Project Gutenberg's Mushrooms of America, Edible and Poisonous, by Anonymous

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Title: Mushrooms of America, Edible and Poisonous

Author: Anonymous

Editor: Julius A. Palmer, Jr.

Release Date: December 22, 2009 [EBook #30734]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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[Transcriber's Note:

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MUSHROOMS OF AMERICA, EDIBLE AND POISONOUS.

EDITED BY JULIUS A. PALMER, JR.

PUBLISHED BY L. PRANG & CO., BOSTON.

(COPYRIGHT, 1885. BY L. PRANG & CO.)

GENERAL DIRECTIONS.

These charts are prepared for popular use, rather than for students of
botanical science; all technical terms are, therefore, as far as
possible, avoided.

The names "mushroom" and "toadstool" are indefinite, are both applied
with equal reason to any fleshy fungus, and are here used as synonymes,
like the corresponding term "plant" and "vegetable," or "shrub" and
"bush," in common conversation.

No general test can be given by which a poisonous mushroom may be
distinguished from an edible mushroom. But each species of fungus has
certain marks of identity, either in appearance, quality, or condition
of growth, which are its own, and never radically varied; none can
contain a _venomous_ element at one time, and yet be harmless under
other conditions. Like other food, animal or vegetable, however,
mushrooms may, by decay or conditions of growth, be unfit for table
use; yet in this state no _fatality_ would attend such use.

Therefore the identification of species is a safe guide, and is the
only means of knowing what mushrooms should be eaten, and what
varieties of fungus should be rejected. Having once learned to
distinguish any species of mushrooms as esculent, perfect security may
be felt in the use of that species wherever and whenever found; but
any specimen varying from the type in the slightest degree should be
rejected by an amateur.

There are abo