Common Edible Mushrooms

THE FOOLPROOF FOUR
stem is not found in all puffballs. If a definite and distinct stem
runs through such a section from bottom to top, the plant is not a
puffball!
Puffballs can be found in open, grassy meadows and parks and
among hardwood trees and brush. They occur all through the
growing season but are likely to be far more abundant in the fall.
Like many other kinds of mushrooms they come up in the same
place year after year, and when sliced and fried in butter they have
few rivals. The only simple precautions to be observed are, first, to
examine the interior closely for evidence of tiny worms, which
may infest the base and work up through the body of the puffball,
rendering it unfit for food; and, second, to eat only those that are
firm and white inside. Once the interior begins to turn yellow the
puffball is not desirable for food, although by no means poisonous.
Sulphur Shelf Mushrooms, or Sulphur Polypores
These mushrooms (Figure 4) belong to the general group of
wood-inhabiting shelf fungi. They grow on old rotten logs and
on standing trees, both living and dead. Oaks are their favorite host,
but they are found on a large variety of other trees as well and are
common throughout the country.
On fallen logs the sulphur polypore forms colorful orange and
yellow rosettes of many overlapping, fan-shaped shelves. On standing
trees the shelves appear one above the other, often for a distance
of several feet up and down the trunk. Clumps weighing several
pounds are not uncommon. The shelves extend from 4 to 10 inches
outward from the point where the base is attached to the wood.
In fresh specimens the upper surface is zoned with yellow and
bright golden orange and the lower surface is bright yellow, but
upon exposure to weather the upper surface gradually fades to a
more or less uniform pale yellow. The lower surface is composed
of a layer of fine pores, whence the name polypore.
The sulphur polypore is to be sought in the fall wherever old
decaying trees abound. The shape and color make it impossible to
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