Common Edible Mushrooms

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COMMON EDIBLE MUSHROOMS mon as to be rarely or never found, but many a mushroom convicted as poisonous by any of these tests might well have been edible and delicious. In fact, it can be stated flatly that no one of these tests, nor all of them put together, will serve to separate the poisonous kinds from the edible. For the proof of the mushroom is in the eating. Some kinds are known to be edible because people have eaten them without ill effects, and others are known to be poisonous because when eaten they have caused illness. In this respect mushrooms do not differ from other poisonous plants, such as water hemlock and deadly nightshade. There is no external sign by which we can see that water hemlock is fatal if eaten, and we know that it is only because people in the past have been poisoned by it and their survivors have described the plant accurately enough so that others might recognize and avoid it. One of our most: generally grown and delicious of garden vegetables, the tomato, was not commonly grown in England or America for more than two hundred years after it had been taken to Europe from South America. Because of its resemblance to its near relative, the deadly nightshade, it was considered poisonous and was cultivated only as a botanical curiosity. Only by eating it did people find out that it was not poisonous. The same thing is true of mushrooms. Of two that are closely related one may be poisonous and the other perfectly wholesome, and only by knowing the distinguishing characters of each can one separate the good from the bad. An example will illustrate how subtle this difference sometimes is. Lepiota morgani is a poisonous mushroom and if eaten causes severe, though seldom fatal, illness. Lepiota rachodes is edible and delicious. These two are so closely related and look so much alike that even an expert can tell them apart only by the fact that mature specimens of L. morgani, the poisonous one, have green gills and deposit pale green spores, whereas the spores and gills of L. rachodes, the edible one, are white. Half-grown specimens of the two kinds are identical. L. morgani commonly comes up in the spring, /_,. rachodes in the fall, and people who know them TO
ABOUT MUSHROOMS only slightly are likely to assume that a specimen found in the fall is L. rachodes and eat it forthwith. Usually they are right, but sometimes both species come up together in the fall, and then people who depend upon season of appearance instead of spore color to distinguish them may suffer seriously for their carelessness. A far more puzzling case is that of the saddle fungus. Throughout Europe many species of wild mushrooms are collected and sold in the public markets. To avoid the danger of confusing the edible with the poisonous kinds, only those deemed safe are permitted to be sold, the markets being inspected to enforce the regulations. Gyromitra esculenta, the common brown saddle fungus, is considered one of the choice edible spring mushrooms both in Europe and America, and for many years great quantities of it have been gathered and sold in the public markets of France and Germany. Within the last decade, however, its sale has been banned in a number of cities because it was proved beyond all doubt to have occasioned several deaths from poisoning. Some say that there are two varieties of Gyromitra esculenta, one poisonous, the other edible; others say that all individuals of this species contain a toxic, water-soluble acid that leaches out into the water in which the mushrooms are cooked, and that if this water is poured off the mushrooms are good to eat. Still others believe the fungus to be poisonous only when eaten by sick or undernourished people, especially children, or if eaten in excessive quantities. All who have had a wide experience with it admit that under some circumstances it can cause illness and death, yet it continues to be sold in many European cities and certainly is eaten in quantity in both Europe and America. It also continues to poison a few people each year, and not many years ago it is believed to have caused the death of several members of a family in northern Minnesota, all of whom were, by the way, sick and undernourished. How, then, is one to be certain that any specific mushroom is edible? The only way is to learn to recognize with absolute cer- 11
Page 2 and 3: Plate 1. A. Coprinus micaceus (Mica
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Page 6 and 7: COMMON EDIBLE MUSHROOMS GENUS Lepio
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Page 46 and 47: Figure u. Amanita russuloides. Pois
Page 48 and 49: Figure 12. Amanitopsis vaginata. Ed
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Page 52 and 53: Figure 14. Cantharellus aurantiacus
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Page 64 and 65: Figure 22. Lactarius cilicioides. E
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1COMMON EDIBLE MUSHROOMS grown spec
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COMMON EDIBLE MUSHROOMS mycologists
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COMMON EDIBLE MUSHROOMS The young p
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Figure 35. Panus rudis. Edible but
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COMMON EDIBLE MUSHROOMS Figure 39.
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Rusty Brown Spore Print GENUS Pholi
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Pink Spore Print Edible: CLITOPILUS
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COMMON EDIBLE MUSHROOMS stem with t
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COMMON EDIBLE MUSHROOMS turn almost
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Figure 45. Agaricus campestris (Fie
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COMMON EDIBLE MUSHROOMS Figure 47.
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Black Spore Print GENUS Coprinus So
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COMMON EDIBLE MUSHROOMS The cap is
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Figure 53. Panaeolus solidipes. Edi
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COMMON EDIBLE MUSHROOMS GENUS Calva
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Morels and Saddle Fungi Edible and
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Figure 55. Helvetia crispa. Edible.
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Pore Fungi GENUS Polyporus Edible:
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Edible: GENUS Clavaria Club Fungi A
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Tooth Fungi GENUS Hydnum These are
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Jelly Fungi The jelly fungi are so
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COMMON EDIBLE MUSHROOMS and many an
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COMMON EDIBLE MUSHROOMS therein. Wr
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COMMON EDIBLE MUSHROOMS as a border
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COMMON EDIBLE MUSHROOMS STUFFED EGG
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COMMON EDIBLE MUSHROOMS peeled, esp
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COMMON EDIBLE MUSHROOMS breaded and
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COMMON EDIBLE MUSHROOMS DEFRIES, A.
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COMMON EDIBLE MUSHROOMS Death cap,
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Spore color, i z Spore print, how t
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Common Edible Mushrooms

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