Iconography of the Mushrooms of Paulet

...narrow, flattened, elongated, of a violet color, and sometimes joined at their base so as to form unequal, angular, almost superficial tubes.

Habitat. On old pine trunks.
Hydnum decipiens. Schrad. Spic. Spicilegium p. 180.
Polyporus abietinus. Fr. Syst. myc. Systema Mycologicum 1, p. 370.
Properties. None are known for it.
Obs. — This mushroom is one of those whose tooth shape varies the most; this is why it is classified indiscriminately among the Agarics, the Hydnums, and the Polypores; but when it is well developed, the structure of its underside does not allow it to be placed in any of these genera.

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POLYPORUS SANGUINEUS. FRIES. — Pl. III, fig. 3, 4.

Blood-red Agaric. — Xylometron sanguineum. Paulet.
Cap dimidiate, reniform or orbicular, corky, flexible, zoned, smooth, flattened, and slightly raised into a hump at its base; stalk null, lateral, or sometimes central, but always very short and quite often dilated into a shield at its base. Tubes very short, so small that they are not visible to the naked eye; their opening is angular and the edge obtuse. The whole mushroom is a beautiful blood-red color. This is even where it gets its name. Its interior substance is of a pale tawny color.

Habitat. It is found very abundantly on the trunk of trees in Suriname and throughout the West Indies. Paulet is mistaken when he says it also grows in Europe.
Boletus sanguineus. L. Sp. Species Plantarum p. 1646.
Properties. Swartz says that the negroes eat it when it is young. When one pays attention to its consistency, one has the right to ask what qualities recommend it as food.

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AURICULARIA MESENTERICA. BULLIARD. — Pl. III, fig. 5.

The bristly gelatinous mushroom. — Tremella mesenterica. Murray, Paulet.
Caps sessile, dimidiate, imbricated, entire or lobed, free or most often adhering to one another, leathery, villous, zoned, and of a dirty gray. The underside is smooth, of a gelatinous aspect, marked with more or less numerous veins, sometimes anastomosed, and of a violet color; in advanced age, it covers itself with a white dust formed by the spores.

Habitat. In autumn and spring, on old trees.
Agaricum squamosum et lichenosum, etc. Mich. Nov. pl. gen. Nova Plantarum Genera p. 124, no. 6, tab. 66, fig. 4.
Thelephora mesenterica. Pers. Syn. fung. Synopsis of Fungi p. 571.
Properties. Although its flavor and odor are not unpleasant, no use is made of it. Its consistency, moreover, seems to oppose it.

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HYDNUM GELATINOSUM. SCOPOLI. — Pl. III, fig. 6, 7.

The papillae-bearing gelatinous mushroom. — Tremella hydnoides. Jacquin, Paulet.
Cap fleshy, of tremelloid consistency, dimidiate and always of very variable shape, with an entire or lobed edge; it is supported by a stalk, short, lateral, papillose on its surface. The upper face of the cap is smooth, soft, viscous, bare, sometimes covered with prickles; its color is very variable, white, gray, or yellowish. The underside is glaucous, covered with soft, pyramidal prickles, most usually lying obliquely and very adherent to the cap.

Habitat. In autumn, on old pine trees.
Hydnum gelatinosum. Schleff. pl. CXLIV and CXLV.
Properties. None are known for it.