Works by Prof. Peck

The previous examples of mushrooms have all been included in the order of the Agarics, or "gill-bearing" fungi, the under spore-bearing surface of the cap having been disposed in the form of laminÆ or gills. We will now pass to the consideration of a class of mushrooms certain of which enjoy a wider reputation as "toadstools" than any other species, a new botanical order of fungi—the Polyporei—in which the gills are replaced by pores or tubes—polyporus (many pores). Conspicuous among the Polyporei are those great shelf-like woody growths so frequently to be seen on the trunks of trees, and popularly known as "punk," "tinder," and "touch-wood," and many of which increase in size year by year by accession of growth at the rim. A few of these lateral-stemmed species are edible during their young state, one or two of which are included in my subsequent pages. But the most notable group from the standpoint of esculence is the typical genus Boletus, containing a large number of species, and of which Plate 20 presents a conspicuous example. Especial attention should here be called to the notable monograph on the Boleti of the United States by State Botanist Professor Charles Peck, of Albany University, New York, which presents detailed descriptions of one hundred and eight indigenous species. Other contributions to mycological literature by this distinguished American authority are noted in my bibliographical list at the close of the volume.

THE BOLETI

Tube mushrooms

The structure of these mushrooms is clearly shown in Plate 38, in my chapter on "Spore-prints," the hymenium being here spread upon the honey-combed pore surfaces, and shedding its spores from the tubes. Each of these tubes is distinct and may be separated from the mass.

The ideal form as shown in Plate 20 is perfectly symmetrical, in which condition the pores would naturally be perpendicular. But this perfection seldom prevails, and we continually find the specimens more or less eccentric in shape, especially where they are crowded or have met with obstruction in growth. But in any case, no matter what the angle or distortion of growth during development, the tubes are always adjusted to the perpendicular, or in malformed individuals as nearly so as the conditions will permit, as shown in the section on next page.

The Boleti are in general a salubrious group. Certain species have long been accredited as being poisonous, and others excluded from the feast as "suspicious." The early authorities caution us to avoid all Boleti having any shade of red on the spore-bearing surface beneath, even as it was originally claimed that all red-capped toadstools were poisonous. But from the writer's own individual experiments, reinforced by the experience of others, he is beginning to be persuaded that the Boletus as a genus has been maligned. Many species accredited as poisonous he has eaten repeatedly without the slightest deleterious consequences, including the crimson Boletus, B. alveolatus (Plate 24, fig. 2), with its red spore surface, and the B. subtomentosus (Plate 22, fig. 1), whose yellowish flesh, like the species just mentioned, changes quickly to blue upon fracture, a chemical feature which has long stamped both species as dangerous.

SECTION OF BOLETUS SHOWING PERPENDICULAR TUBES

It is interesting to note that the ban is gradually being lifted from the Boleti by mycophagists of distinction, largely through their own experiments. Thus I note that Mr. McIlvaine, who has made a close study of esculent fungi, in a recent article claims that "all the Boleti are harmless, though some are too bitter to eat"; and Mr. Palmer, in his admirable portfolio of esculent fungi, includes among his edible species one of those whose flesh "changes color on fracture," and which has hitherto been proscribed as "off color." Of course, this food selection would obviously apply only to species of inviting attributes, possessing pleasant odor, agreeable taste, and delicate fibre. The selection comprised in this volume is confined to a few varieties of established good repute. As to the rest—if only on the consideration of idiosyncrasy—it is wiser to urge extreme caution on the lines laid down on page 34.

The Boletus, like all other mushrooms, passes through a variety of forms from its birth to maturity, at first being almost round, then convex, with the spore surface nearly flat, horizontal, the profile outline finally almost equally cushion-like on both upper and lower surfaces, or the upper surface absolutely flat. Mere outline drawings of a number of Boleti would be almost identical. The form alone, therefore, is of minor importance in their identification. Among those more readily recognized by their color and structural features, may be classed the following common species:

PLATE XX
EDIBLE BOLETUS

Boletus edulis

PLATE XX

Boletus Edulis.

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EDIBLE TUBE MUSHROOM

Boletus edulis

The most prominent member of the Boleti is the typical species whose portrait I have given on Plate 20, "in vain calling himself 'edulis,' where there were none to believe him." But in spite of this remark of Dr. Badham, which had reference especially to his native country, England, this fungus had long been a favorite article of food among a large class of the more lowly Europeans, to say nothing of the luxurious epicures of the continent.

Boletus edulis is to be found singly or in groups, usually in the woods. Its average diameter is perhaps four or five inches, though specimens are occasionally found of double these dimensions. A letter to the writer from a correspondent in the Rocky Mountains describes specimens measuring fifteen inches in diameter having been found there.

The cushion-like cap is more or less convex, according to age, of a soft brownish or drab color somewhat resembling kid, and with velvety softness to the touch. The under surface or hymenium is thickly beset, honey-combed with minute vertical pores, which will leave a pretty account of themselves upon a piece of white paper laid beneath them and protected from the least draught, a process by which we may always obtain a deposit of the ochre-tinted spores, as is further described in a later chapter.

In Boletus edulis this pore surface is white in young specimens, later yellow, finally becoming bright olive-green; flesh white or creamy, unchangeable on fracture. Stem paler than cap, thick, swollen at base, often malformed and elongated, especially when from a cluster, generally more or less covered with vertical raised ridges, which become somewhat netted together and pinkish as they approach the cap. The taste is sweet, and in the very young specimen, which is brittle, quite suggestive of raw chestnut.

Any Boletus answering this description may be eaten without fear, assuming, of course, that its substance is free from any taint of dissolution and traces of insect contamination. Both of these conditions are too apt to prevail in the mature specimens, and all Boleti are more safely employed for food in their young crisp stage, or at least before their full expansion. In their maturity, moreover, they often prove too mucilaginous in consistency to be pleasant to the average partaker, especially the novice.

In preparing them for the table, all that is necessary is to cut off the stems, which are apt to be tough and fibrous, and to wipe the pellicle of the cap perfectly clean, or, if preferred, to pare the pileus with a very sharp knife. It is recommended by some that the entire mass of the pore section be removed. In a mature specimen this would reduce the bulk of the mushroom by half, and, moreover, deprive the remainder of the full flavor of the fungus. I have not found it necessary, and it is certainly needless in a young and tender specimen.

PLATE XXI
ROUGH-STEMMED BOLETUS

Boletus scaber

PLATE XXI

Boletus Scaber.

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ROUGH-STEMMED BOLETUS

Boletus scaber

This is a very common mushroom in our woods all through the summer and autumn, in reasonably moist weather. It is figured in Plate 21. The cap of an average specimen expands four inches or more, is of a brown or brownish buff color, and viscid when moist. The pore-surface is dingy white, the tube orifices being quite minute and round—not so conspicuously angular or honey-combed as in other species—and with occasional reddish stains, presumably a deposit from the floating spores, which are tawny reddish. The flesh is dirty white, the stem solid, contracting upwards, and rough with fibrous brownish scaly points—whence the name "scaber"—often arranged somewhat in vertical lines. Epicures fail to agree as to the esculent qualities of this mushroom. It is certainly inferior to the edulis.

THE YELLOW-CRACKED BOLETUS

Boletus subtomentosus

The general contour of the present species— B. subtomentosus (Plate 22, fig. 1)—resembles the foregoing, but it is easily distinguished by the color of its cap and tube surface, the pileus being usually olive, olive-brown, or red of various shades; the color, however, does not extend to the flesh beneath the peeled cuticle, as in B. chrysenteron, Fig. 2. The surface is soft and dry—subtomentous—to the touch. Cracks in the cap become yellow, on which account this species is called the "yellow-cracked Boletus," in contradistinction to the red-cracked B. chrysenteron. Its most important distinction, however, is of a chemical nature.

The stem is stout, unequal, firm, yellowish, and more or less ribbed, occasionally tinted, minutely dotted, or faintly striped with the color of the cap. The taste of the flesh is sweet and agreeable. Palmer compares it to the flavor of walnuts. The tube surface is yellow or yellowish green, and the tubes and yellowish flesh of cap and stem turn a rich peacock-blue immediately on fracture, becoming deeper moment by moment until the entire exposed portion becomes leaden—especially noticeable in mature specimens. The pore surface shows a similar blue stain whenever bruised. The tubes are angular-sided instead of round, and much larger than in the B. edulis; spores ochre colored.

This blue stain was formerly, and is even now, deemed sufficient with many mycophagists to place this mushroom on the black-list, but is believed by Mr. Palmer and Mr. McIlvaine to be unwarranted as a stigma, assuming that fresh specimens are employed. The B. subtomentosus is also among the eleven edible Boleti in the list of Dr. Curtis, given on a previous page, and the present author has habitually eaten the species with enjoyment and without unpleasant results. Fresh young specimens with the least change of color would perhaps be the wiser choice for the novice.

PLATE XXII
YELLOW CRACKED BOLETUS

1. Boletus subtomentosu

GOLDEN-FLESH BOLETUS

2. Boletus chrysenteron

PLATE XXII

Boletus Subtomentosus. B. CHRYSENTERON

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Another species having this peculiar property of "turning blue" even in a more marked degree, and named, in consequence, the B. cyanescens, though always heretofore considered poisonous, is now pronounced by certain prominent mycophagists to be not only harmless but esculent. It is still advisable, however, to caution moderation in its use as food, if only on the ground of idiosyncrasy. The spores of this species are white, which, with the more minute tube openings, form a sufficient discrimination from subtomentosus. The spores should be obtained by a deposit on black or dark-colored paper. The flesh is white also. Other blue-stain species, such as B. alveolatus (Plate 24), are still considered with suspicion, presumably groundless.

YELLOW-FLESHED BOLETUS

Boletus chrysenteron

Among the toadstools which tradition would surely brand as poisonous on account of "bright color" is the common species whose name heads this paragraph, and which is illustrated in Plate 22, fig. 2. In its various shapes it suggests the preceding varieties. Its cap, however, is brownish red, often bright brick red. Flesh almost lemon-yellow, stained red just beneath the cuticle, and not noticeably changeable on fracture. Tube surface yellowish green, turning blue or bluish green when bruised. Spores light brown. Tubes rather large, angular, and unequal in shape of aperture. Stem yellow, often brightly colored with the red of the cap. Chance cracks in its surface become red, whence the common name of the "Red-cracked Boletus." A species frequent in woods throughout the summer and autumn, and edible.

In its brightly colored cap it might possibly be superficially confounded with the suspicious Boletus alveolatus of Plate 24. But the latter species is easily distinguished by its rose-colored spores and red pore surface.

CONE-LIKE BOLETUS

Strobilomyces strobilaceus

Another allied species, not especially famous for its esculent qualities, but which is, nevertheless, not to be despised, is here introduced on account of its especially pronounced character (Plate 23)—the cone-like Boletus, or, more properly, Strobilomyces. It is of a brownish gray color, its shaggy surface more or less studded with deep brown or black woolly points, each at the centre of a scale-like segment. The tubes beneath are covered by the veil in the younger specimens, but this at length breaks, leaving ragged fragments hanging from the rim of the pileus. The pore surface thus exposed is at first a grayish white, ultimately becoming brown. The substance of the fungus turns red when broken or cut.

This very striking mushroom is found in woods, especially under evergreens. It frequently attains a diameter of four inches. Its spores are a deep brown, and a specimen selected at the stage when the under surface is flat will yield a most beautiful spore print if laid upon white paper and protected from the atmosphere, as described in a later chapter.

PLATE XXIII
THE CONE-LIKE BOLETUS

Strobilomyces strobilaceus

PLATE XXIII

Strobilomyces Strobilaceus.

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A reproduction of one of these prints is shown in Plate 38, the white reticulation representing the contact of the tube orifices with the paper, each tube depositing its dot composed of spores, the depth of color increasing in proportion to the time involved in the deposit. A single mushroom will yield a half-dozen or more prints. This fungus dries readily, and may be kept indefinitely.

SUSPICIOUS BOLETI

Boletus felleus—B. alveolatus

In Plate 24 are shown two examples of the Boleti which have commonly been accounted poisonous—B. felleus and B. alveolatus—and, in the absence of absolutely satisfactory assurance to the contrary, it is safer from our present point of view to consider them still as suspicious and to give them a wide berth. There can be no doubt but that the popular condemnation of the Boleti has been altogether too sweeping. The gradual accession of many questionable species to the edible list of Messrs. McIlvaine and Palmer and other daring mycophagists is a sufficient attestation of this fact. Thus subtomentosus and cyanescens, already described, always heretofore branded as reprobates, are now redeemed from obloquy, and even the universal ill-repute of the B. satanas, with its pale pileus and blood-red pores, has not frightened the indefatigable Captain McIlvaine from a personal challenge and encounter with this lurid specimen, with the result that the formidable "Satanas" has proved anything but deserving of its name—not half so lurid as it has been painted; indeed, it has been even pronounced "the best of them all." Of course there's no telling to what extent the considerations of contrast, through surprise and the consequent demoralization on the contingents of the personal equation, may have influenced the captain's discrimination, but it certainly would appear, to put it negatively, that even the ill-favored world-renowned B. satanas has apparently been freed from aspersion as an enemy of mankind.

But it is well for the amateur to avoid these notorious species absolutely until their edibility becomes universally accepted by the "professionals."

The Boletus felleus (Plate 24, fig. 1) is a very common species. The pinkish substance of this Boletus is so extremely bitter when raw as to make it sufficiently repellent as food. The color of its smooth cap varies from creamy yellow to reddish brown. Substance white in young specimens, flesh color or pinkish in older individuals. Tube surface white at first, becoming pinkish. Opening of tubes, angled. Stem usually more or less netted with raised lines towards cap. Spores pinkish or "flesh colored." Common in rich soil in woods.

PLATE XXIV
SUSPICIOUS BOLETI

Alveolate Boletus—Boletus alveolatus

Bitter Boletus—Boletus felleus

PLATE XXIV

Suspicious Boleti.

BOLETUS ALVEOLATUS. B. FELLEUS.

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Boletus alveolatus.—Pileus smooth and polished, usually rich crimson or maroon, sometimes varied with paler yellowish tints. Substance very solid, changing to blue on fracture or bruise. Tube surface deep dull crimson or maroon, this color not extending the full length of the pores, which are yellow a short distance above their mouths. The stem is quite stout and tall for the size of the cap as compared with other Boleti. It is mottled in yellow and bright red or crimson, and conspicuously meshed with a network of firm ridges. The spores are yellowish brown. A conspicuous and easily identified species.

THE VEGETABLE BEEFSTEAK

Fistulina hepatica

Our next member of the Polyporus order, or tube-bearing fungi, is a unique member of the fungus tribe, and cannot be mistaken for any other species. An example of this species is shown in Plate 25, the beefsteak mushroom—Fistulina hepatica. The specimen from which my drawing was made was found growing at the foot of a chestnut-tree, and was about nine inches across by about two in greatest thickness. Its upper surface was dark meaty red or liver colored, somewhat wet, or viscid and clammy, and its taste slightly acid. The under tube surface was yellowish white, and, as the section will show, was proportionately thin—the pores being about one-eighth of an inch in length. The solid red substance much resembled meat, and in sections was streaked with darker lines of red, as indicated in plate, somewhat suggesting a section of beet-root.

Though not common in my vicinity, I nevertheless succeed in obtaining a few specimens during the season. It varies greatly in size and shape. M. C. Cooke, in his admirable "plain and easy" account of British fungi, says of it: "When old it affords an excellent gravy, and when young, if sliced and grilled, would pass for a good beefsteak. Specimens are now and then met with that would furnish four or five men with a good dinner, and they have been collected weighing as much as thirty pounds. The liver, or paler pinkish meaty color, clammy viscidity, and streaky section are sufficient guides in the recognition of this species."

It is a highly prized article of diet on the Continent where the arts of the chef are ingeniously employed in endless recipes for its savory preparation, often, it would seem, with the main object of obliterating as far as possible all trace of the delicate flavor of the mushroom per se.

If the reader's experience correspond with the writer's in his mycological experiments "À la mode" he will gladly fall back to the plain plebeian method of simply broiling over the coals, or frying or roasting in the pan, with the least possible seasoning of pepper, salt, and butter, relying upon his mushroom to furnish the predominant zest and flavor.

Other hints for serving this fungus are given in a later chapter. Besides the common name of "beefsteak mushroom," it is also known on the Continent as the "oak tongue," and "chestnut tongue."

PLATE XXV
THE BEEFSTEAK MUSHROOM

Fistulina hepatica

PLATE XXV

Fistulina Hepatica.

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THE SULPHUROUS POLYPORUS

Polyporus sulphureus

Probably the most conspicuous member of our native polyporei remains to be considered among the esculents, though until recently it was included in the black list, Dr. Curtis, of North Carolina, I believe, having first demonstrated its edibility, though pronouncing it merely "tolerable."

The brilliancy of its sulphur-yellow and orange-salmon colors, in association with its large size, renders it a most conspicuous object, especially from its habit of growing in dense clusters, often a number of such clusters in close contiguity upon a decaying stump or prostrate log, frequently so numerous and so crowded as to completely conceal the bark beneath, as shown in the accompanying figure, or completely covering; a space of several square feet.

There lies before me even as I write a fragment of a single cluster which I plucked yesterday from the trunk of an apparently healthy red-oak near my studio, the remainder of the clump having been enjoyed as a special course in my dinner of last evening. In Plate 26 I present a portrait of this specimen, the well-named Sulphur Polyporus—Polyporus sulphureus. It may be found frequently from July till frost upon its favorite habitat of old trunk, stump, log water-trough, or fencepost, usually upon wood in the early stages of decay. A single cluster will often measure a foot in diameter through its very solid mass of thickened pulpy branches, its early and esculent stage being thus compact with the subdivisions ascending from their common thick stem, the mass somewhat suggesting a cauliflower in shape, as shown in the illustration above.

The general color at this tender stage is pure sulphur-yellow, this being the ultimate lower or spore surface now exposed by its upright position. The true upper surface or cap of the later eccentrically branched fungus is of a bright orange-salmon color, and is mostly concealed by the crowded growth.

The specimen above alluded to would have weighed about two pounds, and this central mass was so crowded as to afford scarcely a glimpse of the pinkish-orange pileus surface. Upon showing my specimen to a friend, I was informed that a certain log by the roadside about two miles distant was covered with this same kind of fungus, which seemed to be spreading all over the ground. Doubtless ten or twenty pounds of good nourishing food was thus going begging by the way-side, even in sight of a rural homestead, whose lord and master finds the butcher's bill a serious drain upon his resources.

My plate shows a more open cluster of the fungus in its earlier stages, the only time when it is fit for food. In this condition it is tender, succulent, and juicy. In a few days the lobed fringes or fan-like divisions have lowered and spread out as widely as their crowded condition will permit, assuming the horizontal or even drooping position seen at C, and at D in the plate, as viewed from above. The pileus now being exposed, the fungus presents a deep orange-red or salmon color to the beholder, its sulphurous-hued pore surface being turned beneath. Its texture at this adult stage is tough, fibrous, and almost woody, especially as it approaches the stem, and no one would think of eating it.

The young specimen, however, is quite delicious and wholesome, and, considering that a single cluster will afford a dinner for a large family, its importance as a food product, especially to the farmer or peasant who finds economy a necessity, is thus manifest. Tasted at the tip, it yields for the first moment of mastication an acid flavor recalling that of the Fistulina hepatica. This is followed by a sweet, slightly mucilaginous savor, which, in the realization that the species is wholesome, will at once prove an invitation to further experiment with the fungus as food.

The texture of the young mushroom will be found to vary in its different parts, extremely tender at the thickened tuberculated tips, becoming fibrous as the stem is approached, and increasing in toughness, in fracture suggesting wood in appearance (see A, Plate 26), and unless the specimen is very young this portion will have to be excluded from the diet. Excepting this precaution it needs no preparation for the table, assuming, of course, that the substance is free from grubs, which will presumably be the case, as I have never seen this fungus thus infested except in its more advanced woody growth.

I have not as yet satisfied myself as to the best methods of cooking this polyporus. Fried in butter it has a tendency to become slightly tough in consistency, in its white stringy fibre as well as in taste closely suggesting the "white meat" of chicken. It lends itself well to a stew or ragoÛt, and might, perhaps, to a curry, the substance being cut or broken in small pieces and treated after the manner of meat under similar recipes. Following the hints contained in our last chapter, many methods of its culinary treatment will suggest themselves.

PLATE XXVI
THE SULPHUROUS POLYPORUS

Polyporus sulphureus

PLATE XXVI

Polyporus Sulphureus.

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The freely expanded specimen of this species is full of beauty, in its wavy fan-like form and flowing lines and flutings presenting a suggestive decorative theme, whether in the branches of painting, sculpture, or the plastic arts. The pores upon its sulphurous surface are so minute as to be scarcely visible, but they shed a copious quantity of whitish spores. The pileus of the dried specimen is often more or less frosted with minute white crystals—binoxalate of potash—and the spore surface dulls to the color of buckskin.

Another remarkable feature about this fungus, if report be true, is its visibility by night, not merely from its pale yellow hue, but by an actual flood of bluish luminous phosphorescent light, the environment of its haunt in the woods sometimes being lighted up by the effulgence from its ample mass of growth, a resource not uncommon among the fungi, and popularly known under the name of "foxfire." This phenomenon is frequently observable in woods at night, following rainy weather. An old stump or prostrate log will appear streaked with lines of brilliant light. If we approach and detach the loosened bark, its back and the decayed surface of the log thus exposed will prove ablaze in phosphorescence, whose presence had scarcely been suspected but for the chance fissures which revealed the telltale streaks. I recall from my boyhood experience one such midnight episode as this in which, from the peculiar outline of the fallen trunk and the coincident circumstance of two approximate dots of brilliant light suggesting the eyes of a huge puma or tiger, I stood spell-bound with momentary fear, until I realized that the apparition was only a bugaboo after all. Approaching in the darkness, I soon laid hold of the rough head of the monster, and with a strong pull at the mass of bark of which it was composed, laid bare several square feet of blazing phosphorescence whose only hint had gleamed through those two imaginary eyes, which proved to be holes which had disclosed the hidden luminous fungus. One authority describes a single mass of this phosphorescence as extending the entire length of a prostrate trunk thirty feet long.

Hawthorne records having made good use of foxfire upon one occasion when, left in the lurch at night by a canal-boat, he procured a phosphorescent flambeau which effectually lighted his path for several miles through the otherwise impassable woods.

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