found in the month of September, in wood-lands and pastures; is highly deleterious; and, if improvidently eaten, causes great swelling, sickness, looseness, and other fatal symptoms.
These are the principal poisonous species growing in this country; but there are doubtless many others, equally pernicious, though not generally known.—On the other hand, the harmless and esculent mushrooms, are chiefly the following:
4. The campestris, Champignon, or Common Mushroom, the stem of which is solid and white, usually 3-4ths of an inch high, and of the thickness of a swallow s quill. Its gills, when first expanded, are of a bright-red colour, which gradually acquires a darker shade, till they become of a deep-brown cast. This plant at first represents a small globular figure, not unlike a hazle-nut; in which state it is free from worms, and eatable; as the skin, in which it is enveloped, may then be easily separated from its white, juicy flesh: by this circumstance, it will be readily distinguished from a similar plant, the agaricus vernus, which is said to be poisonous.—The common mushroom is found in woods, old pastures, and at the side of roads, where it attains to perfection in the month of September.
5. The orcades, v. pratensis, or Meadow Mushroom (by some also called champignon) is very frequent on heaths, and dry pastures, being generally found in circular clusters. The cap is of a pale brown, nearly flat, and from one to three inches in diameter. Its stem is very tough, solid, and white; grows generally to the height of an inch and a half, and as thick as a crow's quill.—This species is also eatable in September: it possesses but little smell, while raw, and is somewhat dry; yet, when broiled or stewed, it imparts a pleasant flavour.
6. The cantharellus (Merulius cantharellus of Withering), or Chantarelle Mushroom, is wholly of a yellow cast, similar to that of the yolk of an egg. Its stem is solid, tapering downwards, being from one to two inches high, and from 1-4th to 3-4ths of an inch in diameter. It is found in woods and dry pastures, from July to September. This plant, when boiled with salt and pepper, possesses the flavour of a roasted cockle: it is esteemed, together with the preceding species, as a great delicacy.
7. The deliciosus, or Orange-coloured Mushroom, grows from one to two inches high: its stem is from 1-4th to 3-8ths of an inch in diameter, and is crowned with a flat cap, from one one-half to three inches broad, and of a rich reddish-brown colour; but its flesh is of a pale orange cast.—In its sensible properties, this species is similar to the preceding. It is in season in the month of September, and is found in dry and elevated woods.—The Italians, especially at Genoa, preserve it in olive-oil, and esteem it as great a delicacy as the celebrated boletus of the Romans. There are, however, two other varieties greatly resembling the orange-coloured eatable mushroom, but which are in a high degree poisonous; especially the torminosus (piperatus of Witheriing), which grows on the roots of birch-trees, for instance, at Haugh-wood near Woolhope, Herefordshire; and the necator, which is of a dirty yellowish cast, appears to
