Common Edible Mushrooms

WHITE SPORE PRINT
The flesh of the cap is unusually brittle, never tough or stringy.
There are many species; almost all are fairly large and share a common
shape —squat, with a shallow, funnel-like cap and a thick,
short stem. Their colors may run through the hues of the rainbow,
and they vary in edibility from choice to undesirable. A few rare
species are even suspected of being poisonous. Many have a sharp
and bitter taste when fresh, but Giissow and Odell report that several
species previously considered poisonous because of this taste
are edible and delicious, since the objectionable flavor disappears
when the mushrooms are cooked.
Edible: LACTARIUS CILICIOIDES
This species (Figure 22) illustrates the typical Lactarius shape.
It is from 4 to 6 inches wide, about the same in height; the upper
surface is white, or alternately banded in tan and white, and sticky;
the inrolled margin or the entire surface is covered -with densely
matted hairs.
The juice is rather scanty, white but turning pale yellow almost
as soon as it is exposed to the air (this is especially noticeable where
gills and flesh join) and in a few minutes becoming white again.
It is fairly common, especially in coniferous woods, in late summer
and fall, individual specimens being scattered through the forest.
Eminently edible: LACTARIUS DELICIOSUS
This species (Figure 23) has the shape and size more or less
characteristic of the genus, being about 4 to 5 inches both in width
and in height. In color it is fairly amazing; the upper surface is
pale orange, fading to tan with age, and is often zoned with broad
concentric bands of pale orange and tan. The gills are reddish
orange, becoming green with age or when bruised, and the yellow
or orange juice is produced copiously, droplets of it standing out
in sharp contrast to the greenish gills of old specimens. The short,
thick stem is colored like the cap and becomes green where one
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