Stránka:book 1912.djvu/435

Mushrooms, Fungi, or Toadstools 403 have oyster beds in our woods without knowing it, and the oyster mushroom is a good example of valuable food going to waste. It is found growing in clusters on old dead wood, logs or standing trunks. Its cap is smooth, moist and white or tinged with ash or brown. The gills and spores are white. The flesh is white and tough. It measures two or six inches across. Sometimes it has no stem. It is a favorite for the table. It needs careful cleaning and long cooking. There is no poisonous species at all like it. Also, belonging to the Gilled or true mushroom family, are the Ink-caps of the Genus Coprinus. They grow on dung piles and rich ground. They spring up over night and per- ish in a day. In the last stage the gills turn into a black fluid, yes, into ink. At one time this was used for ink, a quantity of the black stuff being boiled and strained for the purpose. It is still a good scout dye for roots, quills, etc. The spores of Coprinus are black. It is strange that such poisonous looking things should be good food. Yet all the authorities agree that the Ink-caps are safe, delicious, easily identified and easily cooked. There is no poi- sonous mushroom with black spores at present known in North Amer- ica. Inky Coprinus (Co- prinus atramenlarius) . This is the species illus- trated. The example was from the woods; Inky coprinus. often it is much more