Common Edible Mushrooms

WHITE SPORE PRINT
they that if a specimen is left covered on a piece of paper over
night the discharged spores will form a powdery white deposit
easily i/io inch deep.
The parasitized gill fungus is said to be Lactarius piperatus, a
perfectly edible mushroom. The parasite itself is also edible. However,
since the author has seen these parasitized plants sometimes
growing near Russula delicti, it seems likely that the parasite may
attack more than one species of gilled fungus. If this is true, one
cannot be certain of the identity of the mushroom after recognizing
the parasite, and therefore the species could scarcely be
recommended as good eating. It is listed as edible in various texts,
and it has been generally eaten throughout the northern part of this
country, where it grows. But those the author has eaten were not
of particularly good flavor, nor was the night one of sweet and
dreamless sleep!
Edible: LENTINUS LEPIDEUS
The generic name means tough,
and tough these fungi are. The
only common species, L. lepideus
(meaning scaly) is a cosmopolitan
plant that thrives wherever
coniferous timber is found (Figure
26). It grows on, and decays,
the wood of pine, spruce, larch,
and other conifers, and seems to
prefer railroad ties, bridge timbers,
and so on, although it is by
no means uncommon in the
woods on old logs and stumps.
The cap is from 3 to 5 inches
wide, white with coarse, flat
brown scales distributed roughly
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GENUS Lentinus
Figure 26. Lentinus lepideus.
Edible,