A treatise on the esculent funguses of England / containing an account of their classical history, uses, characters, development, structure, nutritious properties, modes of cooking and preserving, etc.

by David Badham

Division II. GASTEROMYCETES.

Bot. Char. The receptacle a close cavity with or without a hymenium; spores at last free and variously disseminated.

[In Genera 46 to 73 there are no esculent species.]

Genus 74. BOVISTA.[152]

Bot. Char. Peridium papyraceous, furnished with a distinct back, which at length peels off altogether, fertile within; capillitium equal.

Esculent species: B. plumbea.

Genus 75. LYCOPERDON.

Bot. Char. A sessile peridium, membranaceous; at first filled with a white, consistent, homogeneous substance, which after a time is converted into a dust of various hues, and is interspersed with copious filaments. The funguses of this genus are invested in two membranes; the innermost of which, or peridium, is tough and smooth on the outside, shaggy with floccose threads within. The external membrane, which is very fragile and tender, frequently falls off during the maturation of the seed, which then escapes through the peridium by an irregular orifice at the apex.

Esculent species: L. plumbeum and Bovista.

---