The Mushroom, Edible and Otherwise Part 106

_Lycoperdon pyriforme. Schaeff._

THE PEAR-SHAPED PUFFBALL. EDIBLE.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate LXII. Figure 469.--Lycoperdon pyriforme.

Natural size when young as seen growing on decayed wood. The sections show they are in the edible state.]

Pyriforme means pear-shaped. The peridium is ovate or pear-shaped, with a profusion of mycelial threads, as will be seen in Figure 470.

The cortex is covered with a thin coat of minute brownish scales or granules, which are quite persistent. These can be seen in the photograph by the aid of a gla.s.s. They are sessile or have a short stem-like base; the subgleba is small and compact; the capillitium and spores are first white, then greenish-yellow, then dingy olivaceous; the inner coat is smooth, papery, whitish-gray or brownish, opening by an apical mouth; the spores are round, even, greenish-yellow to brownish-olive.

They grow in dense cl.u.s.ters, as will be seen in Figure 470. An entire log and stump, about four feet high, and the roots around it, were covered, as shown in Plate LXII. I gathered about three pecks, at this one place, to divide with my friends. It is one of the most common puffb.a.l.l.s, and you may usually be sure of getting some, if you go into the woods where there are decayed logs and stumps. A friend of mine, who goes hunting with me occasionally, eats them as one would eat cherries.

Found from July to November.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 470.--Lycoperdon pyriforme. Natural size.]

_Lycoperdon pusillum. Pr._

THE SMALL LYCOPERDON. EDIBLE.

Pusillum means small.

Peridium is one-fourth to one inch broad, globose, scattered or cespitose, sessile, radicating, with but little cellular tissue at the base, white, or whitish, brownish when old, rimose-squamulose or slightly roughened with minute floccose or furfuraceous persistent warts; capillitium and spores greenish-yellow, then dingy olivaceous.

Spores smooth 4 in diameter. _Peck._

These are found from June to cool weather in the fall, in pastures where the gra.s.s is eaten short. When mature they dehisce by a small opening, and when broken open will disclose the olive or greenish-yellow capillitium. The spores are of the same color, smooth and round.

_Lycoperdon ac.u.minatum. Bosc._

THE POINTED LYCOPERDON. EDIBLE.

Ac.u.minatum means pointed.

The peridium is small, round, then egg-shaped; with a plentiful ma.s.s of mycelium in the moss in which the plants seem to delight. The plant is white and the outer rind is soft and delicate. There is no subgleba; the spores and capillitium are pale-greenish-yellow, then a dirty gray. The threads are simple, transparent, much thicker than the spores. The spores are round, smooth, 3 in diameter.

I have found the plants frequently about Chillicothe on damp, moss-covered logs and sometimes at the base of beech trees, when covered with moss. They are very small, not exceeding one-half inch in diameter.

The small ovoid form, with the white, soft, delicate cortex, will serve to distinguish the species. Found from September to October.

_Bovista. Dill._

The genus Bovista differs from Lycoperdon in several ways. When the Bovista ripens it breaks from its moorings and is blown about by the wind. It opens by an apical mouth, as does the genus Lycoperdon, but the species of Bovista have no sterile base. They are puffb.a.l.l.s of small size. The outer coat is thin and fragile and at maturity peels off, leaving an inner coat firm, papery, and elastic, just such a coat as is suitable for the dispersion of its spores. Leaving its moorings at maturity, it is blown about the fields and woods, and with every tumble it makes it scatters some of its spores. It may take years to accomplish this perfectly. The species of the Lycoperdon do not leave their moorings naturally; their spores are dispersed through an apical mouth by a collapse of the walls of the peridium, after the fashion of a bellows, by which spores are driven out to the pleasure of the wind. In Bovista the threads are free or separate from the peridium, but in Lycoperdon they arise from the peridium and also from the columella.

_Bovista pila. B. & C._

THE BALL-LIKE BOVISTA.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Photo by C. G. Lloyd._

Plate LXIII. Figure 471.--Bovista pila.

Natural size of matured specimens.]

Pila means a round ball. The peridium is globe-like, sessile, with a stout mycelium, a cortex thin, white at first, then brown, forming a smooth continuous coat, breaking up at maturity and rapidly disappearing.

The inner peridium is tough, parchment-like, elastic, smooth, persistent, purplish-brown, fading to gray. The dispersion of spores takes place through an apical mouth. The capillitium is firm, compact, persistent, at first clay-colored, then purple-brown; threads small-branched, the ends being rigid, straight, pointed. There is something so noticeable about this little tumbler that you will know it when you see it, and if you often ramble over the fields you will soon meet it. However, I have as yet seen only the matured specimens.

_Bovista plumbea. Pers._

LEAD-COLORED BOVISTA. EDIBLE.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 472.--Bovista plumbea. Natural size. White when young.]

The plant is small, never growing to more than an inch and a fourth in diameter. The peridium is depressed globose, with a fibrous mycelium.

The outer peridium is rather thick and when the plant is nearing maturity it breaks up readily unless handled very carefully; at maturity it scales off, except a small portion about the base. The outer peridium is white and comparatively smooth, the inner is thin, tough, smooth, lead-colored, dehiscent at the apex by a round or oblong mouth. Ma.s.s of spores and capillitium not solid or hard; yellowish-brown, or olivaceous, then purplish-brown; the threads three to five times branched, the ends of the branches slender and tapering to a point. The spores are oval and smooth, with long transparent pedicels.

This species grows on the ground in old pastures, being quite plentiful after warm rains, from the first of May till fall. It is one of the best of the puffb.a.l.l.s, but should be eaten before the inner peridium begins to a.s.sume the tough form.

_Bovistella. Morgan._

Bovistella, a diminutive of Bovista, though the plants are usually larger than the Bovistas.

The mycelium is cord-like; peridium nearly round, cortex a dense floccose coat; inner peridium thin, strong, elastic, opening by an apical mouth; subgleba present, cup-shaped; threads free and separate, branched; spores white. The genus Bovistella has the internal character of Bovista, and the habits of Lycoperdon.

_Bovistella Ohiensis. Morgan._

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Photo by C. G. Lloyd._

Figure 473.--Bovistella Ohiensis. Natural size.]

Peridium globe-like or broadly obovoid, sometimes much depressed, with small plications or wrinkles underneath, and a thick cord-like base or root, as will be seen in Figure 473. The outer coat is dense, floccose, or with soft warts or spines, white or grayish, drying to a buff color, and in time falling away; the inner coat is smooth, shining, with a pale brown or yellowish surface. The subgleba is large, occupying half of the peridium, extending up on the walls of the peridium, making it cup-shaped, and quite persistent. The spores and capillitium are rather loose, friable, clay-color to pale-brown. The threads, originating within the spore ma.s.s, and having no connection with the inner coat, are free, short, three to five times branching; branches tapering to the end. The spores are round to oval, with long translucent pedicels.

This can be readily distinguished from the species of Bovista because it has a sterile base; and from Lycoperdon because its threads are separate and free, while those of the Lycoperdon are attached both to the tissues of the inner peridium and to the columella or sterile base.

They are found growing on the ground in old pastures, or in open woods.

_Scleroderma. Pers._

Scleroderma is from two Greek words: _scleros_, hard; _derma_, skin.