12 
border of fields and the raised banks of streams, sometimes in fir or 
chestnut forests and in hilly countries. It prefers a calcareous ground 
and flourishes on wood ashes. 
In Germany, France, and England it is well known and highly 
esteemed. In the United States it is little known, although it grows 
in several of the States in great abundance. I have had specimens of 
it from Missouri, Wisconsin, and Maryland. Curtis speaks of finding 
it in North Carolina, but not in quantity. It is identical with the 
European morel. In Yorkshire, England, the women who gather cow¬ 
slips for wine-brewing bring to market a few morels in the corners of 
their baskets and ask an extra shilling for them. The dried morel is 
used in parts of England to give a flavorto certain kindsof sauce. Large 
quantities of this fungus, in a prepared condition, are imported into 
England from the continent. 
The following receipt will illustrate one of the methods of cooking 
this excellent mushroom: 
Having washed and cleaned from them the earth which is apt to collect in the hol¬ 
lows of the plants, dry them thoroughly in a napkin, and put in a saucepan with 
pepper and salt and parsley, adding, or not, a piece of ham; stew for an hour, pour¬ 
ing in occasionally a little broth to prevent burning. When sufficiently done, bind 
with the yolks of two or three eggs and serve on buttered toast. 
Clavaria cinerea Bull. 
Fig. 8. 
Of this species (Cinerea) M. C. Cooke observes: 
It has a short, thick stem, is very much branched and irregular, and becomes ul¬ 
timately of a cinereous hue. The substance is brittle, and not tough as in some 
species. In France it is known under various names, as Pied de coq, Gallinole, etc., 
and in Italy as DitoJarossa ; in both of those countries it is eaten. 
It is quite plentiful in this country. I have had some fine specimens 
from the White Mountains. All the white spored Clavarias are whole¬ 
some. 
Clavaria rugosa Bull. 
Fig. 9. . • 
This species (Clavaria rugosa) is not generally found in sufficient 
quantities to make it of much value as an esculent, but it is wholesome, 
and can be cooked with other varieties of the genus. It is irregular in 
shape, white, and sometimes the tips are delicately tinted with a green¬ 
ish gray. Before cooking,'the plants should be sweated with butter 
over a slow fire and the liquor thrown away. They may then be 
wrapped in slices of bacon and stewed for an hour in a little sauce or 
gravy, seasoned wi:h salt, pepper, and parsley, then served with white 
sauce. 
I 
