Pezizæ, a sort of mushroom without root or stalk, mentioned by Pliny.
Ascophore sessile, but sometimes narrowed to a short, stem-like base, fleshy and brittle, closed at first, then expanding until cup-shaped, saucer-shaped, or in some species quite plane or even convex; disk even, nodulose or veined; externally warted, scurfy, or rarely almost glabrous; cortical cells irregularly polygonal; asci cylindrical, 8-spored. Spores obliquely 1-seriate, continuous, hyaline (rarely tinged brown), elliptical, epispore smooth or rough; paraphyses present. Dill. Emended. Massee.
The genus is large. Professor Peck reports 150 American species. Some are large, others require the microscope to find them.
They are rather indiscriminate in their habitats; some are eccentric; these grow on damp walls, on dung, in cellars and cisterns, on spent hops and on old fungi. One or two species grow on sticks under water, an unusual place for fungi of any kind. Minute species grow upon stems of herbaceous plants; nine or ten upon the nettle. Two species contain a milky fluid, P. succosa and P. saniosa. Many are known in Europe which have not been found in America. European authors differ as to their qualities; some call them insipid, some speak of them with kindly respect. Much depends upon their cooking. They are, as a rule, tenacious in texture. To cook them properly requires time and slow stewing. They then become soft and rather glutinous. Their flavor is slight but pleasant, and their consistency agreeable.
Externally powdered or with a woolly scurf.
Externally hairy or downy.
Externally almost naked, smooth. No edible species reported.
Fleshy or fleshy-membranaceous, externally powdered or with a woolly scurf.
* Macropodes—macros, long; podes, feet. Stem firm, elongated, furrowed.
** Cochleata—cochleatus, spiral. Subsessile, oblique or twisted.
*** Cupulares. Subsessile, regular.
**** Humaria. Small, somewhat fleshy, margin downy. (None known to be edible.)
***** Encœlia. More or less coriaceous. (None known to be edible.)
P. aceta´bulum Linn.—a cup. Ascophore stipitate, cup-shaped, fleshy, rather tough, disk dark umber-brown, externally paler and minutely scurfy or flocculose; mouth somewhat contracted; 1.2–2 in. broad, 1.2–1.4 in. high. Stem .4-.6 in. high, often .4 in. thick, imperfectly hollow, with parallel or anastomosing ribs, which continue for some distance up the ascophore as branching veins, pale umber; cells of the cortex give off short, rather closely septate hyphæ in groups; asci cylindrical, 8-spored. Spores obliquely 1-seriate, hyaline, smooth, broadly elliptical, ends obtuse, with a very large oil-globule, 18–22×12–14µ; paraphyses straight, septate, the brownish, clavate tip 5–6µ thick.
The fluted stem and veined outside of the excipulum mark the present species. The colorless hypothecium is composed of very densely and compactly interwoven hyphæ. Massee.
Season spring.
North Carolina, Curtis; New Jersey, Ellis; Massachusetts, Frost; Rhode Island, Bennett; Ohio, Lloyd, R. 4.
Esculent. Cordier, Cooke.
P. ma´cropus Pers.—macros, long; pous, a foot. Solitary, 1–3 in. high, cups 1–2 in. broad. The cups become expanded, and sometimes reflexed; the exterior is ash-colored and clothed with little hairy or villous warts, the hairs consisting of concatenate cells, their extremities free. The stem is enlarged downward, often pitted, occasionally becoming hollow with age. Phillips.
Asci cylindrical, 8-spored. Spores 1-seriate, smooth, hyaline, elliptical, 28–33×11–13µ; paraphyses straight, tips brownish and thickened in a clavate manner up to 8–10µ Massee.
On the ground in shady places. Summer and autumn.
North Carolina, Curtis; New Jersey, Ellis; Minnesota, Johnson; Massachusetts, Frost; New York, Peck, Rep. 22.
Esculent. Cordier.
P. veno´sa Pers.—venosus, full of veins. Smell strong, nitrous; sessile or contracted into a short, stout, stem-like base; cup-shaped and with the margin incurved when young, then expanding and the margin becoming more or less split or lobed and wavy, 1.2–2 in. across; disk umber-brown, externally whitish, minutely granular, and furnished with rather stout, anastomosing ribs which radiate from the base; excipulum pseudoparenchymatous, cells largest at the periphery, where some run out as clavate, free tips; asci cylindrical, 8-spored. Spores obliquely 1-seriate, smooth, hyaline, often with 1 large oil-globule, elliptical, ends obtuse, wall rather thick, 18–24×11–13µ; paraphyses septate, tips clavate, brownish. On the ground. Spring. Massee.
Massachusetts, Frost; California, H. and M.; Rhode Island, Bennett; New York, Peck, Rep. 24.
Edible. Has a most decided nitrous odor and also fungoid flavor. Cooke.
Photographed by C.G. Lloyd, Cincinnati, O. Plate CLII.
PEZIZA BADIA.
P. ba´dia Pers.—of a brown or bay color. (Plate CLII, p. 554.) Gregarious or cespitose, sessile or narrowed into a very short, stout, stem-like base and often more or less lacunose; subglobose and closed at first, then cup-shaped or more expanded, margin entire or nearly so, the entire cup often wavy, rather thick, 1.2–2 in. across; disk dark-brown, externally paler-brown and minutely granular, often with a purple tinge; hypothecium and excipulum formed of stout, septate, irregularly inflated hyphæ, hypothecium compact, excipulum spongy and cavernous; cortex compact, the hyphæ running out in irregular lumps to form the external granulations; asci cylindrical, apex truncate, 8-spored. Spores obliquely 1-seriate, hyaline, continuous, elliptical, with one large oil-globule, minutely warted at maturity, 15–19×9–10µ; paraphyses septate, tips slightly clavate.
On the ground among grass, etc., also on scorched places.
Readily distinguished by the bay or umber-brown disk, and the minutely-warted spores. Massee.
North Carolina, Curtis; California, H. and M.; Minnesota, Johnson; Nebraska, Clements; New York, Peck, Rep. 25.
Alabama. On ground, Alabama Bull. No. 80, West Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania. On ground. Frequent. July to October. McIlvaine.
Esculent. Cordier.
P. badia is frequent on bare ground, along wood roads, etc. In the West Virginia mountains it occurs where there have been brush fires. It is a meaty plant, without much flavor. It must be cut fine and slowly cooked if stewed, or can be quickly fried in a hot buttered pan. It has more flavor fried crisp than stewed.
P. cochlea´ta—spiral. Sessile, cespitose, variously contorted and plicate, fleshy, brittle, disk umber-brown, externally paler and pruinose, sometimes altogether paler and leather-color or pale dingy-ochraceous, 2–3.2 in. diameter; when solitary or almost so, at first globose, then expanding with the margin involute, finally spreading and irregularly plicate; excipulum spongy and cavernous, due to the loose weft formed by interlacing, hyaline, thin-walled, flaccid, septate hyphæ, cortex compact, running out into irregular groups of cells that form the scurfy exterior; asci cylindrical, apex slightly truncate, 8-spored. Spores obliquely 1-seriate, hyaline, continuous, smooth, usually 2-guttulate, 16–18×7–8µ; paraphyses slender, septate; tip slightly clavate, often curved and sometimes branched.
The entire substance is brittle and rather watery, and usually assumes a yellowish tint when bruised. Smell and taste almost none.
Sometimes the ascophores are closely crowded, hence irregular and much contorted, and resembling a foliaceous Tremella or a small specimen of Sparassis crispa. Massee.
New York. Ground in woods. Helderberg mountains and Greenbush. June. Peck, Rep. 23; Alabama, Peters, Ala. Bull. No. 80; North Carolina, Curtis; Massachusetts, Frost; Ohio, Lloyd, Rep. 4.
This species is quite insipid and somewhat leathery, but Mr. Berkeley has seen it offered for sale under the name of Morell. Badham.
Esculent. Cordier, Cooke.
P. lepori´na Batsch.—lepus, a hare. Cup 1–3 in. high, 1–3 in. broad, gregarious, often cespitose; margin involute, divided to the base on one side; disk even or rarely wrinkled, a shade darker than the exterior; paraphyses slender, hardly thickened at the summits, but almost invariably crooked. This fine species grows as large as O. onotica at times, but is not so brightly colored, being throughout of a sober tan-color, resembling common wash leather used for cleaning plate. Phillips.
Asci cylindrical, 8-spored. Spores obliquely uniseriate, hyaline, smooth, continuous, 1–2 guttulate, elliptical, 12–15×7–8µ; paraphyses filiform, septate, apex slightly swollen, and usually strongly curved.
On the ground in woods, among leaves, etc. Massee.
California, edible, H. and M.
Esculent. Cordier.
P. onotica Pers. Very variable in form, usually elongated on one side and ear-shaped, but sometimes almost equal-sided and entire, 1–3 in. high, up to 2 in. wide, becoming narrowed to a more or less wrinkled, short stem-like base; disk pale orange, usually with a rosy tinge, externally pale tawny-orange. Asci elongated, narrowly cylindrical, 8-spored. Spores obliquely 1-seriate, hyaline, smooth, colorless, ends obtuse, 1–2-guttulate, 14–15×8–9µ; paraphyses straight, septate, apex clavate.
On the ground in woods, among leaves, etc. Massee.
North Carolina, Curtis; Iowa, Fitzpatrick (Ll. R. 4); New York, Peck, Rep. 28.
Esculent. Cordier.
P. unici´sa Pk.—implying one incision. Cup large, thin, split on one side to the base, sessile or with a short stem, externally wrinkled, minutely pulverulent under a lens, yellow, within pale-yellow slightly tinged with pink. Spores elliptical, usually containing two nuclei, 12–15µ.
Ground in woods. Croghan. September.
The cups are about two inches broad. The species is related to P. onotica. Peck, 26th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.
Minnesota, Johnson; Mt. Gretna, Pa. On ground in mixed woods, gravelly ground. September to October. McIlvaine.
Many specimens were found scattered and in patches, and were eaten. They were of slight flavor but good.
P. auran´tia Pers. (Plate CXXXVI, fig. 3, p. 508.) Sessile or protracted into a very short stem-like base, cespitose and irregular, or growing singly and then circular in outline and regular, becoming almost plane; thin, brittle, disk clear, deep orange or sometimes orange-red, externally much paler, or sometimes almost white, with a pink tinge, delicately tomentose, due to the presence of short, stout, blunt, 1–2-septate hyaline hairs; varying from ½-3.2 in. broad. Spores 15–16×7–8µ.
On the ground, often near stumps or among chips.
Sometimes crowded, large, with the margin raised and very much waved and more or less incised, at others scattered, smaller, almost or quite even and finally spread flat on the ground. Easily recognized by the large size, bright orange disk, pale, downy exterior, and the broadly elliptical spores covered with a delicate net-work of raised lines at maturity. Massee.
Massachusetts, Frost; Rhode Island, Bennett; Minnesota, Johnson; California, H. and M.; Alabama, Peters; New York, October, Peck, 23, 24 Rep.; Indiana, Richmond, November, Dr. J.R. Weist; West Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania. On ground. September to October. McIlvaine.
Esculent. Cordier.
At Mt. Gretna, Pa., patches of it twenty feet long, made the ground along a road on the margin of a woods golden with its clusters. The plants grew from sand mixed with leaf-mold. I have eaten it for fifteen years. Fair flavor.
P. repan´da Wahlenb.—bent backward. Clustered or scattered, subsessile, contracted into a short, stout, stem-like base, which is often rooting; saucer-shaped, then quite expanded and the margin more or less split and wavy, sometimes drooping and revolute, extreme edge often crenate; 1.6–4 in. across; disk pale or dark brown or umber, more or less wrinkled toward the center, externally whitish, minutely granular. Spores obliquely 1-seriate, hyaline, smooth, continuous, elliptical, ends obtuse, 18–22×11–12µ; paraphyses septate, clavate and brownish at the tips. Massee.
On the ground, often in beech-woods; also on decayed trunks.
New York, Ellis; Minnesota, Johnson; Ohio, Lloyd, R. 4. New York. Ground and decaying wood. Croghan. September. Peck, 28th Rep.
Specimens sent to the writer by Dr. W.B. Miller, Altoona, Pa., were 3½ in. across, and a beautiful velvety brown. Cooked they had a mushroom flavor.
P. vesiculo´sa Bull.—full of bladders. Clustered, often distorted from mutual pressure, sessile but more or less narrowed at the base, globose and closed at first, then expanding, but the margin usually remaining more or less incurved and somewhat notched; disk pale brown, externally brownish and coarsely granular from the presence of minute, irregular warts, 1.2–3 in. across. Spores obliquely 1-seriate, smooth, hyaline, continuous, elliptical, ends obtuse, 21–24×11–12µ; paraphyses slender, septate, clavate.
Var. ce´rea Rehm. Similar in size, habit and general structure to the typical form; differing in the wax-yellow color, the more distinct stem-like base, and the slightly smaller spores, 18–19×10µ; very brittle. Massee.
North Carolina, Curtis; California, H. and M.; Massachusetts, Frost; New Jersey, Ellis; Ohio, Lloyd, Rep. 4; var. minor, Sacc.; Nebraska, Clements; New York, Peck, Rep. 25.
Esculent. Cordier.
P. odora´ta Pk. Cups .5–3 in. broad, gregarious or scattered, thin, sessile, rather brittle when fresh, shallow, expanded or even convex from the decurving of the margin, at first brownish, then white or whitish, the hymenium ochraceous-brown; asci cylindrical, opening by a lid, .01-.012 in. long, .0006-.0008 in. broad, paraphyses filiform, obscurely septate, slightly thickened at the tips. Spores elliptical, even, 20–22.2×10–12.5µ.
Ground in cellar. Maine. June. F.L. Harvey.
The plant when fresh has the peculiar fungoid flavor suggestive of that of chestnut blossoms. The species is apparently allied to P. Petersii, from which it may be distinguished by its larger spores and distinct but peculiar odor. The spores also are not binucleate, as in that species. In drying, the hymenium is apt to become blackish. Peck, Bull. Torrey Bot. Club, Vol. 23, No. 10.
A cluster 4 inches across, in general appearance resembling P. repanda, was found by the writer at Mt. Gretna, Pa., June, 1898, growing from between the staves of an empty flour barrel which was exposed to the weather. The margin, instead of being revolute, turned inward (involute) until it touched the short stem. The cluster was eaten and had the flavor of P. repanda. In June, 1899, several pounds grew on and around the same barrel. Professor Peck recognized it as P. odorata.
P. cocci´nea Jacq.—scarlet or crimson. Geopyxis coccinea Mass. (Plate CXXXVI, fig. 2, p. 508.) Scattered or in groups of 2–3 specimens, stipitate; at first closed, then expanding and becoming shallowly cup-shaped, margin entire, .8–1.6 in. across; disk clear and deep carmine, externally whitish or pinkish, delicately tomentose, due to the presence of wavy, usually aseptate, hyaline, cylindrical hyphæ, 5–6µ thick. Stem .4-.8 in. long, 1.2–2 in. thick, whitish and tomentose. Spores 1-seriate, elliptic-oblong, ends obtuse, hyaline, wall rather thick and forming a hyaline border, straight, 25–30×8–9µ; paraphyses very slender, hardly thickened at the tips.
On rotten branches lying on the ground. Spring.
Readily distinguished among the large, stipitate Pezizæ by the deep rose-red or carmine disk and the whitish, tomentose exterior. The stem varies considerably in length; when the fungus springs from the underside of a branch the stem is often elongated and curved. The base of the stem is attached to the branch by a mass of whitish, tomentose mycelium. Massee.
New York. Half-buried sticks. April and May. Peck, 23d Rep.; New Jersey, E.B. Sterling; Mt. Gretna, Pa., New Jersey. On sticks on ground. Spring. McIlvaine.
This brilliant fungus is one of the beauties of the woods. Though small it attracts the eye by its deep carmine in striking contrast with the somber carpeting. It is frequent when in season. A half pint of it may be gathered from a few acres. Its substance is tenacious, taste pleasant. Mr. Massee mentions that it is abundant in some of the woods near Scarboro, England, and is regularly collected and sold along with moss for decorative purposes. Exquisite effects may be produced by arranging the brightly colored fungi among moss and leaves. “Fairy Cups,” they are called. Rosy must be the lips that do not pale beside them.
P. calyci´na Schum.—resembling a bud. Ascophores cespitose, gregarious or scattered, narrowed into a short, stout, stem-like base, rather fleshy, 1–3 mm. broad; disk orange-yellow, externally white and villose, hairs rather wavy, cylindrical, obtuse, colorless, minutely rough, 100–150×4–5µ; asci subcylindrical, apex obtuse, 8-spored. Spores 1-seriate or inclined to be 2-seriate above, hyaline, elliptic-fusiform, continuous, 18–25×6–8µ; paraphyses slender, hyaline, cylindrical.
On bark of larch and Scotch fir. Massee.
North Carolina, Curtis; Massachusetts, Frost; New York. Gum spots on spruce, bark of pines, Peck, 22d Rep.
Esculent. Cooke.