Description of Species
Agaricus Prunulus, Vitt
Subgenus Tricholoma, Fries. Subdivision Personata, ibid.
Agaricus mouceron, Bulliard. Cæsalpinus, p. 617.
Mouceron gris, Paulet, Persoon.
“Cogitatione ante pascuntur succineis novaculis aut argenteo apparatu comitante.”
—Pliny.
“Tout ce qui fait l’ornement des festins s’embaume du parfum de ces cryptogames.”
—Persoon.
Bot. Char. Gregarious, or growing in rings153 on the ground; pileus thick, convex, irregular in shape, more or less tuberculated, sometimes lobed;154 margin not striate, wavy, expanding unequally; epidermis cream-coloured, grey, reddish, or of a dirty nankeen hue, paler towards the circumference, soft to the touch like kid, minutely tomentose, fragile, dry, firmly attached to the flesh; flesh firm, compact; gills watery, white, very numerous, irregular, with many smaller ones (from 5-11, Vitt.) interposed, lying over each other like the plaits of a frill, adnato-emarginate,155 the imperfect gills rounded off at their posterior end. Stem white, robust, firm, solid, somewhat irregular in form, generally thickened at the base, constantly so in young specimens, but in older ones, though occasionally bulging, it presents not unfrequently an equal cylinder throughout, and sometimes tapers slightly downwards. The fibres are effused into the pileus, spreading out like a fan through its substance; smell strong, taste agreeable; spores white, elliptical, adhering firmly to the body on which they fall. The dried plant retains much the same form it had when fresh.
On tracing this fungus to its origin, (spring is the only time, and the borders of the woodlands the proper place, to look for it,) if we dig up the earth where it grows, this will be found mouldy to a considerable depth beneath the surface, and strongly impregnated with the peculiar odour which the Prunulus exhales; this apparent mouldiness being, in fact, the spawn, amidst the white filaments of which many minute Agarics, in various stages of their development, may be found; some, in the earliest, presenting merely white cones destitute of heads, whilst in others a slight protuberance indicates the future pileus forming or already formed. The pileus is at first almost spherical, and involute in its borders, the gills whitish, very minute, and so thickly set as to press one against the other, each communicating to the membrane that lines the next the impressions of its own fibres, which remain in the form of transverse striæ, and furnish a characteristic to this fungus retained during all its subsequent growth (Vitt.). The greatest size which I have known the Prunulus attain has been in England, where I have picked specimens measuring six inches across, and weighing between four and five ounces; as to the fecundity of this fungus, I collected this spring, from a single ring on the War-Mount at Keston (Kent), from ten to twelve pounds, and in the one field from twenty to twenty-five pounds. In this neighbourhood they are generally destroyed, as injurious to his grass-crops, by the over-careful farmer, quite ignorant, of course, of their value; to which the following extract from a letter of Professor Balbi to Persoon bears testimony:—“This rare and most delicious Agaric, the Mouceron of Bulliard, and the Ag. prunulus of other authors, abounds on the hills above the valley of Stafora, near Bobbio, where it is called Spinaroli, and is in great request; the country people eat it fresh in a variety of ways, or they dry and sell it for from twelve to sixteen francs a pound.” Vittadini says, truly enough, that the fresh is better than the dried Prunulus, the substance of the latter being rather coriaceous, but the gravy prepared from it in this state, being very rich and well-flavoured, is largely used by those who reject the body of the mushroom; three or four thrown into a pot of the lighter broths or of beef-tea render them more savoury. To dry the Prunulus it is usual to cut it into four or more pieces, which are exposed for some days to a dry air and then threaded: it acquires an aroma by the process, and communicates this to any dish of which it is afterwards an ingredient.
It would be extremely difficult to confound this Agaric with any other; its mode of growth in circles, the extreme narrowness of its gills, which are moreover striate, the thickness of its pileus, and the bulging character of its stalk, would render a mistake almost impossible, even did it grow in autumn when other funguses abound, in place of appearing only in spring when few species comparatively abound.
The best mode of cooking the Ag. prunulus is either in a mince or fricassee it with any sort of meat, or in a vol-au-vent, the flavour of which it greatly improves; or simply prepared with salt, pepper, and a small piece of bacon, lard, or butter, to prevent burning, it constitutes of itself a most excellent dish. It has the great advantage of appearing in spring, at a season the common mushroom never occurs. I have placed it first in the series of Plates, as being the most savoury fungus with which I am acquainted.156
When eaten alone, Sterbeck’s white mustard will be found an excellent condiment for it; this is prepared as follows:—Bruise in a mortar some sweet almonds with a little water, then add salt, pepper, and some lemon-juice, rub together till the whole is of the consistence of common mustard.
Agaricus Procerus, Scop
Subgenus Lepiota, Fries.
“Elle est d’une saveur très-agréable et d’une chair tendre, très-délicate et très-bonne à manger. Les amateurs la préfèrent même au champignon de couche, comme ayant une chair plus fine et étant beaucoup plus légère sur l’estomac.”
—Paulet.
This, which is one of the most delicate funguses, fortunately is not rare in England. In Italy it is in equal request with the Amanita Cæsarea; in France it is also in high esteem,—“servie sur toutes les tables, elle est bonne à toute sauce” (Thore); and were its excellent qualities better known here, they could not fail to secure it a general reception into our best kitchens, and a frequent place among our side-dishes at table. The beauty and remarkable appearance of this Agaric have procured for it a variety of names: colubrinus, from the snake-like markings on the stem; clypeatus, from its umbonated top; ‘fungo parasole,’ from the orbicular form of the wide-spread pileus; and Gambaltiem or Fonz de la gamba lunga, from the extraordinary height of the stalk. Autumn is the time of its greatest abundance, but individual specimens occur occasionally throughout the summer.
It grows solitary or few together in hedgebanks and pasture-grounds.
The pileus, which is commonly from four to four and a half inches across, sometimes attains a width of six or seven. At first it is concealed in a volva, but breaking from this it goes through a variety of forms, from that of an ovoid cone to that of a flattened disk. It is umbonated at the centre, and covered with scales, which are formed by the breaking up of the mud-coloured epidermis, and are large, raised, and persistent at the centre; thin, regular, and lighter in hue at the circumference, “the whole surface resembling a delightfully soft, shaggy-brown leather” (Purton). The flesh of the pileus is white and cottony, that of the stalk fibrous and somewhat brittle, with a subrubescent tinge, the whole plant turning to a rufous-orange when bruised; the gills are of a pale flesh-colour, occasionally forked, ventricose, denticulate, remote from the stalk, and having a circular pit between it and their central extremities, which are fixed into a kind of collar. The stalk tawny, striped circularly with bands of white, formed by the breaking up of the epidermis; is bulbous at the base and attenuated upwards; its apex rounded, and penetrating deeply through the flesh of the pileus (which receives it as in a socket), gives rise to the central umbo on the upper surface of the cap. The ring moveable, like that of an umbrella-stick, broad, compact, membranaceous immediately round the stalk, and fibrous towards its free margin, is white above and tawny or of the same colour as the stalk on its under surface. The smell is like that of newly-ground meal; the taste is pleasant; the spores are white and elliptic.
The Ag. excoriatus resembles the Ag. procerus very closely, but is easily distinguished from it by its smaller size, the absence of the bulb at the base of the stalk, and the ring being often attached instead of free.
Being equally esculent, the following receipts will serve for both:—
“Comme il est très-léger et très-délicat, il faut le faire sauter dans l’huile fine après l’avoir assaisonné d’un point d’ail, de poivro et de sel; en quelques instants il est cuit. On le mange aussi en fricassée de poulet, cuit sur le gril ou dans la tourtière avec de beurre, de fines herbes, du poivre, du sel, et de la chapelure de pain; on ne mange point la tige, elle est d’une texture coriace” (Roques).
The ketchup from both kinds is better than that procured from the Agaricus campestris, or common mushroom.
N.B.—I have in the above notice described one variety of Agaricus procerus; there is, however, if not another, at least a remarkable modification of this, in which the pileus is thinner and much less shaggy, the gills less broad but similar in shape, the stalk more slender and elongate. This variety is also nearly void of odour, and its flesh does not change colour on being bruised: for culinary purposes this distinction is without importance, as both are equally good.