Student's Hand-book of Mushrooms of America, Edible and Poisonous

Thomas Taylor

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• Publié par: thoin
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 78
• Langue: English

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of Student's Hand-book of Mushrooms of America, Edible and Poisonous, by Thomas Taylor This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: Student's Hand-book of Mushrooms of America, Edible and Poisonous Author: Thomas Taylor Release Date: June 26, 2010 [EBook #32982] Language: English *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MUSHROOMS *** Produced by Peter Vachuska, Stephen H. Sentoff, Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net STUDENT'S HAND-BOOK OF MUSHROOMS OF AMERICA Part 1. Introduction. Cryptogams. Fungi. Classification. Structural Characteristics of the Agaricini. Mushroom Gills. The Volva. The Mushroom Veil. Mushroom Spores and Mycelium. Mycelium. Etymology of the Word "Mushroom." Food Value of Mushrooms. Cautionary Suggestions. Descriptions of Genera and Species. Appendix A. Preserving and Cooking Mushrooms. Receipts. Appendix B. Glossary of Terms used in Describing Mushrooms. Authorities Consulted. Part 2. Ascomycetes. Discomycetes. Descriptions of Genera and Species (continued). Receipts For Cooking. Mushroom Growing. Directions for Preparing the Compost for the Beds. Compost for Mushroom Beds. Mushroom Culture in Canada. Cultivation of Mushrooms in Japan. Manufacture of Spawn. "Brick Spawn." "Mill Track" Spawn. Spawn Produced in a Manure Heap. Appendix A. Continuation of Glossary of Terms used in Describing Mushrooms. Appendix B. Part 3. Descriptions of Genera and Species (continued). Analytical Table. Polyporei. Descriptions of Genera and Species (continued). Recipes for Cooking Mushrooms. List of the Genera of Hymenomycetes.Brefield's Classification of Fungi. Coniomycetes and Hyphomycetes. Hyphomycetes. Phycomycetes or Physomycetes. Bibliography. Continuation of Glossary of Terms used in Describing Mushrooms. Part 4. Gasteromycetes. Descriptions of Genera and Species (continued). Myxomycetes or Myxogasters.—"Slime Fungi." Genera of Gasteromycetes, according to Saccardo. Bibliography. Descriptions of Genera and Species (continued). Appendix. Part 5. Descriptions of Genera and Species (continued). Alkaloids of the Poisonous Mushrooms. Muscarin. Phallin. The Poisonous Alkaloid of Gyromitra Esculenta Fries (Helvella Esculenta Pers.) Helvellic Acid. Poisonous and Deleterious Mushrooms of the Lactar, Russula, and Boleus Groups. Poisonous Boleti. Recent Instances of Mushroom Poisoning. Bibliography. Fungi. Bibliography. Toxicology of Mushrooms. Index to Illustrations. Correction of Plates. Transcriber's Notes. STUDENT'S HAND-BOOK OF Mushrooms of America EDIBLE AND POISONOUS. BY THOMAS TAYLOR, M. D. AUTHOR OF FOOD PRODUCTS, ETC. Published in Serial Form—No. 1—Price, 50c. per number. WASHINGTON, D. C.: A. R. Taylor, Publisher, 238 Mass. Ave. N.E. 1897. HYMENOMYCETES.Agaricus (Psalliota) campester. T. Taylor, del. Plate A. In Plate A is presented a sketch of the common field mushroom, Agaricus campester. Fig. 1 represents the mature plant; Fig. 2, a sectional view of the same; Fig. 3, the basidia, club-shaped cells from the summit of which proceed the slender tubes called sterigmata, which support the spores—highly magnified; Fig. 4, the sterigmata; Fig. 5, the mycelium, highly magnified, supporting immature mushrooms; Fig. 6, the spores as shed from an inverted mushroom cap; Fig. 7, spores magnified. HYMENOMYCETES. Types of the Six Orders of Hymenomycetes. T. Taylor, del. Plate B. In Plate B is represented a leading type of each of the six orders of the family Hymenomycetes: Fig. 1. Cap with radiating gills beneath. Agaricini. Fig. 2. Cap with spines or teeth beneath. Hydnei. Fig. 3. Cap with pores or tubes beneath. Polyporei. Fig. 4. Cap with the under or spore-bearing surface even. Thelephorei. Fig. 5. Whole plant, club-shaped, or bush-like and branched. Clavarei. Fig. 6. Whole plant irregularly expanded, substance gelatinous. Tremellini. Copyright, 1897, by Thomas Taylor, M. D., and A. R. Taylor. INTRODUCTION. In the year 1876, as Microscopist of the Department of Agriculture, I prepared, as a part of the exhibit of my Division at the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia, a large collection of water-color drawings representing leading types of the edible and poisonous mushrooms of the United States, together with representations of about nine hundred species of microscopic fungi detrimental to vegetation. In the preparation of the first collection I had the valuable assistance of Prof. Charles H. Peck, State Botanist of New York, and in the second the hearty co-operation of Rev. M. J. Berkeley and Dr. M. C. Cook, the eminent British mycologists. The popular character of this exhibit attracted the attention of the general public, and many letters were received at the Department showing an awakening interest in the study of fungi, particularly with regard to the mushroom family, as to methods of cultivation, the means of determining the good from the unwholesome varieties, etc. My first published paper on the subject of edible mushrooms, entitled "Twelve Edible Mushrooms of the U. S.," appeared in the annual report of the Department of Agriculture for 1885. This was followed by others to the number of five, and as the demand for these reports increased, reprints were made and issued, by order of the Secretary of Agriculture, in pamphlet form, under the general title of "Food Products." Numerous editions of these reprints were issued by the Department up to 1894. During the year 1894, and the first half of 1895, 36,600 of these reports were sent out by the Department, and the supply was exhausted. They have been out of print for more than two years. It is in view of this fact, and in response to a great and constant demand for these publications, that I have undertaken to publish a series of five pamphlets on the edible and poisonous mushrooms of the United States, which shall embody the substance of the five pamphlets on "Food Products" above alluded to, supplemented by new matter relating to classification, general and specific, analytical tables of standard authors, and a continuation of the chapters on structure, etc. Additional plates, representing leading types of edible and poisonous mushrooms, will also be inserted in each number. In the compilation and extension of this work I have the assistance of my daughter, Miss A. Robena Taylor, who has given considerable attention to the study of fungi, and who has been my faithful coadjutor in the work of collecting specimens, etc., for a number of years. For valuable suggestions as to structural characteristics and methods of classification I am especially indebted to Prof. Chas. H. Peck, of Albany, New York, Dr. M. C. Cooke, of England, and Prof. P. A. Saccardo, of Italy. The colored plates in pamphlet No. 1, together with a few of those which will appear in the succeeding numbers of this series, are reproductions of those prepared, under my direct supervision, for the pamphlets entitled "Food Products" published by the Department of Agriculture and referred to above. THOMAS TAYLOR, M. D.May 7, 1897. CRYPTOGAMS. The cryptogamic or flowerless plants, i. e., those having neither stamens nor pistils, and which are propagated by spores, are divided, according to Dr. Hooper, into the following four classes:—Pteridophyta or vascular acrogens, represented by the ferns, club-mosses, etc.; Bryophyta or cellular acrogens, represented by the musci, scale- mosses, etc.; Algæ, represented by the "Red Seaweeds," Diatomacæ, etc.; Fungi or Amphigens, which include the molds, mildews, mushrooms, etc. The lichens, according to the "Schwendener Hypotheses," consist of ascigerous fungi parasitic on algæ.FUNGI. Botanists unite in describing the plants of this class as being destitute of chlorophyll and of starch. These plants assume an infinite variety of forms, and are propagated by spores which are individually so minute as to be scarcely perceptible to the naked eye. They are entirely cellular, and belong to the class Amphigens, which for the most part have no determinate axe, and develop in every direction, in contradistinction to the Acrogens, which develop from the summit, possessing an axe, leaves, vessels, etc. Fungi are divided by systematists into two great classes: 1. Sporifera, in which the spores are free, naked, or soon exposed. 2. Sporidifera, in which the spores are not exposed, but instead are enclosed in minute cells or sacs, called asci. These classes are again subdivided, according to the disposition of the spores and of the spore bearing surface, called the hymenium, into various families. The sporiferous fungi are arranged into four families, viz: 1. Hymenomycetes, in which the hymenium is free, mostly naked, or soon exposed. Example, "Common Meadow Mushroom." 2. Gasteromycetes, in which the hymenium is enclosed in a second case or wrapper, called a peridium, which ruptures when mature, thus releasing the spores. Example, Common Puff Ball. 3. Coniomycetes, in which the spores are naked, mostly terminal on inconspicuous threads, free or enclosed in a perithecium. Dust-like fungi. Example, Rust of Wheat. 4. Hyphomycetes, in which the spores are naked on conspicuous threads, rarely compacted, Thread-like fungi. Example, Blue Mold. Of these four subdivisions of the Sporifera, only the Hymenomycetes and the Gasteromycetes contain plants of the mushroom family, and these two together constitute the class known as the Basidiomycetes. The chief distinction of the Basidiomycetes is that the naked spores are borne on the summits of certain supporting bodies, termed basidia. These basides are swollen, club-shaped cells, surmounted by four minute tubes or spore-bearers, called sterigmata, each of which carries a spore. See Figs. 3 and 4, Plate A. These basides together with a series of elong