Genus Gyromitra Fries. This genus contains very few species, but all are considered edible, though differing somewhat in flavor and digestibility. Five or six species are figured by Cooke. Peck speaks of several species found in New York. One of these, G. curtipes Fries, is also figured by Cooke as found in North Carolina. This species Cooke regards as equal in flavor to G. esculenta. G. esculenta has a rounded, inflated cap, irregularly lobed and hollow, smooth and brittle in texture, reddish brown. It falls over the stem in heavy convolutions, touching it at various points. The stem is stout, stuffed, at length hollow, whitish or cinereous; spores elliptical with two nuclei, yellowish, translucent. The plant is usually from two to four inches in height, but larger specimens are found.
Fig. 4 represents the spore sack with enclosed sporidia.
Mr. Charles L. Fox, of Portland, Maine, records the Gyromitra esculenta, of which he sent me a very good specimen last spring, as quite abundant during May in the open woods near the city named. Speaking of this species, he says: "From the point of view of their edibility, we have classed them under two heads—the light and the dark varieties. These differ in the locality in which they are found, in their color and in the convolutions of their surface. Both grow large.
"The Light Gyromitra is the more easily digested of the two. Its height varies from three to five inches, cap three to five inches in diameter. Its cap is inflated, very irregular, and twisted in large convolutions. These convolutions are almost smooth on the surface, sometimes showing small depressions; margin generally attached to the stem in parts. It is a transparent yellow in color. This variety does not grow dark brown with age. Stem white or very light buff, smooth, and hollow. It grows best on slopes facing the south, in scant woods of birch, maple, and pine. We have found no specimens in open places or on the borders of woods.
"The Dark Gyromitra is more common than the light variety. Its color is generally of dark lake brown, even in the young plant, though it is sometimes of a light warm yellow, which grows darker with age. Stem flesh-colored or pallid, but not white, nor so light as in the first variety. Its cap is similar in its large convolutions to that of the light variety, but it is covered with many intricate vermiform ridges, sometimes in high relief or even strongly undercut. Grows in mossy places, in light sandy soil, on borders of pine woods. Its flesh is brittle, but not so tender as that of the first variety. Both varieties dry readily. We should advise eating the Dark Gyromitra only in moderate amounts, as, if eaten in quantity, or if old specimens are used, indigestion or nausea is liable to follow. In regard to both varieties, I would advise that only young specimens should be eaten at first, as they are more tender and less pronounced in flavor than the older plants. We have eaten, however, a considerable quantity of the Light Gyromitra with no unpleasant results. The flavor of the Gyromitras is quite strong, and some have found it too much so to be agreeable on the first eating. The general opinion here, however, is favorable to the Gyromitra as an excellent addition to the table."
Some German authorities speak well of the flavor of the G. esculenta, and it is sold in the German markets. Cordier records it as agreeable in taste when cooked. Peck says that he has repeatedly eaten it without experiencing any evil results, but does not consider its flavor equal to that of a first-class mushroom. He advises also that it should be eaten with moderation, and that only perfectly fresh specimens should be used, sickness having resulted from eating freely of specimens that had been kept twenty-four hours before being cooked.
I have not been fortunate in securing a sufficient quantity of fresh specimens to test its edible qualities personally, but the testimony received from those who have eaten it seems to point to the necessity for moderation in eating and care in securing fresh specimens to cook.
Fig. 5. Helvella crispa. "Crisp Helvella."
Genus Helvella Linn. The plants of this genus are usually small, though a few of the species are of good size. They are not plentiful, but they are very generally regarded as edible, the flavor bearing a resemblance to that of the Morel. The cap has a smooth, not polished, surface, and is very irregular, revolute, and deflexed, not honeycombed like the Morel, nor showing the brain-like convolutions of the Gyromitras. Color brownish pale tan, or whitish. The stem in the larger species is stout, and sometimes deeply furrowed in longitudinal grooves, usually white or whitish.
The species Helvella crispa is white or pallid throughout, cap very irregular, sometimes deeply concave in the centre, with margin at first erect, then drooping; again it is undulating, much divided and deflexed; in fact, so irregular is the shape that scarcely two specimens will show the cap the same in outline; stem stout and deeply channelled. Spores elliptical, transparent. Habitat woods, growing singly or in groups, but not cæspitose.