Student's Hand-book of Mushrooms of America, Edible and PoisonousTaylor, Thomas
Science
Student's Hand-book of Mushrooms of America, Edible and Poisonous
Taylor, Thomas
Mushrooms -- United States; Pathogenic fungi
The few species of Hypholoma which I have tested have been palatable,
and one or two are of very delicate flavor.
[Illustration: Plate VIII.
EDIBLE
Agaricus (Hypholoma) _sublateritius_ Fries (Hypholoma sublatertium)
"Brick Top."
Group from Seabrooke Woods, Md.
T. Taylor, del.]
PLATE VIII.
=Ag. (Hypholoma) sublateritius= Schaeff. "_Red Tuft_." (=Hypholoma
sublateritium=) "_The Brick Top_."
EDIBLE.
The cap of this species is fleshy and obtuse, convexo-plane, sometimes
showing a superficial whitish cloudiness upon the margin coming from the
veil, which soon disappears, leaving it smooth and dry; color tawny
brick red, with pale straw margin; flesh compact and whitish, turning
yellow when wilted. Stem stuffed and fibrillose, tapering downward. Near
its attachment to the cap the color is very light yellow; lower down and
towards the root it is covered with patches and lines of burnt sienna
color. It bears no distinct ring. In very young plants the filmy veil is
sometimes perceived, reaching from the margin of the cap to the stem.
This disappears as the cap expands, sometimes leaving the stem obscurely
annulate. Gills adnate in full-grown specimens, slightly decurrent,
somewhat crowded, dingy white or cinereous, turning to dark olive, never
yellow; in old or wilted specimens changing to a dark brown. In old
specimens the cap is a reddish brown and the gills are sometimes stained
with the purplish brown of the spores.
This is a very common species and very abundant in pine and oak woods. I
have seen an oak stump in Prince George's County, Md., measuring from 3
to 4 feet in height, literally covered with mushrooms of this species.
This mushroom has been recorded as suspicious by some writers, probably
owing to its slightly bitter taste, but I have thoroughly tested its
edible qualities, both uncooked and prepared in various ways for the
table, using the caps only. It keeps well when dried, and when ground
into powder, with the addition of boiling water and a little pepper and
salt, makes a very pleasant and nutritious beverage. It is most abundant
in the early autumn, and is gathered in this latitude well into the
winter, even when the snow is on the ground.
Our American plant is less heavy and more graceful in aspect than the
same species in England, as figured in English works, but the general
characteristics are the same.
Ag. (Hypholoma) _fascicularis_ Hudson, recorded as deleterious, is
figured in "Cooke's Illustrations."
Dr. Berkeley thus distinguishes these two species from each other. Cap
of _sublateritius_ is obtuse, discoid; that of _fascicularis_,
subumbonate. Flesh of the former, compact, dingy-white; that of the
latter, yellow. Stem in _sublateritius_ is "stuffed," attenuated
downwards, ferruginous; stem of _fascicularis_ hollow, thin, flexuose.
The gills in both species are adnate, crowded; but in _fascicularis_
they are also linear and deliquescent, and are _yellow_ in color.
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