Mushrooms and Toadstools (Third Edition) — Fir-cone Mushroom to Maned Mushroom
(_Agaricus_ [_Amanita_] _strobiliformis.
_) 5. If colour is left out of the question, no finer species of Agaric than this one grows in the country.
It attains a very large size in well-grown specimens, but is rare.
I have but once found it, and then it was sprinkled pretty plentifully along the borders of a fir plantation in Hampshire, not far from Winchester.
The solid compact flesh, fine ring, bulbous stem, and patched top, well mark this species.
The persistent patches on the top are not very unlike the scales of a fir-cone, hence its specific name; the gills do not reach the stem.
Its undisputed esculent qualities are of a high order, and it is to be regretted that its comparative rarity must prevent its being so well known and appreciated as its merits deserve.
The specimen figured is not fully expanded, at which time most fungi are fuller of flavour.
A very common species of _Amanita_ (_A.
vaginatus_), said to be esculent (and eaten by Mr. Penrose), I have not tried.
=Orange-milk Mushroom.
= Fig. 11. (_Lactarius deliciosus.
_) 502. There are but few species of the _Lactarius_, or milk-bearing group, that can be recommended for culinary purposes.
This species, however, and fig. 26 are exceptions, and there can be no fear of mistaking the orange-milk mushroom for any other species.
It is at once known by the orange-coloured milk which it exudes on being bruised, cut, or broken; this milk soon becoming dull green.
The plant is solid, almost corky, and the richly-coloured top is commonly, but not always, marked with deeper coloured zones, as in the figure.
It always grows in fir plantations, and I have found it on the Kentish Town side of London, almost before the smoke of the city is left behind.
It is somewhat local, although at times it grows in large numbers, but always amongst firs.
Like several other excellent species, the taste is at times rather sharp when raw.
When cooked with taste and care, it is one of the greatest delicacies of the vegetable kingdom, its flesh being more crisp and solid than many species.
One or two milk-mushrooms, which had better be avoided, bear brimstone-coloured milk, or milk which changes to a brimstone or burnt sienna colour; they are figured on the Poisonous Sheet, figs.
20 and 28; but _Lactarius deliciosus_ can never be mistaken for any other plant if the deep orange (or red) and ultimately green milk is observed.
Figs.
20 and 28 are not peculiar to fir woods.
=Purple Cobweb-Mushroom.
= Fig. 12. (_Cortinarius_ [_Inoloma_] _violaceus.
_) 420. This is one of the best-marked of all edible fungi, and at the same time one of the very best for esculent purposes.
It cannot be called common, although I have often found it close to London.
It appears to principally grow in _open places_ in woods.
When young, it looks like a bright purple silk ball in the grass, and when gathered the bulbous stem is almost as large as the top itself.
There is always a cottony web, like cobweb (which represents the ring), stretching from the edge of the pileus to the stem, and this web soon takes its colour from the red spores, which are plentifully produced, colouring the gills and part of the stalk a red colour, very similar in tint to the rust of iron; when cut, the flesh is of a subdued lilac tint, and firm.
Broiled with a steak, this is a most exquisitely rich luxury, much resembling the meadow mushroom in flavour, but altogether firmer, and more meaty and substantial.
I am always glad to find this species, and it is next to impossible to mistake it for any other.
=Maned Mushroom.
= Fig. 13. (_Coprinus comatus.
_) 374. This fungus should be gathered for the table when the gills are white or just changing to pink, and before they are black, in which latter state (as the plant is ultimately deliquescent), it is unfit for food.
If I had my choice, I think there is no species I should prefer before this one; it is singularly rich, tender, and delicious.
Those found growing amongst short grass, on lawns, or by roadsides, are best; there is one form of it which grows in dirty, sticky places, in brickfields, dustyards, &c. , that I should not like to recommend.
When gathered in a rich pasture, it is of snowy whiteness, the top being somewhat fleshy, cylindrical, and broken up into white clothy patches; there is a white, powdery, fragile ring round the hollow stem, which is soon broken, and falls away.
_Coprinus comatus_—the “Agaric of Civilization”—is common in all the London parks in October.
A closely-allied species, found at the base of old stumps and palings, and on the ground (_C.
atramentarius_), is sometimes eaten.
I have not tried it, but Mr. Penrose and several friends have a word to say in its favour.
=Scaly Mushroom.
= Fig. 14.
