Toadstools, mushrooms, fungi, edible and poisonous; one thousand American fungi
3. AMANITA STROBILIFORMIS, 19
919 words | Chapter 43
=A. strobilifor´mis= Vitt.—_strobilis_, a pine-cone, from the shape of
the warts. (Plate VIII, fig. 3, p. 18.) =Cap= 3–10 in. across, convex or
nearly plane, white or cinereous, sometimes yellow on the disk, rough
with angular, mostly persistent warts which sometimes fall away and
leave the pileus nearly smooth; generally whitish, sometimes tinged with
brown; the margin even and extending a little beyond the lamellæ.
=Gills= free, rounded behind. =Veil= large and portions sometimes adhere
to margin of cap. =Stem= 3–8 in. long, up to 1¼ in. thick, equal or
slightly tapering upward, solid, floccose-scaly, white, bulbous, the
bulb very large, sometimes weighing a pound, margined above and
furnished with one or two concentric furrows, somewhat pointed below,
firmly and deeply imbedded in the earth, floccose-mealy when young.
=Spores= elliptical, 13–15×8–10µ _Peck_.
Open woods and borders. June to October.
Edible. _W.G. Smith_, _Curtis_, _Peck_.
This is among the best of species. Its size, solidity, flavor are
marked. I have found specimens weighing a pound and a half. It grows
singly, but when one is found several are apt to be neighbors. When
young, the cap is but a small knob upon a beet or top-shaped base, which
is largely under ground. It cuts like a soft turnip, and has a strong,
pungent, unmistakable odor, like chloride of lime, which entirely
disappears in cooking. As the plant develops the bulb decreases in size.
On all the many specimens the author has seen and eaten, the scabs are
light brown and reddish-brown.
=A. solita´ria= Bull.—growing alone. =Pileus= convex or plane, warty,
white or whitish, even on the margin. =Gills= reaching the stem, white
or slightly tinged with cream color. =Stem= at first mealy or scaly,
equal, solid, white, bulbous, the bulb scaly or mealy, narrowed below
into a root-like prolongation. =Ring= lacerated, often adhering in
fragments to the margin of the pileus and gills. =Spores=
elliptical-oblong, 8–13×6.5µ.
=Plant= 4–8 in. high. =Pileus= 3–6 in. broad. =Stem= 4–6 lines thick.
_Peck_, 33d Rep. N.Y. State Bot.
Solitary in woods and open places. July to October.
Georgia, _H.N. Starnes_; Indiana, _H.I. Miller_; West Virginia, New
Jersey, Pennsylvania, _McIlvaine_.
Edible. _Curtis_, _H.N. Starnes_, Philadelphia Myc. Club.
In many localities I find it quite plentiful, and it is so reported from
Georgia. Southern and middle New Jersey woods abound with it, and at Mt.
Gretna, Pa., it is always present in its growing months.
The cap is sometimes tinged with brown as are the angular, erect warts
which are generally numerous, but often falling off or few and
scattered. The flesh is white and smells like chloride of lime, but not
nearly so strong as A. strobiliformis. The volva is broken up into
floccose scales which cling to bulb and lower part of stem. These scales
may be white and mealy or brownish. The entire fungus has a fluffy
exterior, which is easily removed by rubbing. The annulus is torn, a
part often adhering to the margin of the pileus and the gills. This and
the long, tapering, rooting bulb are marked characteristics. The bulb is
brittle. It is difficult to get the fungus from the ground entire.
Stem and cap are juicy, tender, mild in flavor, wholesome. It is not
equal in flavor to A. rubescens, but is more delicate.
By many its properties have been stated as poisonous, doubtful.
Quantities of it have been eaten by myself and friends. Hypodermic
injection of its juices into the blood circulation of live animals prove
it perfectly harmless.
=A. can´dida Pk.=—shining white. =Pileus= thin, broadly convex or nearly
plane, verrucose with numerous small, erect, angular or pyramidal,
easily separable warts, often becoming smooth with age, white, even on
the margin. =Flesh= white. =Gills= rather narrow, close, reaching to the
stem, white. =Stem= solid, bulbous, floccose-squamose, white, the
annulus attached to the top of the stem, becoming pendent and often
disappearing with age, floccose-squamose on the lower surface, striate
on the upper, the bulb rather large, ovate, squamose, not margined,
tapering above into the stem and rounded or merely abruptly pointed
below. =Spores= elliptical, 10–13×8µ.
=Pileus= 3–6 in. broad. =Stem= 2.5–5 in. long, 5–8 lines thick, the bulb
1–1.5 in. thick in the dried specimens.
This is a fine large species related to A. solitaria, but differing from
it in the character of its bulb and of its annulus. The bulb is not
marginate nor imbricately squamose. Its scales are small and numerous.
Nor is it clearly radicating, though sometimes it has a slight abrupt
point or myceloid-agglomerated mass of soil at its base. The veil or
annulus is large and well developed, but it is apt to fall away and
disappear with age. Its attachment at the very top of the stem brings it
closely in contact with the lamellæ of the young plant and the
striations of its upper surface appear to be due to the pressure of the
edges of these upon it. It separates readily from the margin of the
pileus and is not lacerated. In the mature plant the warts have
generally disappeared from the pileus and sometimes its margin is curved
upward _Peck_, Bull. Torr. Bot. Club, Vol. 24, No. 3.
Woods. Auburn, N.Y., Alabama, _U. and E._; Pennsylvania, West Virginia,
New Jersey, August to October, _McIlvaine_.
A dozen or more specimens were found in oak woods near Philadelphia, and
carefully tested. Their edible qualities were found to be precisely the
same as A. solitaria.
*** _Whole volva friable, etc._
=A. rubes´cens= Pers.—_rubesco_, to become red. (Plate VIII, fig. 2, p.
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