BOLETUS Dill.

Of the few genera in the Polyporaceæ which are fleshy and putrescent, Boletus contains by far the largest number of species. The entire plant is soft and fleshy, and decays soon after maturity. The stratum of tubes on the under side of the cap is easily peeled off and separates as shown in the portion of a cap near the right hand side of Fig. [169]. In the genus Polyporus the stratum of tubes cannot thus be separated. In the genera Strobilomyces and Boletinus, two other fleshy genera of this family, the separation is said to be more difficult than in Boletus, but it has many times seemed to me a "distinction without a difference."

The larger number of the species of Boletus grow on the ground. Some change color when bruised or cut, so that it is important to note this character when the plant is fresh, and the taste should be noted as well.

Boletus edulis Bull. Edible. [Ag. bulbosus Schaeff. Tab. 134, 1763. Boletus bulbosus (Schaeff.) Schroeter. Cohn's Krypt, Flora. Schlesien, p. 499, 1889].—This plant, which, as its name implies, is edible, grows in open woods or their borders, in groves and in open places, on the ground. It occurs in warm, wet weather, from July to September. It is one of the largest of the Boleti, and varies from 5–12 cm. high, the cap from 8–25 cm. broad, and the stem 2–4 cm. in thickness.

Plate 56, Figure 164.—Boletus edulis. Cap light brown, tubes greenish yellow or yellowish; stem in this specimen entirely reticulate (natural size, often larger). Copyright.

The pileus is convex to expanded, smooth, firm, quite hard when young and becoming soft in age. The color varies greatly, from buff to dull reddish, to reddish-brown, tawny-brown, often yellowish over a portion of the cap, usually paler on the margin. The flesh is white or tinged with yellow, sometimes reddish under the cuticle. The tubes are white when young and the mouths are closed (stuffed), the lower surface of the tubes is convex from the margin of the cap to the stem, and depressed around the stem, sometimes separating from the stem. While the tubes are white when young, they become greenish or greenish-yellow, or entirely yellow when mature. The spores when caught on paper are greenish-yellow, or yellow. They are oblong to fusiform, 12–15 µ long. The stem is stout, even, or much enlarged at the base so that it is clavate. The surface usually shows prominent reticulations on mature plants near the tubes, sometimes over the entire stem. This is well shown in Fig. [164] from plants (No. 2886, C. U. herbarium) collected at Ithaca, N. Y.

Plate 57, Figure 165.—Cap light brown, tubes greenish yellow or yellowish; stem in these specimens not reticulate (2/3 natural size). Copyright.

Figure [165] represents plants (No. 4134, C. U. herbarium) collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., in September, 1899. The plant is widely distributed and has long been prized as an esculent in Europe and America. When raw the plant has an agreeable nutty taste, sometimes sweet. The caps are sometimes sliced and dried for future use. It is usually recommended to discard the stems and remove the tubes since the latter are apt to form a slimy mass on cooking.

Boletus felleus Bull. Bitter.—This is known as the bitter boletus, because of a bitter taste of the flesh. It usually grows on or near much decayed logs or stumps of hemlock spruce. It is said to be easily recognized by its bitter taste. I have found specimens of a plant which seems to have all the characters of this one growing at the base of hemlock spruce trees, except that the taste was not bitter. At Ithaca, however, the plant occurs and the taste is bitter. It is one of the large species of the genus, being from 8–12 cm. high, the cap 7–20 cm. broad, and the stem 1–2.5 cm. in thickness.

The pileus is convex becoming nearly plane, firm, and in age soft, smooth, the color varying from pale yellow to various shades of brown to chestnut. The flesh is white, and where wounded often changes to a pink color, but not always. The tubes are adnate, long, the under surface convex and with a depression around the stem. The tubes are at first white, but become flesh color or tinged with flesh color, and the mouths are angular. The stem is stout, tapering upward, sometimes enlarged at the base, usually reticulated at the upper end, and sometimes with the reticulations over the entire surface (Fig. [166]). The color is paler than that of the cap. The spores are oblong to spindle-shaped, flesh color in mass, and single ones measure 12–18 × 4–5 µ.

The general appearance of the plant is somewhat like that of the Boletus edulis, and beginners should be cautioned not to confuse the two species. It is known by its bitter taste and the flesh-colored tubes, while the taste of the B. edulis is sweet, and the tubes are greenish-yellow, or yellowish or light ochre.

Plate 55 represents three specimens in color.

Boletus scaber Fr. Edible.—This species is named the rough-stemmed boletus, in allusion to the rough appearance given to the stem from numerous dark brown or reddish dots or scales. This is a characteristic feature, and aids one greatly in determining the species, since the color of the cap varies much. The cap is sometimes whitish, orange red, brown, or smoky in color. The plant is 6–15 cm. high, the cap 3–7 cm. broad, and the stem 8–12 mm. in thickness.

The pileus is rounded, becoming convex, smooth, or nearly so, sometimes scaly, and the flesh is soft and white, sometimes turning slightly to a reddish or dark color where bruised. The tubes are small, long, the surface formed by their free ends is convex in outline, and the tubes are depressed around the stem. They are first white, becoming darker, and somewhat brownish. The stem is solid, tapering somewhat upward, and roughened as described above.

The plant is one of the common species of the genus Boletus. It occurs in the woods on the ground or in groves or borders of woods in grassy places. Writers differ as to the excellence of this species for food; some consider it excellent, while others regard it as less agreeable than some other species. It is, at any rate, safe, and Peck considers it "first-class."

Boletus retipes B. & C.—This species was first collected in North Carolina by Curtis, and described by Berkeley. It has since been reported from Ohio, Wisconsin, and New England (Peck, Boleti of the U. S.). Peck reported it from New York in the 23d Report, N. Y. State Mus., p. 132. Later he recognized the New York plant as a new species which he called B. ornatipes (29th Report, N. Y. State Mus., p. 67). I collected the species in the mountains of North Carolina, at Blowing Rock, in August, 1888. During the latter part of August and in September, 1899, I had an opportunity of seeing quite a large number of specimens in the same locality, for it is not uncommon there, and two specimens were photographed and are represented here in Fig. [167]. The original description published in Grevillea 1: 36, should be modified, especially in regard to the size of the plant, its habit, and the pulverulent condition of the pileus. The plants are 6–15 cm. high, the cap 5–10 cm. broad, and the stem 0.5–1.5 cm. in thickness.

Plate 58, Figure 166.—Boletus felleus. Cap light brown, tubes flesh color, stem in this specimen entirely reticulate (natural size, often larger). Copyright.

Figure 167.—Boletus retipes. Cap yellowish brown, to olive-brown or nearly black, stem yellow, beautifully reticulate, tubes yellow (natural size). Copyright.

The pileus is convex, thick, soft and somewhat spongy, especially in large plants. The cap is dry and sometimes, especially when young, it is powdery; at other times, and in a majority of cases according to my observations, it is not powdery. It is smooth or minutely tomentose, sometimes the surface cracked into small patches, but usually even. The color varies greatly between yellowish brown to olive brown, fuliginous or nearly black. The tubes are yellow, adnate, the tube surface plane or convex. The spores are yellowish or ochraceous, varying somewhat in tint in different specimens. The stem is yellow, yellow also within, and beautifully reticulate, usually to the base, but sometimes only toward the apex. It is usually more strongly reticulate over the upper half. The stem is erect or ascending.

The plant grows in woods, in leaf mold or in grassy places. It is usually single, that is, so far as my observations have gone at Blowing Rock. Berkeley and Curtis report it as cespitose. I have never seen it cespitose, never more than two specimens growing near each other.

Boletus ornatipes Pk., does not seem to be essentially different from B. retipes. Peck says (Boleti U. S., p. 126) that "the tufted mode of growth, the pulverulent pileus and paler spores separate this species" (retipes) "from the preceding one" (ornatipes). Inasmuch as I have never found B. retipes tufted, and the fact that the pileus is not always pulverulent (the majority of specimens I collected were not), and since the tint of the spores varies as it does in some other species, the evidence is strong that the two names represent two different habits of the same species. The tufted habit of the plants collected by Curtis, or at least described by Berkeley, would seem to be a rather unusual condition for this species, and this would account for the smaller size given to the plants in the original description, where the pileus does not exceed 5 cm. in diameter, and the stem is only 5 cm. long, and 6–12 mm. in thickness. Plants which normally occur singly do on some occasions occur tufted, and then the habit as well as the size of the plant is often changed.

A good illustration of this I found in the case of Boletus edulis during my stay in the North Carolina mountains. The plant usually occurs singly and more or less scattered. I found one case where there were 6–8 plants in a tuft, the caps were smaller and the stems in this case considerably longer than in normal specimens. A plant which agrees with the North Carolina specimens I have collected at Ithaca, and so I judge that B. retipes occurs in New York.

Boletus chromapes Frost.—This is a pretty boletus, and has been reported from New England and from New York State. During the summer of 1899 it was quite common in the Blue Ridge mountains, North Carolina. The plant grows on the ground in woods. It is 6–10 cm. high, the cap is 5–10 cm. in diameter, and the stem is 8–12 mm. in thickness. It is known by the yellowish stem covered with reddish glandular dots.

Plate 59, Figure 168.—Boletus chromapes. Cap pale red, rose or pink, tubes flesh color, then brown, stem yellowish either above or below, the surface with reddish or pinkish dots (natural size). Copyright.

The pileus is convex to nearly expanded, pale red, rose pink to vinaceous pink in color, and sometimes slightly tomentose. The flesh is white, and does not change when cut or bruised. The tube surface is convex, and the tubes are attached slightly to the stem, or free. They are white, then flesh color, and in age become brown. The stem is even, or it tapers slightly upward, straight or ascending, whitish or yellow above, or below, sometimes yellowish the entire length. The flesh is also yellowish, especially at the base. The entire surface is marked with reddish or pinkish dots.

Plate 60, Figure 169.—Boletus vermiculosus. Cap brown to gray or buff; tubes yellowish with reddish brown mouths; flesh quickly changes to blue where wounded (natural size, sometimes larger). Copyright.

Figure [168] is from plants (No. 4085 C. U. herbarium) collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., during September, 1899.

Boletus vermiculosus Pk.—This species was named B. vermiculosus because it is sometimes very "wormy." This is not always the case, however. It grows in woods on the ground, in the Eastern United States. It is from 6–12 cm. high, the cap from 7–12 cm. broad, and the stem 1–2 cm. in thickness.

The pileus is thick, convex, firm, smooth, and varies in color from brown to yellowish brown, or drab gray to buff, and is minutely tomentose. The flesh quickly changes to blue where wounded, and the bruised portion, sometimes, changing to yellowish. The tubes are yellowish, with reddish-brown mouths, the tube surface being rounded, free or nearly so, and the tubes changing to blue where wounded. The stem is paler than the pileus, often dotted with short, small, dark tufts below, and above near the tubes abruptly paler, and sometimes the two colors separated by a brownish line. The stem is not reticulated. Figure [169] is from a photograph of plants (No. 4132 C. U. herbarium) collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., during September, 1899.

Boletus obsonium (Paul.) Fr.—This species was not uncommon in the woods at Blowing Rock, N. C., during the latter part of August and during September, 1899. It grows on the ground, the plants usually appearing singly. It is from 10–15 cm. high, the cap 8–13 cm. broad, and the stem 1–2 cm. in thickness, considerably broader at the base than at the apex.

The pileus is convex to expanded, vinaceous cinnamon, to pinkish vinaceous or hazel in color. It is soft, slightly tomentose, and when old the surface frequently cracks into fine patches showing the pink flesh beneath. The thin margin extends slightly beyond the tubes, so that it is sterile. The flesh does not change color on exposure to the air. The tubes are plane, adnate, very slightly depressed around the stem or nearly free, yellowish white when young, becoming dark olive green in age from the color of the spores. The tube mouths are small and rotund. The spores caught on white paper are dark olive green. They are elliptical usually, with rounded ends, 12–15 × 4–5 µ. The stem is white when young, with a tinge of yellow ochre, and pale flesh color below. It is marked with somewhat parallel elevated lines, or rugæ below, where it is enlarged and nearly bulbous. In age it becomes flesh color the entire length and is more plainly striate rugose with a yellowish tinge at the base. The stem tapers gradually and strongly from the base to the apex, so that it often appears long conic.

The plant is often badly eaten by snails, so that it is sometimes difficult to obtain perfect specimens. Figure [170] is from a photograph of plants (No. 4092 C. U. herbarium) from Blowing Rock, N. C.

Boletus americanus Pk.—This species occurs in woods and open places, growing on the ground in wet weather. It occurs singly or clustered, sometimes two or three joined by their bases, but usually more scattered. It is usually found under or near pine trees. The plant is 3–6 cm. high, the cap 2–7 cm. broad, and the stem is 4–8 mm. in thickness. It is very slimy in wet weather, the cap is yellow, streaked or spotted with faint red, and the stem is covered with numerous brown or reddish brown dots.

The pileus is rounded, then convex, becoming nearly expanded and sometimes with an umbo. It is soft, very slimy or viscid when moist, yellow. When young the surface gluten is often mixed with loose threads, more abundant on the margin, and continuous with the veil, which can only be seen in the very young stage. As the pileus expands the margin is sometimes scaly from remnants of the veil and of loose hairs on the surface. The cap loses its bright color as it ages, and is then sometimes streaked or spotted with red. The tube surface is nearly plane, and the tubes join squarely against the stem. The tubes are rather large, angular, yellowish, becoming dull ochraceous. The stem is nearly equal, yellow, and covered with numerous brownish or reddish brown glandular dots. No ring is present.

This species grows in the same situations as the B. granulatus, sometimes both species are common over the same area. Figure [171] is from plants (No. 3991 C. U. herbarium) collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., September, 1899. The species is closely related to B. flavidus Fr., and according to some it is identical with it.

Boletus granulatus L. Edible.—This species is one of the very common and widely distributed ones. It grows in woods and open places on the ground. Like B. americanus, it is usually found under or near pines. It occurs during the summer and autumn, sometimes appearing very late in the season. The plants are 3–6 cm. high, the cap is 4–10 cm. broad, and the stem is 8–12 mm. in thickness. The plants usually are clustered, though not often very crowded.

Plate 61, Figure 170.—Boletus obsonium. Cap cinnamon to pink or hazel in color, slightly tomentose; stem white, then pale flesh color (natural size). Copyright.

The pileus is convex to nearly expanded, flat. When moist it is very viscid and reddish brown, paler and yellowish when it is dry, but very variable in color, pink, red, yellow, tawny, and brown shades. The flesh is pale yellow. The tubes are joined squarely to the stem, short, yellowish, and the edges of the tubes, that is, at the open end (often called the mouth), are dotted or granulated. The stem is dotted in the same way above. The spores in mass are pale yellow; singly they are spindle-shaped.

Figure 171.—Boletus americanus. Cap slimy, yellow, sometimes with reddish spots, tubes yellowish (natural size). Copyright.

The species is edible, though some say it should be regarded with suspicion. Peck has tried it, and I have eaten it, but the viscid character of the plant did not make it a relish for me. There are several species closely related to the granulated Boletus. B. brevipes Pk., is one chiefly distinguished by the short stem, which entirely lacks the glandular dots. It grows in sandy soil, in pine groves and in woods.

Boletus punctipes Pk.—This species has been reported from New York State by Peck. During September, 1899, I found it quite common in the Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina, at an elevation of between 4000 and 5000 feet. It grows on the ground in mixed woods. The plants are 5–8 cm. high, the caps 5–7 cm. broad, and the stem 6–10 mm. in thickness.

Figure 172.—Boletus punctipes. Cap viscid when moist, reddish brown, pink, yellow, tawny, etc., tubes yellowish, stem dark punctate (natural size). Copyright.

The pileus is convex, sometimes becoming nearly plane, and it is quite thick in the center, more so than the granulated boletus, while the margin is thin, and when young with a minute gray powder. The margin often becomes upturned when old; the cap is viscid when moist, dull yellow. The tubes are short, their lower surface plane, and they are set squarely against the stem. They are small, the mouths rounded, brownish, then dull ochraceous, and dotted with glandules. The stem is rather long, proportionately more so than in the granulated boletus. It distinctly tapers upwards, is "rhubarb yellow," and dotted with glandules. This character of the stem suggested the name of the species. The spores are 8–10 × 4–5 µ. Figure [172] is from plants (No. 4067 C. U. herbarium) collected at Blowing Rock, N. C. It is closely related to B. granulatus and by some is considered the same.

Boletus luteus Linn. (B. subluteus Pk.) This species is widely distributed in Europe and America, and grows in sandy soil, in pine or mixed woods or groves. The plants are 5–8 cm. high, the cap 3–12 cm. in diameter, and the stem 6–10 mm. in thickness. The general color is dull brown or yellowish brown, and the plants are slimy in moist weather, the stem and tubes more or less dotted with dark points. These characters vary greatly under different conditions, and the fact has led to some confusion in the discrimination of species.

Figure 173.—Boletus luteus. Cap viscid when moist, dull yellowish to reddish brown, tubes yellowish, stem punctate both above and below the annulus (natural size). Copyright.

The pileus is convex, becoming nearly plane, viscid or glutinous when moist, dull yellowish to reddish brown, sometimes with the color irregularly distributed in streaks. The flesh is whitish or dull yellowish. The tube surface is plane or convex, the tubes set squarely against the stem (adnate), while the tubes are small, with small, nearly rounded, or slightly angular mouths. The color of the tubes is yellowish or ochre colored, becoming darker in age, and sometimes nearly brown or quite dark. The stem is pale yellowish, reddish or brownish, and more or less covered with glandular dots, which when dry give a black dotted appearance to the stem. In the case of descriptions of B. luteus the stem is said to be dotted only above the annulus, while the description of B. subluteus gives the stem as dotted both above and below the annulus. The spores are yellowish brown or some shade of this color in mass, lighter yellowish brown under the microscope, fusiform or nearly so, and 7–10 × 2–4 µ. The annulus is very variable, sometimes collapsing as a narrow ring around the stem as in Fig. [173], from plants collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., September, 1899 (B. subluteus Pk.), and sometimes appearing as a broad, free collar, as in Fig. [174]. The veil is more or less gelatinous, and in an early stage of the plant may cover the stem as a sheath. The lower part of the stem is sometimes covered at maturity with the sheathing portion of the veil, the upper part only appearing as a ring. In this way, the lower part of the stem being covered, the glandular dots are not evident, while the stem is seen to be dotted above the annulus. But in many cases the veil slips off from the lower portion of the stem at an early stage, and then in its slimy condition collapses around the upper part of the stem, leaving the stem uncovered and showing the dots both above and below the ring (B. subluteus).

Plate 62, Figure 174.—Boletus luteus. Cap drab to hair-brown with streaks of the latter, viscid when moist, tubes tawny olive to walnut-brown, stem black dotted both above and below the broad, free annulus (natural size). Copyright.

An examination of the figures of the European plant shows that the veil often slips off from the lower portion of the stem in B. luteus, especially in the figures given by Krombholtz, T. 33. In some of these figures the veil forms a broad, free collar, and the stem is then dotted both above and below, as is well shown in the figures. In other figures where the lower part of the veil remains as a sheath over the lower part of the stem, the dots are hidden. I have three specimens of the B. luteus of Europe from Dr. Bresadola, collected at Trento, Austria-Hungary: one of them has the veil sheathing the lower part of the stem, and the stem only shows the dots above the annulus; a second specimen has the annulus in the form of a collapsed ring near the upper end of the stem, and the stem dotted both above and below the annulus; in the third specimen the annulus is in the form of a broad, free collar, and the stem dotted both above and below. The plants shown in Fig. [174] (No. 4124, C. U. herbarium) were collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., during September, 1899. They were found in open woods under Kalmia where the sun had an opportunity to dry out the annulus before it became collapsed or agglutinated against the stem, and the broad, free collar was formed. My notes on these specimens read as follows: "The pileus is convex, then expanded, rather thick at the center, the margin thin, sometimes sterile, incurved. In color it runs from ecru drab to hair-brown with streaks of the latter, and it is very viscid when moist. When dried the surface of the pileus is shining. The tubes are plane or concave, adnate, tawny-olive to walnut-brown. The tubes are small, angular, somewhat as in B. granulatus, but smaller, and they are granulated with reddish or brownish dots. The spores are walnut brown, oblong to elliptical, 8–10 × 2–3 µ. The stem is cylindrical, even, olive yellow above, and black dotted both above and below the annulus."

Figure 175.—Boletinus pictus. Cap reddish, tinged with yellowish between the scales, stem same color, tubes yellow, often changing to reddish brown where bruised (natural size). Copyright.

Boletinus pictus Pk.—This very beautiful plant is quite common in damp pine woods. It is easily recognized by the reddish cottony layer of mycelium threads which cover the entire plant when young, and form a veil which covers the gills at this time. As the plant expands the reddish outer layer is torn into scales of the same color, showing the yellowish, or pinkish, flesh beneath, and the flesh often changes to pink or reddish where wounded. The tubes are first pale yellow, but become darker in age, often changing to pinkish, with a brown tinge where bruised. The stem is solid, and is thus different from a closely related species, B. cavipes Kalchb. The stem is covered with a coat like that on the pileus and is similarly colored, though often paler. The spores are ochraceous, 15–18 × 6–8 µ. The plants are 5–8 cm. high, the caps 5–8 cm. broad, and the stems 6–12 mm. in thickness.

Figure [175] is from plants collected in the Blue Ridge mountains, Blowing Rock, N. C., September, 1899.

Boletinus porosus (Berk.) Pk.—This very interesting species is widely distributed in the Eastern United States. It resembles a Polyporus, though it is very soft like a Boletus, but quite tenacious. The plants are dull reddish-brown, viscid when moist, and shining. The cap is more or less irregular and the stem eccentric, the cap being sometimes more or less lobed. The plants are 4–6 cm. high, the cap 5–12 cm. broad, and the short stem 8–12 mm. in thickness. It occurs in damp ground in woods.

The pileus is fleshy, thick at the middle, and thin at the margin. The tubes are arranged in prominently radiating rows, the partitions often running radiately in the form of lamellæ, certain ones of them being more prominent than others as shown in Fig. [176]. These branch and are connected by cross partitions of less prominence. This character of the hymenium led Berkeley to place the plant in the genus Paxillus, with which it does not seem to be so closely related as with the genus Boletus. The stratum of tubes, though very soft, is very tenacious, and does not separate from the flesh of the pileus, thus resembling certain species of Polyporus. Figure [176] is from plants collected at Ithaca.

Plate 63, Figure 176.—Boletinus porosus. Viscid when moist, dull reddish brown (natural size). Copyright.

Strobilomyces strobilaceus Berk. Edible.—This plant has a peculiar name, both the genus and the species referring to the cone-like appearance of the cap with its coarse, crowded, dark brown scales, bearing a fancied resemblance to a pine cone. It is very easily distinguished from other species of Boletus because of this character of the cap. The plant has a very wide distribution though it is not usually very common. The plant is 8–14 cm. high, the cap 5–10 cm. broad, and the stem 1–2 cm. in thickness.

The pileus is hemispherical to convex, shaggy from numerous large blackish, coarse, hairy, projecting scales. The margin of the cap is fringed with scales and fragments of the veil which covers the tubes in the young plants. The flesh is whitish, but soon changes to reddish color, and later to black where wounded or cut. The tubes are adnate, whitish, becoming brown and blackish in the older plants. The mouths of the tubes are large and angular, and change color where bruised, as does the flesh of the cap. The stem is even, or sometimes tapers upward, often grooved near the apex, very tomentose or scaly with soft scales of the same color as the cap. The spores are in mass dark brown, nearly globose, roughened, and 10–12 µ long. Figs. 177–179 are from plants collected at Ithaca, N. Y. Another European plant, S. floccopus Vahl, is said by Peck to occur in the United States, but is much more rare. The only difference in the two noted by Peck in the case of the American plants is that the tubes are depressed around the stem in S. floccopus.

Plate 64, Figure 177.—Strobilomyces strobilaceus. Scales of cap dark brown or black, flesh white but soon changing to reddish and later to black where wounded, stem same color but lighter (natural size). Copyright.

Figure 178.—Strobilomyces strobilaceus. Sections of plants. Copyright.

Figure 179.—Strobilomyces strobilaceus. Under view. Copyright.

FISTULINA Bull.

In the genus Fistulina the tubes, or pores, are crowded together, but stand separately, that is, they are not connected together, or grown together into a stratum as in Boletus and other genera of the family Polyporaceæ. When the plant is young the tubes are very short, but they elongate with age.

Fistulina hepatica Fr. Edible.—This is one of the largest of the species in the genus and is the most widely distributed and common one. It is of a dark red color, very soft and juicy. It has usually a short stem which expands out into the broad and thick cap. When young the upper side of the cap is marked by minute elevations of a different color, which suggest the papillæ on the tongue; in age the tubes on the under surface have also some such suggestive appearance. The form, as it stands outward in a shelving fashion from stumps or trees, together with the color and surface characters, has suggested several common names, as beef tongue, beef-steak fungus, oak or chestnut tongue. The plant is 10–20 cm. long, and 8–15 cm. broad, the stem very short and thick, sometimes almost wanting, and again quite long. I have seen some specimens growing from a hollow log in which the stems were 12–15 cm. long.

The pileus is very thick, 2 cm. or more in thickness, fleshy, soft, very juicy, and in wet weather very clammy and somewhat sticky to the touch. When mature there are lines of color of different shades extending out radially on the upper surface, and in making a longitudinal section of the cap there are quite prominent, alternating, dark and light red lines present in the flesh. The tubes, short at first, become 2–3 mm. long, they are yellowish or tinged with flesh color, becoming soiled in age. The spores are elliptical, yellowish, and 5–6 µ long.

The plant occurs on dead trunks or stumps of oak, chestnut, etc., in wet weather from June to September. I have usually found it on chestnut.

The beef-steak fungus is highly recommended by some, while others are not pleased with it as an article of food. It has an acid flavor which is disagreeable to some, but this is more marked in young specimens and in those not well cooked. When it is sliced thin and well broiled or fried, the acid taste is not marked.

Fistulina pallida B. & Rav. (Fistulina firma Pk.)—This rare and interesting species was collected by Mrs. A. M. Hadley, near Manchester, New Hampshire, October, 1898, and was described by Dr. Peck in the Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, 26: 70, 1899, as Fistulina firma. But two plants were then found, and these were connected at the base. During August and September it was quite common in a small woods near Ithaca, N. Y., and was first collected growing from the roots of a dead oak stump, August 4 (No. 3227 C. U. herbarium), and afterward during October. During September I collected it at Blowing Rock, N. C., in the Blue Ridge mountains, at an elevation of nearly 5000 feet, growing from the roots of a dead white oak tree. It was collected during September, 1899, by Mr. Frank Rathbun at Auburn, N. Y. It was collected by Ravenel in the mountains of South Carolina, around a white oak stump by Peters in Alabama, and was first described by Berkeley in 1872, in Grev. 1: 71, Notices of N. A. F. No. 173. Growing from roots or wood underneath the surface of the ground, the plant has an erect stem, the length of the stem depending on the depth at which the root is buried, just as in the case of Polyporus radicatus, which has a similar habitat. The plants are 5–12 cm. high, the cap is 3–7 cm. broad, and the stem 6–8 mm. in thickness.

Plate 66, Figure 180.—Fistulina pallida. Cap wood-brown to fawn or clay color, tubes and lower part of the stem whitish (natural size). Copyright.

The pileus is wood brown to fawn, clay color or isabelline color. It is nearly semi-circular to reniform in outline, and the margin broadly crenate, or sometimes lobed. The stem is attached at the concave margin, where the cap is auriculate and has a prominent boss or elevation, and bent at right angles with a characteristic curve. The pileus is firm, flexible, tough and fibrous, flesh white. The surface is covered with a fine and dense tomentum. The pileus is 5–8 mm. thick at the base, thinning out toward the margin. The tubes are whitish, 2–3 mm. long and 5–6 in the space of a millimeter. They are very slender, tubular, the mouth somewhat enlarged, the margin of the tubes pale cream color and minutely mealy or furfuraceous, with numerous irregular, roughened threads. The tubes often stand somewhat separated, areas being undeveloped or younger, so that the surface of the under side is not regular. The tubes are not so crowded as is usual in the Fistulina hepatica. They are not decurrent, but end abruptly near the stem. The spores are subglobose, 3 µ in diameter. The stem tapers downward, is whitish below, and near the pileus the color changes rather abruptly to the same tint as the pileus. The stem is sometimes branched, and two or three caps present, or the caps themselves may be joined, as well as the stems, so that occasionally very irregular forms are developed, but there is always the peculiar character of the attachment of the stem to the side of the cap.

Figure [180] is from plants (No 3676, C. U. herbarium) collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., September, 1899. Figures on the colored plate represent this plant.

Polyporus frondosus Fr. Edible.—This plant occurs in both Europe and America, and while not very common seems to be widely distributed. It grows about old stumps or dead trees, from roots, often arising from the roots below the surface of the ground, and also is found on logs. The plant represents a section of the genus Polyporus, in which the body, both the stem and the cap, are very much branched. In this species the stem is stout at the base, but it branches into numerous smaller trunks, which continue to branch until finally the branches terminate in the expanded and leaf-like caps as shown in Figs. [181]–[182]. The plants appear usually during late summer and in the autumn. The species is often found about oak stumps. Some of the specimens are very large, and weigh 10 to 20 pounds, and the mass is sometimes 30 to 60 cm. (1–2 feet) in diameter.

The plant, when young and growing, is quite soft and tender, though it is quite firm. It never becomes very hard, as many of the other species of this family. When mature, insects begin to attack it, and not being tough it soon succumbs to the ravages of insects and decay, as do a number of the softer species of the Polyporaceæ. The caps are very irregular in shape, curved, repand, radiately furrowed, sometimes zoned; gray, or hair-brown in color, with a perceptibly hairy surface, the hairs running in lines on the surface. Sometimes they are quite broad and not so numerous as in Plate 67, and in other plants they are narrow and more numerous, as in Plate 68. The tubes are more or less irregular, whitish, with a yellowish tinge when old. From the under side of the cap they extend down on the stem. When the spores are mature they are sometimes so numerous that they cover the lower caps and the grass for quite a distance around as if with a white powder.

This species is edible, and because of the large size which it often attains, the few plants which are usually found make up in quantity what they lack in numbers. Since the plant is quite firm it will keep several days after being picked, in a cool place, and will serve for several meals. A specimen which I gathered was divided between two families, and was served at several meals on successive days. When stewed the plant has for me a rather objectionable taste, but the stewing makes the substance more tender, and when this is followed by broiling or frying the objectionable taste is removed and it is quite palatable. The plants represented in Plates 67 and 68 were collected at Ithaca.

Plate 67, Figure 181.—Polyporus frondosus. Caps hair-brown or grayish, tubes white (1/3 natural size, masses often 20–40 cm. in breadth). The caps in this specimen are quite broad, often they are narrower as in Fig. [182]. Copyright.

Plate 68, Figure 182.—Polyporus frondosus. Side and under view of a larger cluster (1/3 natural size). Copyright.

There are several species which are related to the frondose polyporus which occur in this country as well as in Europe. Polyporus intybaceus Fr., is of about the same size, and the branching, and form of the caps is much the same, but it is of a yellowish brown or reddish brown color. It grows on logs, stumps, etc., and is probably edible. It is not so common at Ithaca as the frondose polyporus.

Figure 183.—Polyporus umbellatus. Caps hair-brown (natural size, often much larger). Copyright.

Polyporus umbellatus Fr.—This species is also related to the frondose polyporus, but is very distinct. It is more erect, the branching more open, and the caps at the ends of the branches are more or less circular and umbilicate. The branches are long, cylindrical and united near the base. The spreading habit of the branching, or the form of the caps, suggests an umbel or umbrella, and hence the specific name umbellatus.

The tufts occur from 12–20 cm. in diameter, and the individual caps are from 1–4 cm. in diameter. It grows from underground roots and about stumps during summer. It is probably edible, but I have never tried it. Figure [183] is from a plant (No. 1930, C. U. herbarium) collected in Cascadilla woods, Ithaca.

Polyporus sulphureus (Bull.) Fr. Edible. (Boletus caudicinus Schaeff. T. 131, 132: Polyporus caudicinus Schroeter, Cohn's Krypt. Flora, Schlesien, p. 471, 1899).—The sulphur polyporus is so-called because of the bright sulphur color of the entire plant. It is one of the widely distributed species, and grows on dead oak, birch, and other trunks, and is also often found growing from wounds or knot-holes of living trees of the oak, apple, walnut, etc. The mycelium enters at wounds where limbs are broken off, and grows for years in the heart wood, disorganizing it and causing it to decay. In time the mycelium has spread over a considerable area, from which nutriment enough is supplied for the formation of the fruiting condition. The caps then appear from an open wound when such an exit is present.

The color of the plant is quite constant, but varies of course in shades of yellow to some extent. In form, however, it varies greatly. The caps are usually clustered and imbricated, that is, they overlap. They may all arise separately from the wood, and yet be overlapping, though oftener several of them are closely joined or united at the base, so that the mass of caps arises from a common outgrowth from the wood as shown in Fig. [184]. The individual caps are flattened, elongate, and more or less fan-shaped. When mature there are radiating furrows and ridges which often increase the fan-like appearance of the upper surface of the cap. Sometimes also there are more or less marked concentric furrows. The caps may be convex, or the margin may be more or less upturned so that the central portion is depressed. When young the margin is thick and blunt and of course lighter in color, but as the plant matures the edge is usually thinner.

In some forms of the plant the caps are so closely united as to form a large rounded or tubercular mass, only the blunt tips of the individual caps being free. This is well represented in Fig. [185], from a photograph of a large specimen growing from a wound in a butter-nut tree in Central New York. The plant was 30 cm. in diameter. The plants represented in Plate 69 grew on an oak stump. The tree was affected by the fungus while it was alive, and the heart wood became so weakened that the tree broke, and later the fruit form of the fungus appeared from the dead stump.

Plate 69, Figure 184.—Polyporus sulphureus, on oak stump. Entirely sulphur-yellow (1/6 natural size). Copyright.

The tubes are small, and the walls thin and delicate, and are sometimes much torn, lacerated, and irregular. When the mycelium has grown in the interior of a log for a number of years it tends to grow in sheets along the line of the medullary rays of the wood or across in concentric layers corresponding to the summer wood. Also as the wood becomes more decomposed, cracks and rifts appear along these same lines. The mycelium then grows in abundance in these rifts and forms broad and extensive sheets which resemble somewhat chamois skin and is called "punk." Similar punk is sometimes formed in conifers from the mycelium of Fomes pinicola.

Plate 70, Figure 185.—Polyporus sulphureus. Caps joined in a massive tubercle (1/2 natural size).

Polyporus sulphureus has long been known as an edible fungus, but from its rather firm and fibrous texture it requires a different preparation from the fleshy fungi to prepare it for the table, and this may be one reason why it is not employed more frequently as an article of food. It is common enough during the summer and especially during the autumn to provide this kind of food in considerable quantities.

Plate 71, Figure 186.—Polyporus brumalis. Cap and stem brown, tubes white. Lower three plants natural size, upper one enlarged twice natural size. Copyright.

Polyporus brumalis (Pers.) Fr.—This pretty plant is found at all seasons of the year, and from its frequency during the winter was named brumalis, from bruma, which means winter. It grows on sticks and branches, or on trunks. It usually occurs singly, sometimes two or three close together. The plants are 3–6 cm. high, the cap 2–6 cm. in diameter, and the stem is 3–6 mm. in thickness.

The cap is convex, then plane, and sometimes depressed at the center or umbilicate. When young it is somewhat fleshy and pliant, then it becomes tough, coriaceous, and hard when dry. During wet weather it becomes pliant again. Being hard and firm, and tough, it preserves long after mature, so that it may be found at any season of the year. The cap is smoky in color, varying in shade, sometimes very dark, almost black, and other specimens being quite light in color. The surface is hairy and the margin is often fimbriate with coarse hairs. The stem is lighter, hairy or strigose. The tubes are first white, then become yellowish. The tubes are very regular in arrangement.

Figure [186] represents well this species, three plants being grouped rather closely on the same stick; two show the under surface and one gives a side view. The upper portion of the plate represents two of the plants enlarged, the three lower ones being natural size. The plant is very common and widely distributed over the world. Those illustrated in the plate were collected at Ithaca. This species is too tough for food.

Many of the thin and pliant species of Polyporus are separated by some into the genus Polystictus. The species are very numerous, as well as some of the individuals of certain species. They grow on wood or on the ground, some have a central stem, and others are shelving, while some are spread out on the surface of the wood. One very pretty species is the Polystictus perennis Fr. This grows on the ground and has a central stem. The plant is 2–3 cm. high, and the cap 1–4 cm. broad. The pileus is thin, pliant when fresh and somewhat brittle when dry. It is minutely velvety on the upper surface, reddish brown or cinnamon in color, expanded or umbilicate to nearly funnel-shaped. The surface is marked beautifully by radiations and fine concentric zones. The stem is also velvety. The tubes are minute, the walls thin and acute, and the mouths angular and at last more or less torn. The margin of the cap is finely fimbriate, but in old specimens these hairs are apt to become rubbed off. The left hand plant in Fig. [187] is Polyporus perennis.

Polystictus cinnamomeus (Jacq.) Sacc., (P. oblectans Berk. Hook. Jour. p. 51, 1845, Dec. N. A. F. No. 35: P. splendens Pk., 26th Report N. Y. State Mus., p. 26) is a closely related species with the same habit, color, and often is found growing side by side with P. perennis. The margin of the cap is deeply and beautifully lacerate, as shown in the three other plants in Fig. [187]. Polystictus connatus Schw., grows in similar situations and one sometimes finds all three of these plants near each other on the ground by roadsides. P. connatus has much larger pores than either of the other two, and it is a somewhat larger plant. Figure [187] is from a photograph of plants collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., during September, 1899.

Figure 187.—Left-hand plant Polystictus perennis; right-hand three plants Polystictus cinnamomeus. All natural size. Copyright.

Polystictus versicolor (L.) Fr., is a very common plant growing on trunks and branches. It is more or less shelving, with a leaf-like pileus, marked by concentric bands of different colors. P. hirsutus Fr., is a somewhat thicker and more spongy plant, whitish or grayish in color, with the upper surface tomentose with coarse hairs. P. cinnabarinus (Jacq.) Fr., is shelving, spongy, pliant, rather thick, cinnabar colored. It grows on dead logs and branches. It is sometimes placed in the genus Trametes under the same specific name. Polystictus pergamenus Fr., is another common one growing on wood of various trees. It is thin and very pliant when fresh, somewhat tomentose above when young, with faint bands, and the tubes are often violet or purple color, and they soon become deeply torn and lacerate so that they resemble the teeth of certain of the hedgehog fungi.

Plate 72, Figure 188.—Polyporus lucidus. Caps bright red or chestnut color, with a hard shiny crust (1/6 natural size). Copyright.

Polyporus lucidus (Leys.) Fr. [Fomes lucidus (Leys.) Fr.]—This species is a very striking one because of the bright red or chestnut color, the hard and brittle crust over the surface of the cap, which has usually the appearance of having been varnished. It grows on trunks, logs, stumps, etc., in woods or groves. The cap is 5–20 cm. in diameter, and the stem is 5–20 cm. long, and 1–2 cm. in thickness. The stem is attached to one side of the pileus so that the pileus is lateral, though the stem is more or less ascending.

The cap is first yellowish when young, then it becomes blood red, then chestnut color. The stem is the same color, and the tubes are not so bright in color, being a dull brown. The substance of the plant is quite woody and tough when mature. When dry it is soon attacked and eaten by certain insects, which are fond of a number of fungi, so that they are difficult to preserve in good condition in herbaria without great care.

The surface of the pileus is quite uneven, wrinkled, and coarsely grooved, the margin sometimes crenate, especially in large specimens. Figure [188] represents the plant growing on a large hemlock spruce stump in the woods. The surface character of the caps and the general form can be seen. This photograph was taken near Ithaca, N. Y.

Polyporus applanatus (Pers.) Fr. [Fomes applanatus (Pers.) Wallr.]—This plant is also one of the very common woody Polyporaceæ. It grows on dead trunks, etc., and sometimes is found growing from the wounds of living trees. It is very hard and woody. It has a hard crust, much harder than that of the Polyporus lucidus. The surface is more or less marked by concentric zones which mark off the different years' growth, for this plant is perennial. At certain seasons of the year the upper surface is covered with a powdery substance of a reddish brown color, made up of numerous colored spores or conidia which are developed on the upper surface of this plant in addition to the smaller spores developed in the tubes on the under surface.

The plant varies in size from 5–20 cm. or more in diameter, and 1–10 cm. in thickness, according to the rapidity of growth and the age of the fungus. The fruiting surface is white, and the tubes are very minute. They scarcely can be seen with the unaided eye. Bruises of the tubes turn brown, and certain "artists" often collect these plants and sketch with a pointed instrument on the tube surface. For other peculiarities of this plant see page [15]. The age of the plant can usually be told by counting the number of the broader zones on the upper surface, or by making a section through the plant and counting the number of tube strata on the lower surface of the cap at its base.

Polyporus leucophæus Mont., is said to differ from this species in being more strongly zonate, and in the crust being whitish instead of reddish brown.

Polyporus fomentarius (L.) Fr. [Fomes fomentarius (L.) Fr.,] is hoof-shaped, smoky in color, or gray, and of various shades of dull brown. It is strongly zoned and sulcate, marking off each year's growth. The margin is thick and blunt, and the tube surface concave, the tubes having quite large mouths so that they can be readily seen, the color when mature being reddish brown. Sections of the plant show that the tubes are very long, the different years' growth not being marked off so distinctly as in P. applanatus and leucophæus. The plant grows on birch, beech, maple, etc. The inner portion was once used as tinder.

Polyporus pinicola (Swartz.) Fr. [Fomes pinicola (Swartz.) Fr.] occurs on dead pine, spruce, balsam, hemlock spruce, and other conifers. The cap is about the width of the F. applanatus, but it is stouter, and does not have the same hard crust. The young growth at the margin, which is very thick, is whitish yellow, while the old zones are reddish. The tubes are yellowish, and sections show that they are in strata corresponding to the years' growth. Polyporus igniarius (L.) Fr. [Fomes igniarius (L.) Fr.] is a black species, more or less triangular, or sometimes hoof-shaped. The yearly zones are smaller, become much cracked, and the tubes are dark brown. One of these plants which I found on a birch tree in the Adirondacks was over 80 years old.

The genus Merulius has a fruiting surface of irregular folds or wrinkles, forming shallow, irregular pits instead of a deeply honey-combed surface. Merulius lacrymans (Jacq.) Fr., the "weeping" merulius, or "house fungus," often occurs in damp cellars, buildings, conduit pipes, etc. It is very destructive to buildings in certain parts of Europe (see Figs. [189], [190]). Merulius tremellosus Schrad., is very common in woods during autumn. It is of a gelatinous consistency, and spread on the under surface of limbs or forms irregular shelves from the side (see Figs. [191], [192]).

Plate 73.—Merulius lacrymans. Figure 189.—Upper plant in conduit pipe leading from wash room, Gymnasium C. U., Autumn, 1899. Figure 190.—Lower plant from under surface decaying hemlock spruce log in woods near Freeville, N. Y., October, 1899. Margin of plants white, fruiting surface a network of irregular folds, golden brown, or brown. Copyright.

Plate 74.—Merulius tremellosus. Figure 191.—Natural size.Figure 192.—Enlarged to show character of fruiting surface. Fruiting surface yellowish; margin and upper surface in shelving forms, white, hairy. Copyright.

Plate 75, Figure 193.—Phlebia merismoides. On rotting log, woods near Ithaca, November 23, 1898 (No. 2634 C. U. herbarium). Various shades of orange, yellow or yellow brown when old. Copyright.

Plate 76, Figure 194.—Phlebia merismoides. Portion of a plant 2-1/2 times natural size, to show interrupted folds of fruiting surface. For colors see Fig. [193]. Copyright.

CHAPTER X.