Our Edible Toadstools and Mushrooms and How to Distinguish Them / A Selection of Thirty Native Food Varieties Easily Recognizable by their Marked Individualities, with Simple Rules for the Identification of Poisonous Species

by W. Hamilton Gibson

PLATE XXVIII
THE MEDUSA MUSHROOM

Hydnum caput-medusæ

Spines: The long, soft spines cover the entire exposed portion of the fungus, which is disposed in fleshy branching divisions, each terminating in a "crown" of shorter, drooping teeth. The color is pale buff or dark creamy.

Stem: Short, concealed beneath the growth.

Taste: Sweet and aromatic, slightly pungent.

Habitat: Trunks of trees, especially beech.

Season: July to October.

PLATE XXVIII