Family IV — Thelephora´ceæ Fr
Gr—a teat; Gr—to bear.
Sporophore erect and stipitate, with a central stem, effused, with the upper portion free and bent backward, or entirely resupinate. Hymenium perfectly even or radiately wrinkled, glabrous or minutely bristled with projecting cystidia; basidia normally 4-spored. Spores without a division, colorless or colored. Massee.
In Thelephoraceæ are shapes closely resembling those found in Hydnaceæ, Polyporaceæ and Agaricaceæ. The genus Craterellus is closely allied to Cantharellus, and, though the spore surface is much less wrinkled or veined, resembles it in several of its species. Other types show likeness to Merulius in Polyporaceæ; others to Tremellineæ and Clavariaceæ. Many puzzles are presented by its species, but the solving is interesting.
Though populous it contains but few edibles. The best of them is Craterellus cornucopoides.
SYNOPSIS OF GENERA.
A. Spores Colored.
Spores smooth.
Coniophora.
Resupinate, dry and pulverulent. (No edible species reported.)
Aldridgea.
Resupinate, soft and subgelatinous. (No edible species reported.)
Spores warted or echinulate.
Thelephora.
Dry and fibrous, hymenium rugulose. (No edible species reported.)
Soppittella.
Subgelatinous, effused or variously incrusting, hymenium even. (No edible species reported.)
B. Spores Colorless.
Parasitic on living leaves or stems.
Exobasidium.
Saprophytes growing on dead wood, branches, etc. Hymenium minutely setulose with projecting cystidia.
Peniophora.
Cystidia colorless, rough at the tip with particles of lime. (No edible species reported.)
Hymenochæte.
Cystidia brown, smooth. (No edible species reported.)
Hymenium glabrous.
Corticium.
Entirely resupinate, hymenium usually cracked when dry. (No edible species reported.)
Stereum.
Effuso-reflexed, pileus silky or strigose, hymenium even. (No edible species reported.)
Cladoderris.
Horizontal and attached by a narrow point behind, hymenium radiato-rugulose. (No edible species reported.)
Craterellus. Page 508.
Large, erect, funnel-shaped.
Cyphella.
Minute, cup-shaped, mouth open. (No edible species reported.)
Solenia.
Minute, cylindrical, gregarious or crowded, tubular, mouth contracted. (No edible species reported.)
Craterel´lus Fr
Crater, a bowl.
Hymenium waxy-membranaceous, distinct but adnate to the hymenophore, inferior, continuous, smooth, even or wrinkled. Spores white. Fries.
This, the only genus of Thelephoraceæ containing edible fungi, has the form and general appearance of Cantharellus to which it is allied, but it is distinguished by its nearly even hymenium, which in Cantharellus has the form of gills, fold-like and thick but still distinctly gills. The species vary from fleshy to membranaceous, all having a funnel-shaped pileus and stem merging into it. On the ground. Autumn. The slightly veined surface where the spores are borne, and the spores themselves, when a microscope is brought to bear upon them, distinguish this genus from Cantharellus; and its thin flesh and funnel-shape from the large forms of Pistillaria. Several of the species are edible. It is probable that all are.
Toadstools, despite their name, are more popularly associated with fairies than with toads. “Fairy rings,” “Fairy Bread” and “Fairy Clubs” are titles belonging to them, and these link us to the pretty belief of childhood—a belief we often do not outgrow. A group of C. lutescens or C. cornucopoides may well be likened to fairy trumpets, or to a tiny orchestrion thrusting its horns through wood earth where roots of stumps abound.
C. cantharel´lus Schw. (Plate XLVI, fig. 3.) Capn. across, convex, often becoming depressed and funnel-shaped, glabrous, yellowish or pinkish-yellow. Flesh white, tough, elastic. Hymenium slightly wrinkled, yellow or faint salmon color. Stem 1–3 in. high, 3–5 lines thick, glabrous, solid, yellow. Spores on white paper yellowish or pale salmon.
Spores 7.5–10×5–6µ Peck.
West Virginia, McIlvaine.
No one not looking for minute botanic details would separate this species from Cantharellus cibarius, especially if found growing near or with it. The pinkish tinge sometimes present in C. cantharellus I have never observed in C. cibarius. The present species is of equal excellence.
| Fig. | Page. | Fig. | Page. |
| 1. Spathularia clavata, | 549 | 6. Hygrophorus coccineus, | 156 |
| 2. Peziza coccinea, | 559 | 7. Craterellus sinuosus, var. crispus, | 510 |
| 3. Peziza aurantia, | 557 | 8. Craterellus cornucopoides, | 509 |
| 4. Cantharellus aurantiacus, | 216 | 9. Cantharellus lutescens, | 218 |
| 5. Hypomyces lactifluorum, | 562 |
C. cornucopoi´des Pers.—cornu and copiæ, horn of plenty. (Plate CXXXVI, fig. 8, p. 508.) Cap dark sooty shades of gray or brown—shades of well-worn velveteen—1–2 in. across, whole plant from 2–4 in. high, trumpet-shaped, or like a funnel with its open mouth, plane, wavy, split or in folds. Substance very thin and either brittle or tough. The inside is sometimes minutely scaly, the opening extending to the base; outside, where the spores are borne, it has neither gills, pores nor protuberances, but a slightly uneven surface varying little in color. Stem obsolete or seldom noticeable. Odor slight.
Spores pointed, 11–12×7–8µ Massee.
Grows single, clustered or in troops along shaded roads, or from leaf mold and ground in woods. July to frost.
Large patches, clustered, grow near stumps in moist places on Botanic Creek, West Philadelphia. It is plentiful near Haddonfield, N. J., at Mt. Gretna, Pa., and many other places in the United States.
It is not pleasant to look upon, because of its peculiar color, but when one gets used to it it has an attractiveness of its own. Its graceful shape, even its funereal hue and name—Trompet du Morte—are alluring.
It dries well, and when moistened expands to its normal size. It is a first-class edible fungus. It should be stewed slowly until tender.
C. clava´tus Fr.—clava, a club. Pileus 2 in. broad, somewhat light-yellowish, fleshy, top-shape, truncate or depressed, flexuous, unpolished, attenuated into the solid stem. Flesh thick, white. Hymenium even, then corrugated, purplish then changing color. Fries.
Spores elliptical, pale-yellow, 10–12×4–5µ Massee.
Professor Peck notes that the species so closely resembles Cantharellus cibarius that it might easily be mistaken for a deformed condition of it.
The resemblance to the yellow forms of Clavaria pistillaria is marked.
Massachusetts, Sprague, Farlow; New York, Peck, Rep. 32; West Virginia, Pennsylvania, McIlvaine.
An excellent species. Its scarcity is regrettable.
C. du´bius Pk. Pileus infundibuliform, subfibrillose, lurid-brown, pervious to the base, the margin generally wavy and lobed. Hymenium dark cinereous, rugose when moist, the minute crowded irregular folds abundantly anastomosing, nearly even when dry. Stem short. Spores broadly elliptical or subglobose, 6–7.5µ long.
Plant simple or cespitose, 2–3 in. high. Pileus 1–2 in. broad.
Ground under spruce trees. Adirondack mountains. August.
In color this species bears some resemblance to Cantharellus cinereus. From Craterellus sinuosus it is separated by its pervious stem, and from C. cornucopoides by its more cespitose habit, paler color and smaller spores. Peck, 31st Rep. N.Y. State Bot.
West Virginia, Pennsylvania, McIlvaine.
Its edible qualities are in every way equal to those of C. cornucopoides.
C. sinuo´sus Fr.—sinus, a curve. Strong scented. Pileus funnel-shaped, downy, grayish-brown, margin undulated. Stem pale yellow, elongated, stuffed. Hymenium with anastomosing ribs, grayish. Spores elliptical, pale yellow, 8–9×5µ.
In woods. Pileus ½-1 in. high and broad. Stem about 1 in. high, sometimes very short. Smell strong, musky. Hymenium becoming tan-color when dry. Pileus more or less villose. Massee.
The above description is given so that Var. crispus which follows may be compared with it. Fries considered var. crispus a good species.
Var. cris´pus—crispus, curled. (Plate CXXXVI, fig. 7, p. 508.) Margin of hymenium sinuous and crisped. Pileus pervious. Stem stuffed at base only. Hymenium almost even. Massee.
Solitary and cespitose in mixed woods.
Found by Dr. S.C. Schmucker near West Chester, Pa., 1896; Wm. H. Rorer, Mt. Gretna, Pa., August, 1897.
Cap varies in color from dark to light brownish-gray. Gills brownish-gray, almost even. Stem hollow, dark yellow. Smell strong, musky, much like A. silvicola.
Substance tender and of markedly high and pleasant flavor.
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