MUSHROOM.
The Agaricacem or mushroom tribe ofplants comprise mushrooms, puff -balls, and mildews. They grow on the earth, and on decayed animal and vegetable substances, scarcely ever on living bodies of either kingdom, in which respect they differ from lichens, which commonly grow on the living bark of trees. Dr. Royle's collections in the Himalaya amounted to about 40 specimens. There are 5000 recognised species of mushroom, of which only a few can be safely eaten. The poisonous properties vary with climate and the season of the year and locality, and some indi viduals, by idiosyncrasy, are liable to be affected even by species which other people eat with im purity.
Agaricus campestris, the common mushroom, various species of the Helvella or morel, and of the tuber or truffle are useful as food, but there is great difficulty experienced in distinguishing the poisonous from the edible kinds. Such as are poisonous or suspicious have a cap very thin in proportion to the gills ; have the stalk growing from one side of the cap ; have the gills all of equal length ; have a milky juice ; deliquesce, that is, run speedily into a dark watery liquid ; or the collar that surrounds the stalk resembles a spider's web. The Kudrati mushroom is found throughout the Dekhan in the rainy season. Mushrooms are often seen in the Tenasserim bazar, and the Karens have names for 64 different species of mushrooms and the allied fungi. They distinguish the edible from the poisonous kinds, they say, by touching them with the lime that they eat with the betel. If the fungus turn red when touched, it is regarded as poisonous. But they are so careless or ignorant, that sickness and death often ensue after eating them. A new mushroom, collected from the stumps of trees, Agaricus, (Pleurotus) subocreatus, is a dendro phytal species, drying readily, is employed in the Straits Settlements as an article of food, and is nearly allied to the British Agaricus ulmarius, from which it is separated by the volva, remains of which may be traced at the base of the stem.
Hydnum coralloides, Scop., the Koho khur mushroom of Kashmir, where it is cooked and eaten, its taste being excellent. It grows in the hollow trunks of the Pinus Webbiana tree. Mr. Powell says there are three edible kinds of fungi in the Panjab, viz. the mushroom (Agaricus
campestris, the Samarak or Samarugh of the Panjab),' also morel, Morchella esculenta (Phallus esculentus),and the truffle , Tuber cibarium, or allied species, called khumba and khambur. The Agaricus campestris is usually called pad bahera ; and the morel, guchi or kama-guchu. Dr. Henderson mentions that in Shahpur and other districts, where there is kalr in the soil, the morel and mushroom are both abundant, the former in August and September, the latter in the end of the cold season, after heavy falls of rain. Muham madans eat only the morel, and consider the mushroom as hariim or unlawful food. The Hindus there say that every mushroom having a pleasant smell and taste is wholesome. In the Jhang district, an underground morel, called phahor, is found in fields of Sorghum vulgare ; and Edgeworth, in the Florula, Mallica, mentions an esculent morel, which he calls bimphill, literally wild fruit. Quantities of the morel are brought from Kashmir to Amritsar. The khumba of Muzaffargarh is of a pure white colour, with a powdery surface, and destitute of gills ; it is very' common in the rains, and is much esteemed as an article of food. Fried in the ordinary way, they are equal in flavour to English mushrooms.
General MacGregor says (p. 42) that mushrooms are largely used by the Afghan nomades and poorer classes to supply the place of meat. The Chinese in every province eat large quantities of fungi, but prefer the polypori or boleti to the agarics. The Ti-kai are edible agarics ; the Muh-rh are parasitic fungi growing on trees, and much eaten.
In Japan the best edible species are called Matu shake and Shu-take. The latter are largely culti vated; they are almost tasteless when raw, but when dried have an extremely fine flavour. They grow on the decayed trunk of the Shu tree. They are largely exported. In France, in Italy, and especially in Russia, a useful aliment is afforded by a great variety of species which, although very common in Britain, it would be extremely danger ous to eat ; even the dangerous Agaricus mus carius is used in Kamtschatka. The Asiatic physicians still employ the A. muscarius in their medicinal practice, long discarded from the European pharmacopoeias. — Royle ; Riddell ; Honig.; Mason; O'Sh. ; Powell; Murray.