Common Edible Mushrooms

WHITE SPORE PRINT
are, first, that in moist weather it decays very quickly and, second,
that a ubiquitous breed of small beetles seems to consider
the mushroom its particular booty, hundreds of them crawling
in among the gills and feeding on the spores with voracious appetites.
A young, fresh, uninfested clump, however, is a good find.
Often several groups occur simultaneously, and they can be
found on the same stump or log for several years in succession.
In some parts of Europe whenever mushroom hunters find a good
crop of Pleurotus ostreatus on a stump they water the stump at
intervals to induce the production of further crops. According
to accounts in one of the German journals, it can be readily cultivated
on freshly cut stumps in the forest.
Edible: PLEUROTUS SAPIDUS
This species (Figure 38) is identical with the foregoing, P.
ostreatus, in all respects except that it has very pale violet spores,
instead of white, but the color is so pale that a heavy spore print,
on white paper, is necessary to detect it. For this reason many
mycologists consider P. sapidus merely a variety of P. ostreatus.
Edible: PLEUROTUS ULMARIUS
The specific name means growing on elm, and there are few
mushroom hunters who do not know this common fall inhabitant
of our elm and box elder trees (Figures 36 and 39). It grows
out of branch stubs and knotholes, sometimes high up in the tree,
and it usually emerges in the fall after all the leaves have gone.
The cap is from 3 to 6 inches wide, at first almost hemispherical,
later flat, the surface white and either smooth or covered
with flat scales. The gills and flesh are white, and the flesh is
thick and firm. The stem is from 1/2 to i inch in diameter and
from 4 to 6 inches long, curved outward from the tree and attached
to the center of the cap.
This is a durable plant, as it would have to be at the season it
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