Peziza acetabulum, Linn. Series Aleuria, Section Helvella, Fries.
Bot. Char. Deeply cup-shaped, two inches broad, one and a half deep, externally floccose, light-umber, darker within, mouth puckered, tough; stem half to one inch high, smooth, deeply but irregularly costato-lacunose, ribs solid “branching at the top and forming reticulations on the outside of the cup, so as to present the appearance of a cluster of pillars supporting a font or roof, with fret-work between them” (Berkeley). Season, spring.
POLYPORUS FRONDOSUS, Schrank.
There are many species of Polyporus eaten on the Continent; among the more common kinds to be mentioned are P. frondosus and P. tuberaster, Persoon, P. corylinus, Mauri, P. subsquamosus, Pers., P. giganteus, ibid., P. fomentarius, ibid., which last is the Amadou, or German tinder fungus. Two of these are local; the P. tuberaster, which occurs principally in the kingdom of Naples, and the P. corylinus or that of the cob-nut tree, which (though it might perhaps be cultivated elsewhere) is at present restricted to Rome; both these are excellent for food.
As to the Polyporus squamosus, which is as common in England as abroad, in substance it cannot be masticated, and its expressed juice is exceedingly disagreeable; I should not think the P. fomentarius, to judge from its texture, promised much better; nor P. giganteus, of which the flesh is sometimes so tough as to creak under the knife.
The true P. frondosus is probably rare in England, that which I have met with and have had cooked, without being able to say much in its favour, is the P. intybaceus of Fries, which Mr. Berkeley says is distinguished from the other by having larger pores. Vittadini has not included it among the esculent funguses in his work; Persoon does not recommend it for weak stomachs on account of its toughness.[188] Paulet, indeed, is of a different opinion, telling us that in place of its being heavy for the stomach, he will feel all the lighter who sups upon it. The people in the Vosges seem to have an equal affection for it with this writer, giving it the somewhat whimsical, though really most graphic sobriquets of the Hen-of-the-Woods and the Breeding Hen (Mougeot). Professor Sanguinetti informs me that it sells for six or seven baiocchi in the Roman market, the finer specimens being sent as surprise presents, “per meraviglia,” from poor tenants to hard landlords.
Bot. Char. “Pilei very numerous, dimidiate, condensed into a convex tuft from half a foot to a foot broad, imbricated, variously confluent, irregular, at first downy, dusky, then smooth, livid grey; disk depressed, dilated above, from half to one inch broad, convex, the base confluent with the compound stem” (Fries).