met with and have had cooked, without being able to say much in its
favour, is the _P. intybaceus_ of Fries, which Mr. Berkeley says is
distinguished from the other by having larger pores. Vittadini has not
included it among the esculent funguses in his work; Persoon does not
recommend it for weak stomachs on account of its toughness.[188] Paulet,
indeed, is of a different opinion, telling us that in place of its being
heavy for the stomach, _he_ will feel all the lighter who sups upon it.
The people in the Vosges seem to have an equal affection for it with this
writer, giving it the somewhat whimsical, though really most graphic
_sobriquets_ of the Hen-of-the-Woods and the Breeding Hen (Mougeot).
Professor Sanguinetti informs me that it sells for six or seven baiocchi
in the Roman market, the finer specimens being sent as surprise presents,
“per meraviglia,” from poor tenants to hard landlords.
_Bot. Char._ “_Pilei_ very numerous, dimidiate, condensed into a convex
tuft from half a foot to a foot broad, imbricated, variously confluent,
irregular, at first downy, dusky, then smooth, livid grey; disk
depressed, dilated above, from half to one inch broad, convex, the base
confluent with the compound stem” (_Fries_).
CLAVARIA CORALLOIDES, _Linn._
PLATE V. FIG. 3.
Subgenus OCHROSPOREA, _Fries_.
“Esculenta deliciosa.”—_Vitt._
All the funguses of this genus being esculent, enter more or less largely
into the supplies of the Italian markets. Roques describes seven species;
Persoon five; Vittadini gives a detailed account and drawings of three,
selecting those principally for the superiority of their flavour over the
rest, and because of their greater abundance in the Milanese district.
Mr. Berkeley, in a list with which he has favoured me, enumerates
four British species as esculent, _C. coralloides_, _C. grisea_, _C.
cristata_, and _C. rugosa_; as, however, he has no personal experience
of any of these as articles of food, I shall merely give the botanical
character of the _C. coralloides_, the most abundant of all the species
(for the excellent qualities of which I can myself vouch), furnishing the
reader with one or two drawings of other sorts, in further illustration
of this elegant genus.
_Clavaria coralloides._
_Bot. Char._ _Pileus_ erect, white; _stem_ rather thick, branches
unequal, elongated, mostly acute, pure white, sometimes violet at the
base.
_Mode of Dressing._
Having thoroughly cleansed away the earth, which is apt to adhere to
them, they are to be sweated with a little butter, over a slow fire,
afterwards to be strained, then (throwing away the liquor) to be replaced
to stew for an hour, with salt, pepper, chopped chives and parsley,
moistening with plain stock, and dredging with flour occasionally. When
sufficiently cooked, to be thickened with yolks of eggs and cream.
_Another Mode._
Proceed as before; after sweating the _Clavarias_, wrap them in bacon and
stew in a little broth seasoned with salt, pepper, parsley, and ham; cook
for an hour, then serve in white sauce, or with a _fricassée_ of chicken.
N.B.—The saucepan should be covered with a sheet of paper under the lid,
which keeps the _Clavarias_ white and also preserves their flavour.
There can be little doubt that our woods, properly explored, would be
found to abound in funguses hitherto considered rare, and this would
probably be one of them. At present the weald of Kent, within forty miles
of London, remains, so far as Mycology is concerned, nearly as unexplored
as the interior of Africa.
Plate V. fig. 2, represents _Clavaria amethystina_, Bull. Plate V. fig.
5, represents _C. cinerea_, Bull. Plate V., fig. 6, represents _C.
rugosa_, Bull.
LYCOPERDON PLUMBEUM, _nob._
_Puff-balls._
Subdivision GASTEROMYCETES, _Fries_.
Tribe 3. TRICHOSPERMI.
Family 1. TRICHOGASTRES. GENUS 1. LYCOPERDON, _Tournef._
“Il Licoperdo piombino è uno dei funghi mangiativi più delicati
che si conoscano. Il suo uso è pressochè generale.”—_Vitt._
All these more or less spherical white funguses furnished with a
membranaceous covering, and filled when young with a white, compact,
homogeneous pulp, which we call Puff-balls, are good to eat; those in
most request for the table abroad, and the best, have no stem, _i. e._
no sterile base, but are prolific throughout their whole substance. One
of the most common of these is the _Lycoperdon plumbeum_, of which the
following excellent description is chiefly taken from Vittadini.
_Bot. Char._ Body globose; when full-grown about the size of a walnut,
invested with two[189] tunics, the outer one white, loosely membranaceous
and fragile, sometimes smooth, at others furfuraceous; the innermost one
(peridium) very tenacious, smooth, of a grey-lead colour externally,
internally more or less shaggy with very fine hairs; these hairs occupy
the whole cavity, and in the midst of them a prodigious number of minute
granular bodies, the sporules (each of which is furnished with a long
caudiform process), lie entangled. The whole plant, carefully removed
from the earth, with its root still adhering, is in form not unlike one
of its own seeds vastly magnified.
The _L. plumbeum_ abounds in dry places, and is to be found in spring,
summer, and autumn, solitary or in groups. “This,” says Vittadini, “is
one of our commonest Puff-balls, and after the warm rains of summer
and of autumn, myriads of these little plants suddenly springing up
will often completely cover a piece of ground as if they had been sown
like grain, for a crop; if we dig them up we shall find that they are
connected with long fragile threads, extending horizontally underground
and giving attachment to numerous smaller Puff-balls in different stages
of development, which, by continuing to grow, afford fresh supplies as
the old ones die off.”
LYCOPERDON BOVISTA, _Linn._
Subdivision GASTEROMYCETES, _Fries_.
Tribe 3. TRICHOSPERMI. Family 1. TRICHOGASTRES.
“Vescie buone da friggere” (Tuscan vernacular name).
“La sua carne candida compatta si presta facilemente a tutte le
speculazioni del cuoco.”—_Vitt._
This differs from the last-mentioned Puff-ball in many particulars;
in the first place it is much larger (sometimes attaining to vast
dimensions), its shape is different, being that of an inverted cone;
never globular, the flesh also is more compact, while the membrane which
holds what is first the pulp and afterwards the seed, is very thin and
tender; the seed, moreover, has no caudal appendage; and finally, a
considerable portion of the base is sterile, in all which additional
particulars it is unlike the _Lycoperdon plumbeum_. The plant is sessile,
a purple-black fragile membrane contains the spores, which are also
sessile,[190] and of the same colour as the peridium.
No fungus requires to be eaten so soon after gathering as this; a few
hours will destroy the compactness of the flesh and change its colour
from delicate-white to dirty-yellow;[191] but when perfectly fresh and
properly prepared, it yields to no other in digestibility. It may be
dressed in many ways, but the best method is to cut it into slices and
fry these in egg and bread-crumbs; so prepared, it has the flavour of a
rich, light omelette.[192]
AGARICUS MELLEUS.
PLATE IX. FIG. 3.
Subgenus 3. AMILLARIA.
This is a nauseous, disagreeable fungus, however cooked, and merely finds
mention here, as its omission in a work on the esculent funguses of
England might seem strange to those unacquainted with its demerits; it is
really extraordinary how some Continental writers, speaking from their
own experience, should ever have recommended it for the table. Pliny’s
general _apage_ against all funguses really finds an application to this,
which is so repugnant to our notions of the savoury, that few would
make a second attempt, or get dangerously far in a first dish. Not to
be poisonous is its only recommendation; for as to the inviting epithet
_melleus_, or honeyed, by which it is designated, this alludes only to
the colour, and by no means to the taste, which is both harsh and styptic.
_Bot. Char._ In tufts, near or upon stumps of trees, or posts. Pileus
dirty-yellow, more or less hairy; _stem_ fibrous, varying greatly in
length, from one inch to nine or ten; enlarged above and below, thinner
in the middle; _ring_ thick, spreading, rough or leathery; _gills_
somewhat decurrent, deeper than the pileus; _spores_ white, appearing
like fine dust on the gills.
AGARICUS ULMARIUS, _Bull._
Subgenus PLEUROPUS. Subdivision ÆGERITARIA.
“Fungo mangiativo sommamente ricercato e di ottima
qualità.”—_Vitt._
_Bot. Char._ Solitary or connected to others by a common root; the
_pileus_ presenting a dirty-white surface, turning afterwards to a pale
rust-colour, and sometimes tessellated; varying like all parasitical
funguses in shape, but generally more or less orbicular; flesh continuous
with the stalk, white, compact; _stalk_ very thick, solid, elastic,
smooth towards the summit, tomentose at the base; _gills_ of a yellowish
tint, broad, thick, ventricose, emarginate, _i. e._ terminating upon the
surface of the stem in a receding angle; the imperfect gills few; _taste_
and _smell_ agreeable; _spores_ white.
This Agaric which takes its name from the tree where it is most commonly
found, grows also, though less frequently, on the Poplar and Beech.
Mr. Berkeley reports it rare; perhaps, however, as it is eminently
local, it may here, as in Italy, be common in some places though of
unfrequent general occurrence. No country being so rich in Elm-trees as
our own, we should probably find _A. ulmarius_ more often if the height
at which it grows among the branches did not frequently screen it from
observation.[193] Though registered in the Flora of Tunbridge Wells, I
have not met with a single specimen of it this autumn.
This Agaric dries well and may be kept (not, however, without losing some
of its aroma) for a long time without spoiling; the gills, after a time,
assume the same hue as the pileus.
AGARICUS FUSIPES, _Bull._
Subgenus CLYTOCYBE. Subdivision CHONDROPODES.
“Il a le même goût quo le Champignon de Couche, quoique un peu
plus prononcé.”—_Persoon._
_Bot. Char._ Gregarious; _pileus_ fleshy, loose, of a uniform brown
colour, sometimes marked with dark blotches, as if burnt; _gills_ nearly
free, serrated, at first dirty-white, afterwards a clear bistre; easily
separable from the stalk; _stalk_ hollow, ventricose, sulcate, rooting,
spindle-shaped, slightly grooved, tapering at the base, sometimes cracked
transversely, varying singularly both in length and breadth.
This excellent fungus is very abundant throughout summer and autumn,
coming up in tufts at the roots of old Oak-trees after rain. It may be
easily recognized by its peculiar spindle-shaped stalk.
Vittadini does not mention it, nor does its name occur in the list of
esculent funguses in the Diz. di Med. Class.; notwithstanding which the
young plants make an excellent pickle; while the full-grown ones may
be stewed or dressed in any of the usual modes adopted for the common
mushroom.
AGARICUS VAGINATUS, _Bull._
Series 1. LEUCOSPORUS. Subgenus 1. AMANITA.
“La Coucoumèle grise (_Ag. vag._) est une des espèces les plus
délicates et les plus sûres à manger.”—_De Candolle._
_Bot. Char_. “Margin of the pileus sulcate, gills white, stuffed with
cottony pith, fistulose, attenuated upwards, almost smooth; volva
like a sheath. Woods and pastures, August and October; not uncommon.
_Pileus_ four inches or more broad, plane, slightly depressed in the
centre, scarcely umbonate, fleshy, but not at the extreme margin, which
is elegantly grooved in consequence, viscid when moist, beautifully
glossy when dry; epidermis easily detached, more or less studded with
brown scales, the remnants of the volva, not persistent; _gills_ free,
ventricose, broadest in front, often imbricated, white; _sporules_ white,
round; _stem_ six inches or more high, from half to an inch thick,
attenuated upwards, obtuse at the base, furnished with a volva, this
adnate below to the extent of an inch, with the base of the stem, closely
surrounding it above as in a sheath, but with the margin sometimes
expanded; within and at the base marked with the groovings of the pileus,
brittle, sericeo-squamulose, scarcely fibrillose, but splitting with ease
longitudinally, hollow, or rather stuffed with fine cottony fibres; the
very base solid, not acrid, insipid. _Smell_ scarcely any. It occurs of
various colours, the more general one is a mouse-grey” (_Berkeley_).
The perfect accuracy of the above description will strike every one
familiar with this species. Vittadini speaks of it as a solitary fungus,
but I have found it on more than one occasion in rings. Its flesh, being
very delicate and tender, must not be over-dressed. When properly fried
in butter or oil, and as soon after gathering as possible, the _Ag.
vaginatus_ will be found inferior to but few Agarics in its flavour.
AGARICUS VIOLACEUS, _Linn._
Subgenus 18. INOLOMA.
_Bot. Char._ _Pileus_ from four to six inches broad, obtuse, expanded,
covered with soft hairs, colour deep violet; _stem_ spongy, grey, tinged
with violet, minutely downy, about four inches high; _veil_ fugacious,
composed of fine threads; _gills_ deep violet when young, but turning
tawny in age; _flesh_ thick, juicy.
This is a handsome fungus, not very common, but plentiful where it
occurs; it grows in woods, particularly under Pine and Fir trees, and may
be dressed either with a white or a brown sauce.
AGARICUS CASTANEUS, _Bull._
Subgenus 19. DERMOCYBE.
_Bot. Char._ _Pileus_ slightly fleshy, convex when young, at length
umbonate, chestnut colour, from one to three inches broad, glabrous;
_gills_ rather broad, easily detached from the stem, ventricose, changing
from light-purple to a ferruginous hue; _stem_ rather thin, from one
and a half to three inches long, hollow, silvery, light-lilac or white;
_veil_ delicate, composed of floccose threads; in _taste_, when raw, it
somewhat resembles the _Ag. oreades_, but it has no smell.
This _Agaric_ may be distinguished from others by its chestnut or bistre
colour; it is probably not uncommon; growing all the summer and autumn in
woods, and under trees in meadows. Mr. Berkeley reports it esculent; I
have no experience of it.
AGARICUS PIPERATUS, _Scop._
Subgenus 7. GALORRHEUS.
“Ed è veramente commestibile e saporoso quando se ne levi il
latte.”—_Bendiscioli._
_Bot. Char._ “_Pileus_ infundibuliform, rigid, smooth, white; gills
very narrow, close; milk, and the solid blunt stem, white. In woods,
July and August. _Pileus_ 3-7 inches broad, slightly rugulose, quite
smooth, white, a little clouded with umber, or stained with yellow
where scratched or bruised, convex, more or less depressed, often quite
infundibuliform, more or less waved, fleshy, thick, firm but brittle;
margin involute at first, sometimes excentric, milk-white, hot. _Gills_
generally very narrow (1/20 of an inch broad), but sometimes much
broader, cream-colour, repeatedly dichotomous, very close, ‘like the
teeth of an ivory comb,’ decurrent from the shape of the pileus, when
bruised changing to umber. _Stem_ 1-3 inches high, 1½-2 inches thick,
often compressed, minutely pruinose, solid, but spongy within, the
substance breaking up into transverse cavities.”[194]
Though very acrid when raw, it loses its bad qualities entirely by
cooking, and is extensively used on the Continent, prepared in various
ways. It is preserved for winter use by drying or pickling in a mixture
of salt and vinegar (_Berkeley_).
I have frequently eaten this fungus at Lucca, where it is very
abundant, but as it resembles the _Ag. vellereus_ in appearance, with
the properties of which we are unacquainted, too much caution cannot
be exercised in learning to discriminate it from this and neighbouring
species.
AGARICUS VIRGINEUS, _Wullf._
Subgenus 8. CLITOCYBE. Subdivision CAMAROPHYLLI.
_White Field-Agaric._
_Bot. Char._ _Pileus_ from one to two inches broad, margin involute when
young, then expanded, depressed in the centre. _Gills_ deep, connected
with veins, sometimes forked, broadly adnate, but breaking away from the
stem as the pileus becomes depressed. _Stem_ six lines broad at the top,
tapering downwards, not more than two at the base; at first stuffed with
fibres, then hollow, excentric; the whole plant white, with occasionally
a tinge of pink. _Taste_ pleasant, odour disagreeable.
These graceful little Agarics grow in pastures, and are extremely common
in the autumn. They are so small that it requires a great many of them
to make a dish, but as they occur frequently in the same fields with
puff-balls, and may be dressed in the same manner, it is not unusual when
the supply is scarce to serve them together, with the same sauce. The
flavour of _Ag. virgineus_ is not unlike that of _Ag. oreades_.
TUBER ÆSTIVUM, _Vitt._
PLATE VIII. FIG. 2.
Peridium warty, of a blackish-brown colour, the warts polygonal and
striate, flesh traversed by numerous veins; asci 4-6-spored; spores
elliptical, reticulated.
This plant, the common truffle of our markets, is abundant in Wiltshire
and some other parts of England, and probably occurs in many places where
it escapes observation, from its subterranean habit.
CONCLUSION.
Italy is not the country for the English florist; he will find twenty
times as many petals at home. Trim parterres are not inventions of the
South; summer-houses would be no luxuries in a climate that never knows
winter; the only Conservatories that flourish there are not for flowers,
but for music. In few northern regions is Flora worse off for a bouquet
than at Rome or Naples; regarded merely as the herald of Spring and not
appreciated for her own sake, as soon as she has waved her wand over the
land and covered it with the March blossoms of Crocuses, Cyclamens, and
Anemones, her reign is over. All scents are held in equal abhorrence
save those of frankincense and garlic, for which there seems to be a
prescriptive toleration; but every other odour, fetid or fragrant,
musk[195] or mignonette, is equally proscribed; and an Italian Signora
would as soon permit a Locusta to cook for her, as a violet to scent
her boudoir. To pick wild flowers is as dangerous as it is difficult to
find cultivated ones; a _coup de soleil_ or a fever is easily procured
by imprudent exposure before sunset, while the interval between that
and night is too brief to be employed for the purpose; but when the
season for flowers is long past, and Autumn with her fruits is come
round again, when the stranger can wander forth where he lists without
an umbrella, he will be able to luxuriate amidst the lovely scenery,
and to delight himself in the natural history of the district: the
season of the periodical rains has ceased; the repose of the forest is
no longer troubled by the Power of the waters; the mountain Pines borne
for miles down into the valleys are stranded on the broad shingly bed
of the exhausted torrent; broken bridges are safely repaired; the maize
is receiving the last mellowing touches as it festoons the cottage
fronts, the prickly chestnut-pods are beginning to gape and the brown
chestnuts to leap out shining from their envelopes; the last reluctant
olive has been beaten from the bough; the vintage has nearly ceased to
bleed; night fires[196] already begin to nicker on the mountains, and
the hemp stubble is daily crackling on the plain. This is indeed the
time for enjoying Italy; nature has revived again, and with nature,
man. The feverish torpor, I had almost ventured to call it the summer
hybernation, has ceased with September, and Autumn has come round with
the vivifying influence of a new Spring; then if we go abroad to wander,
whether our walk be across plains or through upland woods, we shall not
stroll a mile without stopping a hundred times to admire what is to many
of us a nearly new class of objects which have sprung up suddenly and
now beset our path on every side. These are the Fungus tribe, which are
as beautiful as the fairest flowers, and more useful than most fruits;
and now that butchers’ meat is bad, that the beans have become stringy,
and the potatoes are hydrated by the rain, they appear thus opportunely
to eke out the scantiness of autumnal larders in the South and give a
fresh zest to the daily repast. Well may their sudden apparition surprise
us, for not ten days since the waters were all out, and only three or
four nights back peals of thunder rattled against the casements and kept
the most determined sleepers in awful vigil; and now—behold the meadows
by natural magic studded with countless fairy-rings of every diameter,
formed of such species as grow upon the ground, while the Chestnut and
the Oak are teeming with a new class of fruits that had no previous
blossoming, many of which have already attained their full growth. We
recollect with gratitude the objects of a pursuit, which has accidentally
brought us to such an acquaintance with the diversities of Italian
scenery as we never should have experienced without it. In fishing, it
is not the fish we catch, which alone repays us for our toil; it is the
wandering as the rivulet wanders, “at its own sweet will,” the exercise
and the appetite consequent upon it, the prize in natural history, the
reciting aloud, or reflecting as we walk, and when it is pleasantly warm
the “molles sub arbore somni,” which console us for the lack of sport.
On the same principle, mushroom-hunting may be recommended to the young
naturalist not only for the beauty of the objects which he is sure to
come upon (if he do but hunt at the right season), but also because in
that most beautiful of months, whether at home or abroad, it brings
the wanderer out of beaten paths to fall in with many striking views
which he would not otherwise have explored. The extremely limited time
during which funguses are to be found, their fragility, their infinite
diversity, their ephemeral existence, these, too, add to the interest
of an autumnal walk in quest of them. At Lucca, leaving idleness and
indigestion in bed, just as the sun was beginning to shoot his first
rays on the white convents and the spires of the village churches on the
mountains, making morning above, while the deep valley beneath was still
in twilight, it was pleasant to pass the little opening coffee-house
with its two or three candidates for early breakfast, and crossing the
noiseless trout-stream over the little bridge, to enter one of those old
chestnut-forests and begin clambering up the laddery pathway, to reach
the summit just as he poured his full effulgence on the magnificent
rival of the Lucchese and Modenese territories. Pleasant, too, was it
on the road Romeward, pausing a few days to enjoy the exquisite scenery
about Spoleto, to climb the steep streets to the cathedral, and thence,
passing the giddy viaduct several hundred feet above the white ravine
which it traverses, to issue upon those Nursian Hills then fragrant with
the breath of morning, “le beau matin qui sort humide et pâle,” and with
the scent of sweet herbs; but above all other hills renowned for the
fragrance of those ever-reproductive mines of coal-black subterranean
truffles! It is a pleasant remembrance to have plucked the crimson
Amanite, that ministered to a Cæsar’s decease, in the very neighbourhood
of the Palatine Hill; to have collected mushrooms amidst the meadows of
Horace’s farm, where he tells us they grew best; and to have watched
along the moist pastures of the Cremera a stand of the stately _Ag.
procerus_ nodding upon their stalks; or, standing on the heights above
Sorrento, just as the setting sun flashed upon the waters of the bay ere
they engulfed him, and left us to his sister the evening star, to have
come upon that wonderful _Polyporus tuberaster_ whose matrix is the hard
stone, from which it derives strength and luxuriance as if from a soft
and genial soil.