HELVELLA INFULA = name of a woollen head-dress.
The Cap-like Helvella.
This species is named Infula, because it is supposed to resemble in shape the sacred woollen head-dress worn by priests of Rome, by supplicants and victims, tied around the head by a ribbon or bandage, which hangs down on both sides. The stem is surmounted with a lobed cap, with two to four irregularly drooping lobes of reddish or cinnamon-brown color, and is about 3 inches in diameter. The stem is 2 or 3 inches high, usually smooth, but sometimes pitted. We found our specimen in the woods in August.
Cortinarius distans.
Photographed by C. G. Lloyd.
[DIRECTIONS FOR USING KEYS.]
Let us suppose that the beginner finds a mushroom and wishes to name it. He has learned its component parts. He has remarked the names of the classes into which mushrooms are divided. How then shall he make use of the Keys? We will imagine that he has found a Cantharellus. The cap is yellow color, so let him turn to the list of fungi described under the section “Yellow and Orange,” and see if it agrees in appearance with anyone of these. (It is necessary before consulting a key to find the color of the spores. This is done by cutting off the cap, and placing it, gills downward, on paper, and leaving it there for two or three hours. Having followed these directions in this case it will have been seen that the spores are white.)
After consulting the list of “Yellow and Orange” he will find that the first one mentioned is Cantharellus cibarius, the Chantarelle.