“Esculentus!”—Ibid.
This is a very delicate mushroom; it grows either solitary or in company, and sometimes in rings, succeeding occasionally a crop of Ag. oreades and Ag. prunulus which had recently occupied the same site. Its general appearance, once recognized, is such as to render the mistaking it for any other species afterwards unlikely, whilst the least attention to its botanical characters makes it impossible to do so. Its irregular lobed pileus with smooth undulated borders, its decurrent gills, and short solid stem are so many particulars in which at first it might seem to resemble in outline the Canth. cib., with which it has, however, nothing else in common. It bears a nearer general resemblance to several of the section Lactifluus of Persoon, but the exudation, or not, of milk would be conclusive in any doubtful case, to say nothing of its peculiar smell of cucumber rind, or syringa leaf,[183] in which respect it resembles no other fungus. The surface is as soft and smooth to the touch as kid, except in wet weather, when it becomes more or less sticky; the size, which does not admit of much variation, is from two to three inches across; whilst young the borders are rolled inwards towards the gills, the stalk is in the centre, and somewhat enlarged at the base; but as the fungus grows the borders unroll themselves, one side grows more rapidly than the other, the stalk becomes, in consequence, eccentric, and this eccentricity is often rendered greater by a lateral twist towards the base. The gills, which at first are white, assume later a pale salmon hue; Berkeley adds that “they are more or less forked, covered with very minute conical papillæ ending in four spiculæ;” those that are entire taper away posteriorly and terminate on the stalk, but the imperfect ones are rounded off midway; the spores are elliptic, and of the colour of brown-holland.[184]
This mushroom is found occasionally, throughout the summer, but autumn is the season to look for it, amidst the grass of woods and pastures, where it abounds. It should be eaten the day it is gathered, either stewed, broiled, or fried with egg and bread-crumbs, like cutlets. When dried, it loses much of its volume and acquires “a very sweet smell,”—“un’ aroma suavissimo” (Vitt.).
HELVELLA CRISPA, Fries.
HELVELLA LACUNOSA, Afz.
Tribe Mitrati, Fries.
“Può essere con vantaggio raccolta ed agli stessi usi delle spugniole destinata.”—Vitt.
All Helvellæ are esculent, have an agreeable odour, and bear a general resemblance in flavour to the Morell. The Helvella crispa, or pallid Helvella of Scopoli and Fries, is, it seems, “not uncommon,”[185] and the Helvella lacunosa, or cinereous Helvella of Afzel (on each of whose heads respectively Sowerby and Schœffer place an inappropriate mitre), are both indigenous. They are thus succinctly but excellently described by Mr. Berkeley.
Helvella crispa, Fries.
Bot. Char. Pileus whitish, flesh-coloured or yellowish, deflexed, lobed, free, crisped, pallid; stem fistulose, costato-lacunose, 3-5 inches high, snowy-white, deeply lacunose and ribbed, the ribs hollow.