KEPORr OF THE STATE BDTANIST 



255 



This fundus has been held in high estimation as an article of 

 food from very ancient times. It was used by the Greeks and 

 Komans and having graced the table of a Roman emperor it 

 received the name " Caesar's mushroom," whence, the botanical 

 name. One ancient writer terms it " Cibus Deorum," the 

 food of the gods. Imperial mushroom, Orange mushroom, 

 true Orange, Yellow-egg and Kaiserling are other names 

 applied to it. 



All authors who have written concerning its esculent qualities 

 agree in characterizing it as "delicious." Cordier says that it is 

 an exception to the general rule that young plants are better for 

 food than those fully grown. The inference is that the mature 

 individuals are just as tender and sapid as the young ones. I 

 have not tested this point. No charge or even suspicion of noxi- 

 ous quality seems to have been entertained against it in any case. 



There is but one harmful species with which it is possible to 

 confuse the Orange amanita. It is the Fly amanita, Amanita 

 muscaria. These two resemble each other in size, shape and 

 color of the cap, but in other respects they are quite distinct. 

 The chief distinctive characters may be contrasted as follows : 



Orange amanita. Cap smooth, gills yellow, stem yellow, wrap- 

 per persistently membranous, white. 



Fly amanita. Cap warty, gills white, stem white or slightly yel. 

 lowish, wrapper soon broken into fragments or scales, white or 

 yellowish. 



In Europe there is said to be a variety of the Orange amanita 

 with the cap wholly white or whitish, but no such variety has 

 yet been recorded in this country. 



Amanita rubescens Fr. 

 Reddish Amanita. 



Plate 16. 



Pileus warty, even or but slightly striate on the margin, more 

 or less tinged with dingy-red or brownish-red hues; lamellae 

 white or whitish ; stem annulate, bulbous at the base, whitish, 

 but generally with dull reddish stains, especially toward the base ; 

 spores elliptical, .0003 to .00035 in. long. 



The Reddish amanita has a peculiarly sordid and uninviting 

 appearance, owing to the dingy character of its_[colors. The 



