Part 17

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 caespitose.

Fig. 6, the ascus or spore sack and paraphyses.

Genus Mitrula Fries. Soft and fleshy, simple capitate, stem distinct, hymenium surrounding the inflated cap; head ovate, obtuse, inflated.--M. C. Cooke.

Cooke says of this genus that it is scarcely so well characterized as many with which it is associated, and that some of the species are evidently so closely allied to some of the species of the genus Geoglossum that it is difficult to draw the line of demarcation between them, particularly so with the species Mitrula pistillaris B. from Louisiana.

The plants are very small, and though none are recorded as poisonous, only one or two have any value as esculents.

FIG. 7. =Mitrula sclerotipes= Boudier.

The cap in this species is small, and the stem long and slender. The spores are transparent, the asci club-shaped. The plants of this species are always found springing from an oblong sclerotium; hence the name sclerotipes.

Fig. 8 represents the sporidia enclosed in their asci with paraphyses and individual spores, the latter magnified 800 diameters. Fig. 9, sectional view of mature plant.

FIG. 10. =Mitrula vitellina= Sacc., var. irregularis Peck.

Saccardo, in his Sylloge Fungorum, includes in this genus those having a club-shaped cap, which brings into it, with others, the species Mitrula vitellina Sacc., formerly classed in the genus Geoglossum, and its variety irregularis Peck. The latter was first described in 1879, in Peck's Thirty-Second Report, under the name Geoglossum irregulare. Prof. Peck now gives preference to the name assigned to it by Saccardo, and it is so recorded in Peck's later reports.

Prof. Peck records this species as edible, and recommends it as having tender flesh and an agreeable flavor. It sometimes grows in profusion in wet mossy places, in woods, or swampy ground. It is bright yellow in color, clean and attractive. The cap is much longer than the stem, often deeply lobed, extremely irregular in outline, and tapers to a short yellowish or whitish stem. The spores are narrowly elliptical and transparent. The specimen illustrated is from a small one figured by Peck. The plants sometimes reach two inches in height. They are most abundant in temperate climates.

PLATE D.

In Plate D are represented four species of the genus Morchella, viz., M. semilibera, M. bispora, M. conica, and M. deliciosa. Morchella esculenta is figured in Plate C.

FIG. 1. =Morchella semilibera= De Candolle. "Half Free Morel."

EDIBLE.

Cap conical but half free from the stem as the name of the species indicates. The ribs are longitudinal, forming oblong pits; stem hollow, much longer than the cap, white; spores elliptical. Peck says that this species has been described by Persoon under the name Morchella hybrida, and this name is adopted in Saccardo's Sylloge Fungorum, but most English writers prefer the first.

Fig. 2. Sectional view of Morchella semilibera.

Fig. 8. Sporidia of same inclosed in ascus with accompanying paraphyses.

FIG. 3. Sectional view of =Morchella bispora= Sorokin. "Two-Spored Morel."

EDIBLE.

Cap free from the stem to the top, somewhat resembling that of M. semilibera, but blunt at its summit instead of conical, the outward surface deeply pitted, inner surface smooth and barren. A characteristic of this species which distinguishes it from others of the same genus is found in the number of its sporidia, spores as seen in the ascus or spore sack. In the plants of the genus Morchella the spore sacks, with one or two exceptions, contain eight spores.