Fig. 65.—Puff-ball, Lycoperdon cyathiforme, Top View. Edible. (Three-fourths Natural Size.)—(Coville, Circular 13, Division of Botany.)
Cepe (Boletus edulis Bull.).
—This variety of mushroom is one of the most highly esteemed, especially in the south of France. It is large and has a very large, half-pear shaped stem. The flesh of this variety of mushroom is white and quite firm in the young mushroom, but becomes softer with age and assumes on the outside a wine tint. It grows, especially in the late summer and through the autumn, wild in the forest. In the extreme south of France it sometimes appears as early as April. (“Nouvel Atlas de Champignons,” Paul Dumée, page 45.) (“The Mushroom Book,” by Nina L. Marshall, page 109.) The cap is usually from four to six inches in diameter and is a gray, brownish-red or tawny-brown in color.
Fig. 66.—Amanita (Full-grown). (One-half Natural Size.)—(Coville, Circular 13, Division of Botany.)
The Fly Amanita (Amanita muscaria (L.) Fr.).
—This is one of the very poisonous varieties of mushrooms. In the [illustration] the fully matured mushroom is shown at one-half its natural size. This is the most common poisonous mushroom which grows in the District of Columbia and other nearby localities. The points especially to be noticed are the bulbous enlargement at the base of the stem, breaking into thick scales above, the very broad drooping ring near the top of the stem, and the corky particles loosely attached to the smooth, glossy upper surface of the cap. The stem, gills, and the spores are white, the corky particles commonly of a buff color, but sometimes varying almost to white. The glossy upper surface of the cap, beneath the corky particles, varies from a brilliant red to orange-yellow, buff, and even white. Commonly in the vicinity of Washington the coloration is orange in the center, shading to yellow toward the margin. Brilliant red ones are rarely seen in this locality, but white ones are not infrequent, especially late in the season. This was the variety of mushroom that lately caused the death of a well known man in Washington. This poisonous variety is one of the largest, handsomest, and most dangerous of mushrooms, and is one whose poisonous character has been most fully studied. It is abundant in the vicinity of Washington in the fall, growing chiefly in the pine woods and, especially, in the localities which have been frequented by hogs. The chief active poisonous principle of the fly amanita is an alkaloid called muscarine, but other poisonous substances whose exact nature has not yet been discovered also occur in the plant.
Fig. 67.—Fly Amanita Buttons (Amanita muscaria). (Natural Size.)
When this variety of mushroom is reduced to a paste and exposed where it can be eaten by flies the latter are readily poisoned, and hence the common name of “fly amanita.”