Some Colorado Mushrooms 
By B. O. LONGYEAR 
Mushrooms and toadstools. What contrasting emotions of 
pleasure and repugnance these two terms convey to most persons. 
One suggests a wholesome, appetizing and nutritious article of 
food, while the other conjures up an idea of some noxious, dan¬ 
gerous or poisonous growth. The popular idea, moreover, that the 
two may be readily mistaken one for the other deters a great many 
people from using any of these plants for food in this country; 
consequently a large part of the annual crop of native edible fungi 
goes to waste for lack of a familiar knowledge of the different 
species by the public. 
POPULAR IDEAS ABOUT MUSHROOMS. 
Probably no other class of plants is so little understood by the 
public as the fungi and especially those fleshy forms commonly 
called mushrooms and toadstools. Perhaps the most common idea 
is that there are just two kinds of fleshy fungi. Mushrooms, edi¬ 
ble, and toadstools, poisonous; hence the usual query is, “How do 
you tell a mushroom from a toadstool ?” This question suggests 
the popular notion that there is some test or arbitrary rule which 
if applied at random to such fungi as one may come across will 
enable the finder to distinguish which are edible and which are poi¬ 
sonous. There also prevails quite generally an idea that there is 
no certainty in the recognition of the edible kinds without the use 
of some such rule and therefore the matter of eating fleshy fungi 
is extremely hazardous except by those who hold the secret for¬ 
mula. 
The botanist does not classify the fleshy fungi in this way, but 
calls them either mushrooms or toadstools and recognizes the poi¬ 
sonous species among them by their botanical characters. 
No dependence should be placed upon such tests as the black¬ 
ening of a silver spoon in cooking, the salt test, the avoidance of 
bright colors, whether the caps will peel or not, and such general 
rules as are sometimes recommended. Another popular notion 
about certain of these plants is that toads have something to do 
with their origin and growth. This is purely a superstition and 
has no foundation in fact, as determined by a scientific study of 
these plants. 
