of the 

 cap. A Swiss watchmaker could not excel 

 such workmanship. 



During dry weather the plants shrivel into 

 invisibility, but, like all members of the genus 

 Marasmius, they regain their pristine freshness 

 with the return of rain. Sometimes, as if fa- 

 tigued from the production of so much minute 

 workmanship, the plants fail to produce caps, 

 and the stems, too, are often abnormally grown 

 together in a branching manner. 



For culinary purposes this species is used as 

 an addition to gravies. When garnishing veni- 



