506 JOURNAL " OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



slices are soaked in warm water until they become softened, and then 

 stewed with condiments and eaten with toasted bread. Berkeley wrote 

 that, " though much neglected in this country, it appears to be a most 

 valuable article of food. It resembles much in taste the common Mush- 

 room, and is quite as delicate." 



(17) Rough-legged Boletus : Boletus scaber (Fries). 



Another Boletus equally common in woods does not attain quite the 

 same size, but with a longer stem, thick at the base and gradually 

 attenuated upwards, of a dirty white colour, and rough throughout its 

 length, with blackish dot-like scales. The colour of the pileus is usually 

 a dull brown, or sometimes terra-cotta red, and the pore surface is very 

 convex, dirty white, with a deep channel round the upper portion of the 

 stem. When cut, the flesh of the cap and stem usually turns of a reddish- 

 grey colour. 



Its qualities and uses are much the same as those of the edible 

 Boletus, for which it may be employed as a substitute. 



(18) Morels : Morchella sp. 



Morels are certainly not so much esteemed in this country as on the 

 Continent. In the spring one sees them constantly exposed for sale in 

 Paris in a fresh condition, and I have heard of their being seen in Covent 

 Garden Market, but never seen them myself. The fungus, dried whole, 

 may be purchased, at so much a pound, for flavouring soups, but it is 

 preferable in the fresh condition, at a time of the year when Mushrooms 

 are scarce or absent. They are even sold in strings in the bazaars of 

 N.W. India, and two or three species are collected for this purpose in 

 the Vale of Cashmere. We have five or six indigenous species, and one 

 very large one, enough for a meal for two or three people, of which we 

 have seen fine specimens kicked about in a country lane by lively boys 

 who did not know their value. The Morel is not an Agaric but an 

 almost pear-shaped substance, covered with deep hexagonal pits. These 

 pits contain the spores, which are not naked, as in the Agarics, but 

 enclosed in long cylindrical sacs or asci of thin membrane, and are closely 

 packed side by side, each sac enclosing eight spores, which are ejected 

 from the apex when mature. No method has yet been devised for 

 cultivating the Morel, although wherever esteemed it maintains a gocd 

 price. 



Common Morel : Morchella esculenta (Persoon). 



The common Morel is the one most usually found, but it is inconspicu- 

 ous, and requires hunting for. The head is almost globose, about two 

 inches in diameter, and has its base growing to the stem ; the entire 

 substance is hollow. It is found from April to June on chalky or clayey 

 soil. This is the species commonly seen in Paris. 



