Jan. 1905 ] 
Agaricus Amygdalinus M.A.C. 
13 
icus Fabaceus Berk.! Ad terram pinguem. July-Nov. Santa 
Canal. Rav. and Society Hill. First discovered in Ohio by Mr. 
Lea. This is among the most delicious species for the table. The 
fresh specimen has a distinct taste and odor of peach kernels or 
bitter almonds, which are nearly lost in being cooked.” 
It will be noted that in Berkeley’s description of Agaricus 
fabaceus it is said that “when young it has a peculiar but not 
unpleasant smell.” Berkeley’s descriptions was published in 
Hooker’s Journal of Botany in 1848; one year after Curtis’s 
article in Silliman’s Journal, above quoted, appeared. 
Ravenel, a co-worker with Curtis, and from whom Curtis 
had received specimens of this plant, seems at first to have 
accepted this determination of this plant, for we find him writing 
as follows in the Charleston Med. Jour., Vol. 6, p. 190, 1851. 
“No. 36. Psaliota Campestris. Linn. Ant. roadsides and green 
lawns. 
“37. Psaliota fabaceus. Berk. All Summer and Autumn on the 
earth in fileds and gardens. Gregarious. This is the species commonly 
known as the ‘Eatable Mushroom.’ It bears a strong resemblance to 
Agaricus Campestris, the common Eatable Mushroom of Europe, the 
Champignon of the Paris Epicures, and most probably has been brought 
into use in this country by those who are familiar with the other in 
Europe. The Agaricus Campestris is more rare and both are used indis¬ 
criminately. The Agaricus fabaceus may always be known by its emitting 
an odor of almond and peach kernel when fractured.” 
As time passed, and with further study in the field, Ravenel 
seems also to have experienced doubts as to the true position of 
this plant, and we find him, in an address before the Aiken Vine 
Growing Association published in the Charleston Daily Courier 
of Aug. 15th, 1862, entitled, “On the Edible Mushrooms of this 
Country,” describing the Amygdaline plant under the name of 
Agaricus campestris. This address was of course very popular 
in form and substance; but it shows that the he shared Curtis’s 
doubts as to his previous determination of this plant. 
Curtis finally settles the matter to his satisfaction in 1867, 
by creating the species Agaricus amygdalinus. The only descrip¬ 
tion we have of this species is contained in a letter from Curtis to 
Berkeley Oct. 9, 1869, published in Gardner’s Chronicle. The 
chief and only point on which he lays stress, and indeed the char¬ 
acteristic by which he separates this plant from its close allies, 
Ag. arvensis and Ag. campestris, is the strong Amygdaline odour 
and taste. “Indeed this may be regarded as the safest of all 
species for gathering, as it can be discriminated from all others 
even by a child or a blind person. Its taste and odour are so very 
like those of peach kernels or bitter almonds that almost invari¬ 
ably the resemblance is immediately mentioned by those who taste 
it crude for the first time.” 
This description, as far as it goes, agrees exactly with what 
was said of Agaricus fabaceus in Silliman’s Jour, quoted above. 
