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NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



be comprehended by the general reader. This description has 

 been made as concise as was compatible with completeness and 

 with the avoidance of technical terms. It is supplemented by a 

 statement of the usual dimensions of the plant, its habitat or 

 usual place of growth, its time of appearance, its qualities as an 

 esculent and its relations or resemblances to other species. 



Sixty-three edible species have been figured on thirty-nine 

 plates, three poisonous ones on three plates and one unwholesome 

 one on one plate. Of the sixty-three edible species, about forty 

 have been tested as to their edible qualities by the writer. Of 

 the remainder, all save four have been eaten without harm by 

 some of his acquaintances or correspondents. The four unproved 

 species have been recorded as edible by various writers and no 

 word of suspicion has ever been raised against them, so that ife 

 may be asserted most confidently that no species here represented 

 as edible is at all dangerous or deleterious if used with modera- 

 tion and after proper selection and preparation. All the species 

 are not equally sapid, tender or desirable, but any of them may 

 be eaten with perfect safety, if collected in good condition and 

 eaten in reasonable quantity. Nine of these species were first 

 published as edible in the State Museum reports, seven having 

 been proved by the writer, two by his friends. 



Other species belonging to our flora have been classed as 

 edible by various writers, but they are not included in the present 

 work, because opportunity has not yet been found for a personal 

 trial of their edible qualities or for making accurate figures of 

 them. It is to be hoped that in due time it may be possible to 

 include them in a supplementary publication which shall com- 

 plete this work. 



That there are dangerous species whose use as food should be 

 most carefully avoided is an acknowledged fact, but the number 

 of such species is far less than many suppose. According to the 

 authority of those who have especially investigated this subject, 

 the dangerously poisonous species found in this country all 

 belong to a single genus, Amanita. About a dozen species of 

 this genus have been found in our State, and of these, two are 

 known to be harmless and edible, three or four only are 

 commonly classed as poisonous, and probably a single one of 

 these is responsible for a vast majority of the fatal accidents 



