Part 5

Hay contends that the pernicious nick-name "toad-stool" has not the derivation supposed, but that the first part of the word is the Saxon or old English "tod," meaning a bunch, cluster, or bush, the form of many terrestrial fungi suggesting it. The second syllable, "stool," is easily supplied. "The erroneous idea of connecting toads with these plants," says Hay, "seems to be due to Spenser, or to some poet, possibly, before his time." Spenser speaks of the loathed paddocks, "paddock" then being the name given in England to the frog, afterwards corrupted to "paddic," and once received, readily converted by the Scotch into "puddick-stool." It would seem, therefore, from the foregoing, that the term "toad-stool" can have no proper relation to mushrooms, whether edible or poisonous.

The three mushrooms illustrated and described in this pamphlet, Plates I, II, and III, are of the order Agaricini or gilled mushrooms. They are well-defined types and of wide geographical distribution.

FOOD VALUE OF MUSHROOMS.

Rollrausch and Siegel, who claim to have made exhaustive investigations into the food values of mushrooms, state that "many species deserve to be placed beside meat as sources of nitrogenous nutriment," and their analysis, if correct, fully bears out the statement. They find in 100 parts of dried Morchella esculenta 35.18 per cent. of protein; in Helvella esculenta, 26.31 per cent. of protein, from 46 to 49 per cent. of potassium salts and phosphoric acid, 2.3 per cent. of fatty matter, and a considerable quantity of sugar. The Boletus edulis they represent as containing in 100 parts of the dried substance 22.82 per cent. of protein. The nitrogenous values of different foods as compared with the mushroom are stated as follows: "Protein substances calculated for 100 parts of bread, 8.03; of oatmeal, 9.74; of barley bread, 6.39; of leguminous fruits, 27.05; of potatoes, 4.85; of mushrooms, 33.0."

According to Schlossberger and Depping, in 100 grams of dried mushrooms they found the following proportions of nitrogenous substances:

-----------------------+-------- Varieties. | Grains. | Chanterelles | 3.22 Certain Russulas | 4.25 Lactarius deliciosus | 4.68 Boletus edulis | 4.25 Meadow mushroom | 7.26 -----------------------+--------

But all chemists are not agreed as to these proportions. For instance, Lefort has found 3.51 grains of nitrogenous matter in the cap of Agaricus campestris, 2.1 grains in the gills and only 0.34 of a grain in the stem. Payen has found 4.68 grains in Agaricus campestris, 4.4 grains in the common Morel (Morchella esculenta), 9.96 grains in the white truffle, and 8.76 grains in the black.

A much larger proportion of the various kinds of mushrooms are edible than is generally supposed, but a prejudice has grown up concerning them in this country which it will take some time to eradicate. Notwithstanding the occurrence of occasional fatal accidents through the inadvertent eating of poisonous species, fungi are largely consumed both by savage and civilized man in all parts of the world, and while they contribute so considerable a portion of the food product of the world we may be sure their value will not be permanently overlooked in the United States, especially when we consider our large accessions of population from countries in which the mushroom is a familiar and much prized edible. In Italy the value of the mushroom as an article of diet has long been understood and appreciated. Pliny, Galen, and Dioscorides mention various esculent species, notably varieties of the truffle, the boletus and the puff-ball, and Vittadini writes enthusiastically of the gastronomic qualities of a large number of species. Of late years large quantities have been sold in the Italian markets. Quantities of mushrooms are also consumed in Germany, Hungary, Russia, France, and Austria.

Darwin speaks of Terra del Fuego as the only country where cryptogamic plants form a staple article of food. A bright-yellow fungus allied to Bulgarin forms, with shellfish, the staple food of the Fuegians. In England the common meadow mushroom Agaricus campestris is quite well known and used to a considerable extent among the people, but there is not that general knowledge of and use of other species which obtains in Continental Europe.

In the English-speaking countries much has been done by the Rev. M. J. Berkeley, Dr. M. C. Cooke, Worthington G. Smith, Rev. John Stevenson, Prof. Hay, Prof. Chas. H. Peck, Prof. W. J. Farlow, and others, including the various mushroom clubs, to disseminate a more general knowledge on this subject.

Late investigations show that nearly all the species common to the countries of Continental Europe, and of Great Britain, are found in different localities in the United States, and a number of species have been found which have not been described in European works.

The geographical distribution of many species of the mushroom family is very wide. We have had specimens of the Morel, for instance, sent to us from California and Washington, on the Pacific coast, and as far north as Maine, on the Atlantic, as well as from the southern and the midwestern States, and the same is true of other species. The season of their appearance varies somewhat according to the latitude and altitude of place of growth. Mushrooms are rarely seen after the first heavy frosts, although an exception is noted in this latitude in the species Hypholoma sublatertium, which has been found growing under the snow, at the roots of trees in sheltered woods. Frozen mushrooms of this and closely allied species have revived when thawed, and proved quite palatable when cooked.

At the present time only two species, Agaricus campester and Agaricus arvensis, are cultivated in America. Some attempts have been made by an amateur mushroom club in Ohio to cultivate the Morel, but the results have not, so far, been reported. In the meantime, however, it is well to utilize the wild mushrooms as fast as the collector can satisfactorily identify them. The woods of all moist regions of this country abound with edible varieties. Prof. Curtis, of North Carolina, gives a list of over one hundred edible species found in that State alone, and nearly all of these occur in our Northern States as well. It is not contended that this list includes all the species which may be eaten, nor have all of these equal value from a gastronomic point of view. Some are insipid as to flavor, and others are too tough or too slimy to please the popular taste.

CAUTIONARY SUGGESTIONS.

Before collecting for the table mushrooms found growing in the woods or fields, it would be well for inexperienced persons to consult carefully some work on the subject in which the characteristics of edible and poisonous varieties are described and illustrated.

Considering that an opinion seems to prevail that the discoloration of the silver spoon or small white onions when brought into contact with mushrooms during the culinary process is an infallible test of the poisonous species, I quote from a French author on mushrooms the following in relation to this supposed test:

* * * We may not dispute the fact that a silver spoon or article of brass, or onions, may not become discolored on contact with the poisonous principle, but this discoloration is not reliable as a test for deciding the good or bad quality of mushrooms. In fact, we know that in the decomposition of albuminoids sulphureted hydrogen is liberated which of itself discolors silver, brass, and onions.

I have deemed it advisable to publish this as one of the best means of answering those correspondents who have made inquiries as to the reliability of this test.

It is by some supposed that high colors and viscidity are indications of non-edible species, but there are numerous exceptions here. Russula alutacea--the pileus of which is often a purplish red--Amanita Caesarea, and other species of brilliant coloring are known to be edible. As to viscidity, two very viscid species, when young, are among the highly prized esculents by those who know them, viz., Fistulina hepatica, or the ox tongue, and Hygrophorus eburneus, the ivory mushroom.

The method of deciding the character of mushrooms by their odor and flavor is not to be relied upon. Edible mushrooms are usually characterized by a pleasant flavor and odor; non-edible varieties have sometimes an unpleasant odor, and produce a biting, burning sensation on the tongue and throat, even in very small quantities, but several of the Amanitas have only a slight odor and taste, and certain species of mushrooms, acrid otherwise, become edible when cooked.

In fact there is no general rule by which the edible species can be distinguished from the unwholesome or poisonous ones. The safest as well as the most sensible plan, therefore, is to apply the same rule as that which we adopt in the case of the esculents among the flowering plants, viz., to learn to know the characteristics of each individual species so as to distinguish it from all others.

With regard to the mushrooms which have been designated as poisonous, it should be remembered that the term "poisonous" is used relatively. While some are only slightly poisonous, producing severe gastric irritation and nervous derangement, but without fatal results, others, if eaten in even very small quantity, may cause death. Happily, however, the most dangerous species are not numerous as compared with the number that are edible, and with careful attention on the part of the collector they may be avoided.

Since the Amanita group is made responsible by competent authority for most of the recorded cases of fatal poisoning, we would recommend the amateur mycophagist to give special study to this group in order to learn to separate the species authentically recorded as edible from the poisonous ones.

Some writers, as a measure of precaution, counsel the rejection of all species of Amanita. But this is, of course, a matter for individual preference. There would seem to be no good reason why the observant student should not learn to discriminate between the edible and the poisonous species of the Amanita as of any other group, and they should not be eaten until this discriminating knowledge is acquired.

Saccardo describes fifteen edible species of this group of mushrooms. We have tested three of this number, which, on account of their abundance in our locality and their good flavor, we would be loth to discard, viz., A. rubescens, A. Caesarea, and A. strobiliformis.

A type of the Amanita group, which is named first in the genera of the order Agaricini, is shown in Fig. 1, Plate B.

By reference to this figure some of the special characteristics of the group can be observed. There are mushrooms in other genera which show a volva or sheath at the base of the stem, and which contain edible species, but in these the stem is ringless. The Volvariae, for instance, show a conspicuous volva, a stem that is ringless, and pinkish spores. The Amanitopsis vaginata carries a volva, but no ring. The spores are white, as in the Amanita.

In gathering mushrooms either for the table or for the herbarium, care should be taken not to leave any portion of the plant in the ground, so that no feature shall be lost that will aid in characterizing the species. In the careless pulling up of the plant the volva in the volvate species is often left behind.