General Natural History Vol. 2 - A History of Plants

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The Hiflory of P L A N T S. 44 The other fpecies of Leotia are, in general, very fn:all; the~ will .eafily ~e d.ifi in­guilbed by their names. They are,. 1. The. fcarlet httle Leot1a, wlth {emwrbJcular heads. 2 . The browni{h Leotia, w1th round1ili heads, and feeds on the out?de. 3· The little, round-headed Leotia, found on decayed horfes hoofs. 4· T~e ca~Jlbceous, brown, dwarf Leotia, with half-round heads. 5· The horfe-dun& Leotta, wJth round heads, marked with black fpots. 6. The du~{y, cat's-dung ~eotta. 7· The ram~fe, whitilb, cat's-dung Leotia. 8. The black, pm-headed Leoua; and 9• The beautiful purple Leotia, with round heads. F U N G 1 Clafs tbe Second. Genus tbe Sixth. D I C T Y ARIA. D I C T Y A R I A is a genus of Fungi, confifiing of a pedicle and a hea~, the head of which is reticulated on the outer furface, and fmooth on the mner; producing male and female flowers fep~rate, both on the. external f~rface of ~he head. The male flowers are fingle anthera!, ailixed by fhort Hamma to the ndges. wh1ch make the reticulation of the head; and the female flowers !hew no part of themfelves, except the feeds which are fcattered fingly on the furface of the hollows between the reticu­lations. The heads in this genus never Hand out far from the fialks; and in fome of the fpecies they are fa!tened. to t?em at the bottom, and do .not !hew any cavity und.er­neath, till cut open. M1chelJ makes three genera out of th1s one, by ufing, as genencal di!bnCl:ions, fuch as are only fpecific ones : Linnxus comprehends all the fpecies, as we do, under one genus; but he calls this genus Phallus, a name very well adapted to two or three of the fpecies, but not at all to any of the others. Tournefort al(o calls them all Boleti; but, as Phallus is not general enough, and Boletus has been ufed by other writers in other fenfes, we have given the genus the name Dittyaria, from the Greek cJ',xrvov, rete, a net. I. Dictyaria capitulo claufo ovato. 3rbt The Dictyaria, with an oval head Ja.flened to tbe flalh at tbe bottom. 1JJJ)O~r.i+ This is a very well known and very much efl:eemed Fungus. It grows to three or four inches high, and it's head, which frequently takes up more than half it's height, is an inch and half in diameter; it's pedicle is irregularly fhaped, ufually fomewhat larger at the bottom than in any other pa1 t, and often fomewhat protuberant in the middle. It is of a pale brownifh colour, and fufficiently robufl: and firong. The head appears to be a folid oval body, of a retieulated furface, affixed to the top of this pedicle; bu t, on opening it, the pedicle is found to go up to the fummit, and the head to be there fixed to it, and hollow and loofe from it all the way down to near it's bafe, where it is again connetl:ed with it all round. The inner furface is tolerably fmooth, but the ex­ternal one is reticulated in a beautiful manner by very prominent ridges, which, unit­ing and feparating again at fmall diftances, form a kind of irregular cells, of various figures and diameters. The ridges of the head are of a du:!ky deep brown, the interme­diate fpaces of a pale brown, like the fialk. The ridges, carefully examined, will be found, when. the Fungus is jufl: ripe, to be covered, as it were, with antherre; they are extremely mmute, and of an oblong figure, and fiand lingle. The feeds are alfo very minute and round, and are fcattered fingly over the furface of the hollows between the ridges. !he whole Fungus is of a {l:rong but agreeable fmell. It grows under ~edges, and m the bottoms ~f dry ~itches, in fpring, and, in fome parts of England, 1s very common. The botamcal wnters have all defcribed it: J. Bauhine calls it F un­gus rugofus vel cavernofus; and C. Bauhine, Fungus porofus efculentus. Tournefort, Boletus efculentus rugofus amplior .et orbicularis. 2. Dichtyaria The Hi}Jory of P L A N T S. 45 2. DiElyaria capitulo crmico aperto, pedic~lo hulbofo. The bulbous DiElyaria, with a conic, open head. This is a very fingular Fungus, and not lef~ .valuable at table than the mo~el, of which it has the flavour, and all the other quahttes. It grows to four or five mches high and it's head is at the bafe, not lefs than two inches in diameter. It's pedicle is bulb;us at the bott~m, and from thence runs up to the head, of the thicknefs of a man's finger. It is fucculent and hollow, and uf~ally is fo~ewhat fcabro~s ~n the furface; it's colour is a dufky brown. The head ts of a come form, termmatmg at top in a tolerably !harp point ; it's f~rface is re ticulated,.l!ke that of the former, but the ridges are thicker and more promment, and the cavttles between them deeper and larger. The colour of the head ~s a duiky brown ; the ridges are dee~er coloured than the intermediate {paces, and the mner furface deeper coloured th~n e~ther. The fUJ:­face of the reticulations is dufiy, as the Fungus grows toward npemng, and the mt­crofcope (hews this dufi to be anther~ of an. oblon g-. form, with f~ar~e any vif:~le pe­dicles. The feeds are oval and larger than m the former; they he 111 the cavttJes be­tween the ridges. We have not this fpecies in England, but it is common in Ger­many, and is fometimes brought to market in Italy. Micheli defcribes it under t he name of Phalloboletus efculentus pileolo conico, pediculo cavo, leucophreo. 3. DiElyaria capitulo minore umbilicato perforato. 10\hlllttS'. Yhe DiElyaria, with a Jmall unbilicated, perforated head. This is one of the moil: fingular plants of the Fungus kind. It's firft appearance is in form a rudely globular body, of a white colour, .with .an oblong, c~ooke~, fing~e root, which penetrates into the earth, an.d . fafiens 1t to H . ~.fter a ht.tlc tune .thts globular body expands into five or fix lacmtated fegment.s, wh1ch are tluck. and fun­gous, and, when cut, are found to confi!l: of two pretty th1ck membranes, wtth a glu ... tinous fiinking matter between them. In the ce~ter o~ the(e fegments ther~ fia~ds a kind of cup of a tough fungous matter, half an mch h!gh, nearly a~ much ~n dtame­ter, and irregularly dentated about the edgeP. From thts cup there .nres a. thtck ilal~, fmalleft at the bafe, where it is inferted into the cup, but larger a little h1gher up; 1t rites to four or five inches in height, and is about three quarters of an inch in diame­ter, and fomewhat rough on the furface. On the. top ?f t?is pedicle fi~nds a fm~ll head a little more than an inch long, and about an mch m dtameter. It IS of a come form' reticulated and callous on the furface, and has an umbilicus or hollow membrane at the top, in the center of which there is .a perforation which goes ?own into the hollow of the ftalk. The fialk, when cut, 1s found to be only a thtek membrane, furrounding a va!l: hollow, capable of admitting a man's finger, and reaching down to the very bafe, where it is clo!e. The fl:alk grows taper, where it is covered by the head as well as where it is inferted into the cup at the bafe, but the rim of the head fcarc~ fl:ands out at all from it. The ridges of the head are covered with a du!l y mat­ter, whic)l is compofed of the antherce; the feeds lie in the cavities between, but they are very [mall and difficult to be feen ; in time the callous matter of the head melts into an extreamly fcetid, glutinous liquor, which, dropped into water, blends with it, and lets fall to the bottom a quantity of round feeds, which it was carrying to the earth. The whole plant is white, and o~ a mofl: extreamly fcetid fmell. . . It is found in many parts of England 111 great abundance. 1 have met wHh Jt on the fides of Mendip hills in great plenty, and about Catthorp in LeicefterD1irc. Moft of the botanical writers have defcribed it. J. Bauhine calls it, Fungus phalloides; and C. Bauhine, Fungus fcetidus penis imaginem referens. Tournefort calls it, Bole­tus phalloides. It is found in Augult, September, and OCtober, rarely later. It has a multitude of creeping filaments, which run various ways under the ground, and from which the fingle oblong roots, which grow to the globular bodies, which are the fir(l: appearance of this Fungus, arife. The other fpecies of the Ditlyaria will be eafily difl:inguifhed by their names. Thofe of the morel kind, with the heads clofed at bottom, are, r. The whitiih, efculent, rough-fialked Dittyaria. 2. The yellowifh, [mall-headed Dict:yaria. 3· The conic­headed, dark, purpli{h Dietyaria. 4· The greyifh, green Ditl:yaria, with a very thick pedicle. Of the open-headed kind arel r. The great curled-headed DiClyaria, with a grey N pedicle.