_Strobilomyces strobilaceus_
[Sidenote: =Botanical characters=]
Another allied species, not especially famous for its esculent
qualities, but which is, nevertheless, not to be despised, is here
introduced on account of its especially pronounced character (Plate
23)--the cone-like Boletus, or, more properly, Strobilomyces. It is of
a brownish gray color, its shaggy surface more or less studded with
deep brown or black woolly points, each at the centre of a scale-like
segment. The tubes beneath are covered by the veil in the younger
specimens, but this at length breaks, leaving ragged fragments hanging
from the rim of the pileus. The pore surface thus exposed is at first a
grayish white, ultimately becoming brown. The substance of the fungus
turns red when broken or cut.
This very striking mushroom is found in woods, especially under
evergreens. It frequently attains a diameter of four inches. Its spores
are a deep brown, and a specimen selected at the stage when the under
surface is _flat_ will yield a most beautiful spore print if laid upon
white paper and protected from the atmosphere, as described in a later
chapter.
[Illustration: _Strobilomyces strobilaceus_]
_PLATE XXIII_