This fungus, which, in the earlier stages of its development, frequently resembles very closely a tongue in shape, structure, and general appearance, presents later a dark, amorphous, grumous-looking mass, bearing a still more striking likeness to liver. Thus, seen while young, and just beginning to bud out from the oak,[181] its papillated surface, regular shape, and clear fibrous flesh make it an object of interest to many who, introduced to it at an advanced period of growth, can hardly be brought to believe that the blackened misshapen mass, that looks like liver, and that deeply stains the fingers with an unsightly red fluid, can indeed be the same plant. It has, from the earliest-recorded accounts, been designated by names pointing to these resemblances: Cesalpinus calls it Linguæ; Wallemb, Buglossus quercinus; the vulgar name in Italy is “Lingua quercina,” or “Lingua di castagna.” It constitutes a genus by itself.
Bot. Char. Pileus confluent with the stalk: at first studded on the upper side with minute papillæ (the rudiments of tubes), which afterwards disappear; flesh succulent, fibrous, like beetroot in appearance, with a vinous smell and a slight acid taste; tubes continuous with the fibres of the receptacle, unequal, very short, small, cylindrical, ochraceous-rufescent; at first with closed pores, but as they elongate they become patent; colour at first a dry dusky white, afterwards a yellowish-red; the whole surface more or less sticky, with a gelatinous secretion exuding from it; sporidia ochraceous-green, and matured at different times from the unequal length of the tubes. This fungus varies in size from that of a small kidney to an irregular mass of many pounds’ weight, and of several feet in circumference. I recently picked a specimen which measured nearly five feet round, and weighed upwards of eight pounds; but this is nothing to one found by Mr. Graves, which, on the authority of Mr. Berkeley, weighed nearly thirty pounds.
The Fistulina hepatica, which Schœffer calls the Poor Man’s fungus, “fungus pauperibus esculentus,” deserves indeed the epithet if we look to its abundance, which makes it an acquisition to the labouring class wherever it is known; but that it is in any other sense fitted for the poor, or to be eaten by those only who can purchase no other food, is what I cannot subscribe to. No fungus yields a richer gravy, and though rather tough, when grilled it is scarcely to be distinguished from broiled meat. The best way to dress it if old, is to stew it down for stock, and reject the flesh, but if young, it may be eaten in substance, plain, or with minced meat; in all cases its succulency is such that it furnishes its own sauce, which a friend of ours, well versed in the science of the table, declares each time he eats it to be “undeniably good.”
In England the F. hepatica grows principally on old oak-trees, and may be found throughout the summer in great abundance.
AGARICUS ORCELLA,[182] Bull.
Section Mouceron, Fries.
“Senza dubbio uno de’ migliori funghi indigeni.”—Vitt.