G. rhodoxan´thus Schw. (Plate XCVII, fig. 4, 5, p. 352.) Solitary. Pileus 1–2 in. broad, cushion-shaped, reddish-yellow, sometimes with dusky hues. Gills arched, decurrent, orange-yellow. Stem attenuated, short, firm.

Spores oblong, 10–12.5µ in length. Peck. Olivaceous. McIlvaine.

Solitary, gregarious or cespitose.

Among leaves and grass in shady places. August to October.

When the student has mastered the name and memorized the description, Gomphidius rhodoxanthus can not be mistaken for any other species.

It is not common in localities I have frequented, but its presence is pretty general in the United States, specimens having been sent to me from Georgia, Iowa, New York, New Jersey, etc., and I have found it in West Virginia, North Carolina, Woodland Cemetery, Philadelphia, and other places in Pennsylvania, from July to September, 1898, inclusive. Having enjoyed it in West Virginia in 1882, I was delighted to find it in generous quantity at Mt. Gretna, Pa., and to eat many meals of it. Its caps are not excelled by any edible fungus. They have solid, delicious substance and rich full flavor.

The plant is often cespitose. I have never found its cap viscid or glutinous. The cooked flesh has the latter consistency.

MONTAGNITES Fr.

The universal veil forming a volva, persistent. Stem dilated at the apex into a plane round disk, even on both sides, to the margin of which are adfixed the gills which are free, not joined by any membrane, radiating, razor-shaped, persistent, obtuse at the edge. Trama cellulose. Spores oblong, even, black fuscous. Fries.

A single species is reported from Texas.

Hymenophore inferior, facing the ground. Hymenium consisting of tubes with poriform mouths which are round or angular, sometimes sinuous or torn, lined with 4-spored sporophores and cystidia.

Fleshy, coriaceous or woody fungi, most abundant and luxuriant in warm countries. Intermediate between the Agaricaceæ and the Hydnaceæ, connected with the former by Dædalea and Lenzites, and with the latter by Fistulina and Irpex. Fries.

Within this large family are famed edible species, notably in Boletinus, Boletus and Fistulina. In the woody species the razor-strop man finds material for his strops (Polyporus celulinus); the surgeon styptics; the peasant punk to catch sparks from his flint, and the 4th of July urchin a fire-holder to light his pyrotechnics. The Chinese have placed some species in their fathomless materia medica, while the Polyporus of the locust tree is used in America as a medicine for horses. No fungoid growth is more universal. They are the ever active pruners of our trees and converters of forest debris. They begin the task in Nature’s laboratory of changing decaying wood into assimilable shape as food to feed the very trees that dropped it. Some are of annual growth, others add to their substance year after year, often attaining enormous size. In summer and in winter they are ever present objects for interesting study.

Hymenium composed of broader radiating gills connected by very numerous more narrow anastomosing branches or partitions and forming large angular pores. Tubes somewhat tenacious, not easily separable from the hymenophore and from each other, adnate or subdecurrent, yellowish. Peck.

Stratum of tubes easily separable from the hymenophore. Stem central.

Tubes like Boletus, but pileus with large scales. Stem central.

Fleshy, lateral, tubes crowded but distinct.

Stratum of tubes distinct from hymenophore, but not separable, not stratose; fleshy and tough, stipitate or sessile.

Tubes as in Polyporus, often stratose; woody, sessile; dimidiate. (No edible species reported.)

Tubes as in Polyporus, not stratose, generally developing from the center to the margin, at first shallow and punctiform, coriaceous or membranaceous. (No edible species reported.)

Tubes as in Polyporus, not stratose; entirely resupinate. (No edible species reported.)

Tubes studded with reddish-brown spines, intermingled with the basidia, otherwise as in Polystictus (and also as in Polyporus and Fomes). Atkinson. (No edible species reported.)

Tubes immersed in flesh of pileus, of various depths, hence not forming a heterogeneous stratum, subcylindrical, not stratose; corky; sessile.

Tubes as in Trametes, but sinuous and labyrinthiform; corky; not stratose; sessile. (No edible species reported.)

Tubes from the first dilated in hexagonal channels, not stratose; plants corky, sessile. Atkinson. (No edible species reported.)

Tubes large at first, radiating from a central stem, or from a lateral attachment in sessile or dimidiate forms; plants tough and fleshy. Atkinson. (No edible species reported.)

Gills or tubes in concentric circles. Stem central, subcentral or none. Atkinson. (No edible species reported.)

Subgelatinous. Tubes very shallow, formed by anastomosing wrinkles; resupinate.

BOLETI´NUS Kalchb.

Hymenophore not even (as in Boletus), but extended in blunt points descending like a trama among the tubes. Tubes not easily separable from the hymenophore and from each other. Stem ringed, hollow. Spores pale yellowish. Sylloge, Vol. VI, p. 51.

Professor Peck has for excellent reasons, given in his Boleti of the United States, emended the generic diagnosis of Fries thus: Hymenium composed of broader radiating lamellæ connected by very numerous more narrow anastomosing branches or partitions and forming large angular pores. Tubes somewhat tenacious, not easily separable from the hymenophore and from each other, adnate or subdecurrent, yellowish.

Professor Peck classifies Boletinus as follows:

There are six species given as found in the United States—B. cavipes Kalchb., B. pictus Pk., B. paluster Pk., B. decipiens Pk., B. porosus Pk., B. appendiculatus Pk.—of these I have found and eaten four. B. decipiens has, at this writing, not been seen by Professor Peck, but Professor Farlow, of Harvard, has informed him of authentic specimens. There is every probability of its being as edible as the others; a description of it is, therefore, given.

In consistency Boletinus is of the best, being rather like that of marshmallows, and the same as Boletus subaureus. The flavor is mild and pleasant.

Professor Peck mentions that the smell of B. porosus is sometimes unpleasant. I have been fortunate in not having had this experience.

B. ca´vipes Kalchb. Pileus broadly convex, rather tough, flexible, soft, subumbonate, fibrillose-scaly, tawny-brown, sometimes tinged with reddish or purplish. Flesh yellowish. Tubes slightly decurrent, at first pale-yellow, then darker and tinged with green, becoming dingy-ochraceous with age. Stem equal or slightly tapering upward, somewhat fibrillose or floccose, slightly ringed, hollow, tawny-brown or yellowish-brown, yellowish at the top and marked by the decurrent dissepiments of the tubes, white within. Veil whitish, partly adhering to the margin of the pileus, soon disappearing. Spores 8–10×4µ.

Pileus 1.5–4 in. broad. Stem 1.5–3 in. long, 3–6 lines thick. Swamps and damp mossy ground under or near tamarack trees. New York, Peck; New England, Frost.

The pileus is clothed with a fibrillose tomentum which becomes more or less united into floccose tufts or scales. The umbo is not always present and is generally small. The young stem may sometimes be stuffed, but, if so, it soon becomes hollow, though the cavity is irregular. The freshly shed spores have a greenish-yellow or olivaceous hue, but in time they assume a pale or yellowish-ochraceous hue. This species is apparently northern in its range. It loves cold sphagnous swamps in mountainous regions. Peck, Boleti of the U.S.

West Virginia mountains under spruce trees. Haddonfield, N.J., among scrub pines. Mt. Gretna, Pa., among pines.

It is of excellent consistency and of mild pleasant flavor. It is at its best in patties, croquettes and escallops.

B. appendicula´tus Pk. Pileus fleshy, convex, glabrous, ochraceous-yellow, the margin appendiculate with an incurved membranous veil. Flesh pale-yellow, unchangeable. Tubes rather small, yellow, their mouths angular, unequal, becoming darker or brownish where wounded. Stem solid, slightly thickened at the base, yellow. Spores pale-yellow, oblong, 10–12×4µ. Pileus 4–8 in. broad. Stem 2–3 in. long, 4–6 lines thick.

Under or near fir trees. Washington. September to December. Yeomans. Peck, Bull. Torrey Bot. Club, Vol. 23, No. 10.

B. pic´tus Pk. Pileus convex or nearly plane, at first covered with a red fibrillose tomentum which soon divides into small scales revealing the yellow color of the pileus beneath. Flesh yellow, often slowly changing to dull pinkish or reddish tints where wounded. Tubes tenacious, at first pale yellow, becoming darker or dingy ochraceous with age, sometimes changing to pinkish-brown where bruised, concealed in the young plant by the copious whitish webby veil. Stem equal or nearly so, solid, slightly and somewhat evanescently annulate, clothed and colored like or a little paler than the pileus, yellowish at the top. Spores ochraceous, 9–11×4–5µ.

Pileus 2–4 in. broad. Stem 1.5–3 in. long, 3–6 lines thick.

Woods and mossy swamps. New York, Peck; New England, Frost; North Carolina, Curtis. Peck, Boleti of the U.S.

West Virginia mountains, 1882. Haddonfield, N.J., Angora, West Philadelphia, Mt. Gretna, Pa. August and September. In mixed woods, principally oak. Leominster, Mass. C.F. Nixon, Ph. G.

It is sometimes found upon much decayed chestnut stumps.

The caps of some species are so cracked as to appear distinctly areolate. The white webby veil is often persistent. The fungus is one of the handsomest. Its rich variegated colors impress it upon eye-memory. It is one of the very best edible species.

B. poro´sus (Berk.) Pk. (Plate CXIII.) Pileus fleshy, viscid when moist, shining, reddish-brown. Flesh 3–9 lines thick, the margin thin and even; hymenium porous, yellow, formed by radiating lamellæ a line to half a line distant, branching and connected by numerous irregular veins of less prominence and forming large angular pores. Stem lateral, tough, diffused into the pileus, reticulated at the top by the decurrent walls of the tubes, colored like the pileus. Spores semi-ovate.

Pileus 2–5 in. broad. Stem 6–16 lines long, 4–6 lines thick.

Var. opa´cus (Paxillus porosus Berk., Bull. N.Y. State Mus. 2, p. 32). Pileus dry, glabrous or subtomentose, not shining, brown or tawny-brown. Spores brownish-ochraceous, 9–11×6–8µ.

Damp ground in woods and open places. Ohio, Lea, Morgan; North Carolina, Curtis; New England, Frost, Farlow; Wisconsin, Bundy; New York, Peck.

This species is remarkable for its lateral or eccentric stem. There is often an emargination in the pileus on the side of the stem which gives it a kidney shape. In the typical form it is described as viscid when moist, and the Wisconsin plant is also described as viscid, but in all the New York specimens that I have seen it is dry and sometimes minutely tomentose. I have, therefore, separated these as a variety. The color of the pileus varies from yellowish-brown to reddish-brown or umber. A disagreeable odor is sometimes present. The tubes are rather short and tough and do not easily separate from the hymenophore and from each other. In the young plant they are not separable. They sometimes become slightly blue where wounded. As in other species they are pale yellow when young, but become darker or dingy-ochraceous with age. The spores have been described as bright yellow, but I do not find them so in the New York plant. The plant is incongruous among the Paxilli by reason of its wholly porous hymenium, but in this place it seems to be among its true allies. Peck, Boleti of the U.S.

Fine specimens were sent to me by Mr. H.I. Miller, Terre Haute, and Dr. J.R. Weist, Richmond, Ind. They were in condition to be eaten and enjoyed. No disagreeable odor was perceptible.

B. borea´lis Pk. Pileus fleshy, convex, obtuse or subumbonate, brownish-yellow, obscurely and somewhat reticulately streaked with reddish-brown lines. Pores large, angular, unequal, slightly decurrent, brownish-yellow. Stem short, equal or slightly tapering upward, brownish-yellow with a whitish myceloid tomentum at the base. Spores oblong, 10–12.5×4–5µ.

Pileus 1–2 in. broad. Stem about 1 in. long.

Sandy soil. Capstan Island, Labrador. October. Waghorne.

The markings of the pileus appear as if due to the drying of a glutinous substance. The radiating lamellæ and the transverse partitions of the interspaces are very plainly shown. Described from two dried specimens. Peck, Bull. Torr. Bot. Club, Vol. 22, No. 5.

BOLE´TUS Dill.

The name of a fungus considered a great delicacy among the Romans, derived from bolos, a clod, probably to denote the round figure of the plant.

Hymenium wholly composed of small tubes, connected together in a stratum, the surface of which is dotted with their poriform mouths, and which is distinct from the hymenophore on account of the latter not descending into a trama. Tubes packed close together, easily separating from the hymenophore and from one another. Pores or mouths of the tubes round or angular (in the subgenus Gyrodon sinuous or gyroso-plicate). Spores normally fusiform, rarely oval or somewhat round. Growing on the ground, fleshy, putrescent, with central stems. Mostly edible, and of importance as articles of food; a few poisonous. Fries.

No American species in Gyrodon. It is therefore omitted in synopsis of tribes. C.M.

This genus abounds in species and is related to Boletinus on one hand and to Polyporus on the other. From the latter it is distinguished by the absence of a trama and from both by the tubes being easily separable from the hymenophore and from each other. Some of the species are very variable, others are so closely allied that they appear to almost run together.

The species are generally terrestrial, but B. hemichrysus is habitually wood-growing, and others are occasionally so.

The spores vary so much in color in such closely related species that this character is scarcely available for general classification, but it is valuable as a specific character and should always be noted.

C.H. Peck, N.Y. State Botanist, has contributed to Mycological literature his careful arrangement and analysis of species of this genus, in his “Boleti of the United States.” Species of the genus are found in every state of the Union. Several species are common to all the states. Comprehending, as do the states, all sorts of climates within their vast range of latitude, differences in appearance and structure in the same species must be expected, dependent largely, as they are in most fungi, upon habitat and environment. These variations will frequently suggest new species. Descriptions which are typical and which can be recognized as standard are most desirable. Professor Peck’s are accepted by the writer as such, that there may be uniformity, and are quoted as fully as space will permit. Such variations as are attributable to locality will be noted.

Since 1882 the writer has given great attention to the edible qualities of the Boleti. He is convinced by many personal tests and those made by his family and friends, that much, if not all, of the suspicion thrown about Boleti is unjust and erroneous. He is able to state positively that change of color when bruised or broken; bitter and pepperiness have nothing whatever to do with the edible qualities of species exhibiting them, excepting in B. felleus, which exhibits an intense bitter, not lost in cooking. It is not poisonous.

The writer has the courage of his convictions, and has taken interest in eating species with a bad reputation whenever opportunity afforded, that their just dues might be given them. He has never experienced the slightest inconvenience. But others may not be so fortunate.

Before cooking Boleti the stem, unless crisp and tender, should be removed, as should the tubes unless young and fresh. They broil, fry, stew, make good soups and dry well. See recipes.

It is believed that all species of Boleti up to this time found in America are described in this volume. When no remarks of the writer follow the descriptions, he has not had an opportunity to test the edible quality of the species.

Viscipelles—viscum, bird lime; pellís, a skin.

Pileus covered with a viscose pellicle. Stem solid, neither bulbous, lacerated nor reticulated with veins. Tubes adnate, rarely sinuate, of one color.

The first four and several of the final species here described recede somewhat from the character of the central or typical species of the group.