Mushrooms - Poisionous Fungi by John Rams Bottom 1945
Mushrooms - Poisionous Fungi by John Rams Bottom 1945
Mushrooms - Poisionous Fungi by John Rams Bottom 1945
By
JOHN RAMSBOTTOM
Keeper of Botany British Museum
(Natural History)
The K I N G P E N G U I N Books
PUBLISHED BY PENGUIN BOOKS LIMITED
LONDON and NEW YORK
1945
THE KING PENGUIN BOOKS
Editor: N. B. L. Pevsner
Technical Editor: R. B.
Colour Plates
Made & Printed by JOHN SWAIN & SON, LTD.
Cover design by
JOY JARVIS
PUBLISHED BY
PLATES I TO 5
AMANITA
The genus Amanita includes the three deadly species
Amanita phalloides (Pl. 1) Amanita verna and
Amanita virosa (Pl. 2), and the two poisonous species
Amanita muscaria (Pl. 4) and Amanita pantherina
(Pl. 5). Not all members of the genus are harmful,
howeverAmanita rubesceris is a well-known edible
species.
The name Amanita is the Greek Amanitai (au avitai),
thought to be derived from Mount Amanon in Cilicia.
Apparently it was the name for the Field Mushroom which
grows abundantly in Greece and is still called Amanites
(auavitns) or more popularly Manitari (uavitapi). When the
name was first used in a generic sense, it was applied to
several edible species including the Field Mushroom, but it
has had its present significance for well over a century. The
main characters of the genus are white spores, white gills
which are more or less free with shorter intermediate ones,
a ring on the stem and a volva or wrapper which
completely encloses the young fungus. The behaviour of
the volva depends on its structure. Where it is composed
mainly of thin-branched hyphae with few rather elongated
thickwalled cells it holds together and splits to allow the
passage through it of the cap as growth proceeds. The
remains of the volva are left as a cup at the base of the
stem, as shown in fig. I and in Plates I & 2. Though
occasionally in dry weather parts of the volva may adhere
to the cap, usually this is free from all trace of it. When,
however, the volva is composed of few hyphae and many
thick-walled spherical cells it has not sufficient tenacity to
hold together as the cap is pressed against it by the
elongating stem and breaks into wart-like portions which
remain on the cap, as shown in fig. 2 and in Plates 4 & 5.
An intermediate condition occurs in Amanita mappa (Pl. 3)
where portions of the volva remain on the cap as irregular
patches.
PLATE 1
LACTARIUS TORMINOSUS
WOOLLY MILK CAP
HEBELOMA CRUSTULINIFORME
CRUSTLIKE HEBELOMA
Average width of cap 4¼ ”, height of stem 2¼” ,
width of stem 1”
VOLVARIA GLOIOCEPHAL
A STICKY VOLVARIA
Average width of cap 4½ ” , height of stem 7”, width of
stem ½”
The genus Hebeloma has brown spores and,
typically, sinuate gills. Hebeloma crustuliniforme has
the cap convex, then spread out with often a flattened
central boss and a thin undulating edge; it is pale
yellow, brown or reddish, darker in the centre, and at
first viscid. The gills are white then clay-coloured, and
finally date-brown, crowded and with an uneven edge:
in wet weather, or after heavy dew, drops of liquid are
exuded from the gill edges and show as spots on
drying. The whitish stem is short, stuffed then hollow
and often thickened at the base; the apex has white
squamules which become coloured brownish when
covered with the falling spores. The flesh is white and
firm and has the smell and taste of radish. Often
growing in rings in grassy places in woods in autumn,
it suggests a row of rolls coming from a baker's oven-
hence crustulinif orme.
Hebeloma crustulin iforme is very indigestible, and
the persistent taste of radish after cooking makes it
objectionable.
The genus Volvaria has pink spores, free gills and a
membranous volva.
In Volvaria gloiocephala the cap is first campanulate
and finally spread out but with a central prominence; it
is glutinous, and is entirely smoky grey, or white with
the disk greyish, and has a striate edge. The gills are
crowded, white and then salmon-pink. The stem is
white, later often grey or tawny, at first mealy, cylindrical
but usually narrowed above and swollen at the base and
surrounded by the white or grey persistent volva. The
flesh is soft and white with an unpleasant taste and smell.
It grows in grass usually on heaps of rubbish, straw or
manure in summer and autumn; occasionally on thatched
roofs and on vegetable remains in sand dunes.
Formerly this species was regarded as deadly
poisonous. It is harmless and is much eaten in Portugal
and Algeria.
Plate 10 - Hebeloma crustuliniforme (a)
Volvaria gloiocephala (b)
PLATE 11
INOCYBE PATOUILLARDI
RED STAINING INOCYBE
Average width of cap 2”, height of stem 3½”, width
of stern ½”
PSALLIOTA XANTHODERMA
YELLOW STAINING MUSHROOM