GIFTS OF FOREST AND FIELD.

A score of years ago (1880–1885) I was living in the mountains of West Virginia. While riding on horseback through the dense forests of that great unfenced state, I saw on every side luxuriant growths of fungi, so inviting in color, cleanliness and flesh that it occurred to me they ought to be eaten. I remembered having read a short time before this inspiration seized me a very interesting article in the Popular Science Monthly for May, 1877, written by Mr. Julius A. Palmer, Jr., entitled “Toadstool Eating.” Hunting it up I studied it carefully, and soon found myself interested in a delightful study which was not without immediate reward. Up to this time I had been living, literally, on the fat of the land—bacon; but my studies enabled me to supplement this, the staple dish of the state, with a vegetable luxury that centuries ago graced the dinners of the Cæsars. So absorbing did the study become from gastronomic, culinary and scientific points of view, that I have continued it ever since, with thorough intellectual enjoyment and much gratification of appetite as my reward. I hope to interest students in the study as I am myself interested.

For twenty years my little friends—the toadstools—have been my constant companions. They have interested me, delighted me, fed me, and I have found much pleasure in making the public acquainted with their habits, structure, lusciousness and food value.

My researches have been confined to the species large enough to appease the appetite of a hungry naturalist if found in reasonable quantity; and my work has been devoted to segregating the edible and innocuous from the tough, undesirable and poisonous kinds. To accomplish this, because of the persistent inaccuracy of the books upon the subject, it was necessary to personally test the edible qualities of hundreds of species about which mycologists have either written nothing or have followed one another in giving erroneous information. While often wishing I had not undertaken the work because of the unpleasant results xivfrom personally testing fungi which proved to be poisonous, my reward has been generous in the discovery of many delicacies among the more than seven hundred edible varieties I have found.

For ten years I have planned to publish in book form what I know about toadstools; each effort to compile my information has shown me how much more I ought to know before going into print. Even now my work is still unfinished.

I am urged by my many toadstool friends (as I lovingly call those who, from all over the land, send me specimens for identification, and grow interested with me in the work), to publish what I already know upon the subject, that they, and others, may have a helpful book to guide them to a goodly portion of the edible species, and away from those that are inedible or poisonous.

In this book I comply with these requests. I have selected over seven hundred of the most plentiful and best varieties for the table, from my toadstool bill of fare; and I describe and caution against several species, some of which are deadly in their effects, if eaten; others of which induce ill-effects more or less serious. One thousand species and varieties are named and described.

Birds, flowers, insects, stones delight the observant. Why not toadstools? A tramp after them is absorbing, study of them interesting, and eating of them health-giving and supremely satisfying.

America is without a text-book of the American species of Fungi, among which the edible and poisonous varieties are found. Many excellent but expensive foreign volumes describe species common to both continents, and several special but widely scattered monographs have been published here. The need of the mycologist, mycophagist and amateur toadstool student is a book giving the genus, names and descriptions of the prominent American toadstools whose edibility has been tested, or whose poisonous qualities have been discovered. The absence of such a book, and the universal and rapidly-growing interest all over the United States in edible fungi, have led to the publication of the present work, which includes every species known to be esculent in North America. As a precautionary measure, full explications of all those known or suspected to be poisonous are included.

Many species found in this country only have been described and named by various authors, from the time of Schweinitz (1822) to the present day. These have been published in the botanical magazines and in the papers of scientific societies and colleges. The greater number have as author Professor Charles H. Peck, New York State Botanist, who has contributed an annual report each year from 1868. These appear in the reports of the State Museum of New York, and coming from the pen of our ablest mycologist are of great value to everyone interested in the study. The classifications and (in many instances) modified descriptions by such an eminent authority upon fungoid growth should therefore be the guides to American forms, that the confusion created by numerous descriptions of the same fungus by different observers may be avoided.

Professor N.L. Britton, editor of the Torrey Botanical Club, has courteously given permission to use the descriptions of new species given in its instructive Bulletins.

Professor A.P. Morgan and Laura V. Morgan, with equal courtesy, xvigrant the use of text and illustrations contained in the most complete monograph published upon the Lycoperdaceæ (puff-balls, etc.) of America.

While the scientific classifications and descriptions have been strictly followed, the language has been simplified—with no sacrifice of scientific accuracy—that this volume may be fully adapted to popular use.

Professor Peck has given his valuable assistance in the identification of many species, all that were difficult or obscure having been submitted to him, and the writer is deeply indebted to him for many and long-continued courtesies, aiding in study and in the preparation of this work.

Several new species have been found by the writer, the greater part of excellent food value. He preferred that these should be named, described and placed in their proper genus and section by Professor Peck, believing it to be best for the discoverers of new species to defer to one whose vast experience enables him to name and classify in accordance with the demands of American species.

Where a species is vouched for as edible, it has been personally tested by the author and his willing undertasters up to eating full meals of it, or at least beyond all doubt as to its safety. Where others have eaten species which he has not had the opportunity to test, their names and opinions are given. When species heretofore under the ban of suspicion are in this volume, for the first time, announced to be edible (there are many of them), personal tests have not been considered sufficient, as idiosyncrasy might have affected the results. Others, at the writer’s request, have eaten of the species until their innocence was fully established. In some cases, where the reputation of the fungi eaten was especially bad, scientists of note have made elaborate and exhaustive physiological tests of their substances, and in every instance confirmed the human testing.

While species which contain deadly poisons are few, their individuals are produced in great number. Nicety in distinguishing their botanic variance from edible species closely resembling them is necessary. No charm will detect the poison. Eating toadstools before their certain identification as belonging to edible species, is neither bravery nor common sense. The amateur should go slow.

The question often asked is: By what rule do you distinguish between edible and poisonous mushrooms? The answer usually surprises the questioner—there is no general rule. All such rules which have been given are false and unreliable. The quality of each was learned, one at xviia time. Sweet and sour apples alike grow on large and small trees, may be red or green, large or small, oblong or globular, and no visible appearance gives the least clue to the quality.

In a few genera certain rules may be applied, as in Clavaria--all not bitter or tough are edible. But such generalizations are each limited to its own genus.

The toadstools containing deadly poisons are thought to be confined to one genus of the gilled kind—Amanita, and to Helvella esculenta, now Gyromitra esculenta, to which are charged fatal results. The poisonous qualities of Gyromitra esculenta are not proven. Recent testings of this species prove it to be harmless and of good quality. By far the greater number of species contained in Amanita are notable for their tender substance and delicious flavor. By their stately beauty and unusual attractiveness both the poisonous and harmless kinds are seductive. Any toadstool with white or lemon-yellow gills, casting white spores when laid—gills downward—upon a sheet of paper, having remnants of a fugitive skin in the shape of scabs or warts upon the upper surface of its cap, with a veil or ring, or remnants or stains of one, having at the base of its stem—in the ground—a loose, skin-like sheath surrounding it, or remnants of one, should never be eaten until the collector is thoroughly conversant with the technicalities of every such species, or has been taught by one whose authority is well known, that it is a harmless species. This rule purposely includes the renowned Amanita Cæsaria, everywhere written as luscious. I regard it as the most dangerous of toadstools, because of its close resemblance to its sister plant—the Amanita muscaria—which is deadly. In the description of these species, other forcible reasons are given.

Another deadly species—the Amanita phalloides—is frequently mistaken by the inexperienced for the common mushroom. Safety lies in the strict observance of two rules: Never eat a toadstool found in the woods or shady places, believing it to be the common mushroom. Never eat a white- or yellow-gilled toadstool in the same belief. The common mushroom does not grow in the woods, and its gills are at first pink, then purplish-brown or black.

If through carelessness, or by accident, a poisonous Amanita has been eaten, and sickness results, take an emetic at once, and send for a physician with instructions to bring hypodermic syringe and atropine sulphate. The dose is ¹⁄₁₈₀ of a grain, and doses should be continued xviiiheroically until the ¹⁄₂₀ of a grain is administered, or until, in the physician’s opinion, a proper quantity has been injected. Where the victim is critically ill the ¹⁄₂₀ of a grain may be administered.

In every case of toadstool poisoning, the physician must be guided by the symptoms exhibited. Professor W.S. Carter, by numerous exhaustive trials upon animals, has proved that atropine, while valuable as against the first, is not an antidote for the late effects of the greater toadstool poisons. (See his chapter on toadstool poisons, especially prepared for this work.)

There are other species which contain minor poisons producing very undesirable effects. These are soon remedied by taking an emetic, then one or two doses of whisky and sweet oil; or vinegar may be substituted for the whisky. A few species of fungi are innocuous to the majority of persons and harmful to a few. So it is with many common foods—strawberries, apples, tomatoes, celery, even potatoes. The beginner at toadstool eating usually expects commendation for bravery, and fearfully watches for hours the coming of something dreadful. Indigestion from any other cause is always laid to the traditionary enemy, fright ensues, a physician is called, the scare spreads, and a pestilential story of “Severe Poisoning by Toadstools,” gets into the newspapers. The writer has traced many such publications to imprudences in eating, with which toadstools had nothing to do.

The authoritative analysis of several common food species by Lafayette B. Mendel, of Sheffield Laboratory of Physiological Chemistry, Yale University, is given, and will correct the popular error about the great nutritive value of fungi, arising from previous erroneous analyses.

While species are reported as found in certain localities, it by no means follows that their growth is confined to these places. A species reported as found in the Adirondack mountains, unless belonging to the few peculiar to northern regions and high altitudes, is reasonably sure to be more plentiful in a like habitat south and west of them. South it will appear earlier and its season last longer.

Size is largely dependent upon latitude and may vary greatly in the same group. Temperature, moisture, favorable nourishment are important factors in growth.

Each species has its favorite habitat, and will thrive best upon it. There are few things under the sun upon which fungi do not grow. Their mission is particularly directed toward converting decaying matter, xixor matter which has accomplished its work in one direction, into usefulness in another. They are the wood-choppers, stewards, caterers of the forest, converters in the fields and chemists everywhere. They can not assimilate inorganic matter because of the absence of chlorophyl in their composition, but in organic matter they are omnivorous. When they feed on dead substances they are called saprophytes; when their support is derived from living tissues, parasites.

Scores of species of fungi were found in the forests, ravines and clearings of the West Virginia mountains from 1881 to 1885 inclusive, and eaten by the writer years before he had the opportunity to learn their names from books or obtain the friendly assistance of experts in identifying them. He knew the individuals without knowing their names, as one knows the bird song and plumage before formal introduction to the pretty creatures that charm him.

After he was able to get European publications upon the subject, and by their aid trace the species he had eaten to their names, descriptions and qualities, he was surprised to read that many of them were warned against as deadly. As informed by these books, he properly ought to have died several times. It soon became evident that authors had followed one another in condemning species, some because they bore brilliant hues, others because they were unpleasant when raw (just as is a potato), rather than investigate their qualities by testing them. Here was a realm of food-giving plants almost entirely unexplored. The writer determined to explore it. Instead of the one hundred and eleven species then recorded by the late Doctor Curtis as edible, my number of edible species now exceeds his by over six hundred.^[A]

Let us clear away the rubbish and superstition that have so long obscured the straight path to a knowledge of edible toadstools. Let us bear in mind that a mushroom is a toadstool and a toadstool is a mushroom—the terms are interchangeable. If toads ever occupied the one-legged seat assigned them from time immemorial, they have learned in xxthis enlightened age that the ground is much more reliable, and so squat upon it, except when exercising their constitutional right to hop. Snails, slugs, insects of many kinds, mice, squirrels and rabbits prey upon good and bad, each to its liking, notwithstanding oft-repeated assertion that snails and slugs infect noxious varieties only, or that animals select the innocuous only. We are warned against those which grow in the dark or damp; the mushroom of commerce is grown by the ton in the subterranean quarries of France, and everywhere in vaults and cellars for domestic use. The valued truffle never sees the light until it is taken from darkness to be eaten, and other varieties of the best prefer seclusion.

The wiseacres tell us that they must have equal gills, must not have thin tops, must not turn yellow when sprinkled with salt, must not blacken a silver spoon, that we must not eat of those changing color when cut or broken, of those exuding milk, or those which are acrid, hot, or bitter, and give many other specifics for determining the good from the bad. These tests are all worse than worthless, for if confidence is placed in them they will not only lead us away from esculent and excellent varieties but directly into eating venomous ones.

There are whole genera of fungi which are innocuous; but in the Family of Agaricaceæ, where the greatest variety of the edible and poisonous species are found, it is necessary to master one by one the details of their construction and learn to distinguish their differences as one does those of the many kinds of roses, or pinks, or hundreds of bright-faced pansies, and in the mastery of them lies the only charm that will safely guide.

Carefully remove the first toadstool found from whatever it is growing upon, and with it a portion of that from which it springs. If it is the earth a curious white network is discernible, fine as the delicate spinning of the spider, spreading its meshes throughout the mass. It will often remind of miniature vines climbing over miniature lattices. This is the mycelium from which the toadstool grew. In many instances it penetrates the earth to a considerable depth, and takes possession of large territory. It is often seen as the gardener turns up the soil or its fertilizer, and is perhaps taken for a mold. If the specimen is gathered from mat of wood leaves, the same white vine is observable slipping in between its layers. If taken from a tree, the decaying wood is traversed xxiby it. From wherever a toadstool is plucked, it is removed from its mycelium.

This mycelium is but a thread-like mass of simple cells joined together at their ends and interlacing in a way a thousand-fold more intricate than a Chinese puzzle. Nothing in its structure indicates what its special product will be. The fungus which is plucked from it is in all its parts simply a mass of these threads—cells strung together, interlacing and ramifying.

When the season favors, the mycelium—which has, winter and summer and from year to year, lived its hidden life, or has sprung from a germinating spore—develops a number of its cells in a minute knob, small as a pin head. At this point the cells make special growth efforts to bring themselves within the favoring influences of heat and moisture; this tiny knob labors within itself, producing cell after cell, which takes shape and function for the future toadstool.

As it rapidly enlarges it pushes its way toward the surface of the ground, becomes more or less egg-shaped in this stage of its growth, and if cut in half longitudinally and examined, it will display what it is going to be when it grows up.

Suppose that it belongs to the first of the two great sections into which fungi are divided under the classification of Fries, who modified that of Persoon. The first has the spores—which represent the seeds in plants—naked, and it is called sporifera or spore-bearing. The second, which has the spores enclosed in cells or cysts, is called sporidifera or sporidia-bearing. If the cap of a gill-bearing toadstool be laid, gills downward, on a watch crystal or piece of white paper for a few hours, or, in some instances, a few minutes, a complete representation of the spaces between the gills will be found deposited as an impalpable powder. These are the spores.

The first section is divided into four cohorts. Two of these have hymeniums or spore-bearing surfaces more or less expanded. These are Hymenomycetes and Gastromycetes. In Hymenomycetes the hymenium is always exposed in matured plants, as with the common mushroom. When young, some plants are covered with a membrane. In Gastromycetes the hymenium is always concealed within a covering which bursts at maturity, as with the Lycoperdons or puff-balls. Cohort Coniomycetes includes rusts, smuts, etc., formed for the most part on living plants. There is no hymenium present. The spores are produced xxiion the ends of inconspicuous threads, free or enclosed in a bottle-like receptacle called a perithecium. Cohort Hypomycetes is composed of those species of fungi commonly called molds. The spores are produced, naked, from the ends of inconspicuous threads.

In the Agaricaceæ—the first family in Hymenomycetes—the young plant is completely enveloped. (Plate III, fig. B, p. 2.) Its head is as yet undefined and its body may be classed as dumpy, but shut in and protected are a great quantity of knife-like plaits (Plate III, fig. C., p. 2), on the outer surface of which, when the plant matures, will be borne its spores. It therefore belongs to the Hymenomycetes, and to the Family Agaricaceæ—gill-bearing.

If the ground becomes moist or there comes a heavy dew or a rain, the young plant, closely compacted and very solid, which has been under the surface for many days waiting its chance to get forth to light and air, rapidly swells, breaks through the moistened earth, goes rapidly to cell-making, ruptures its outside covering, the head expands and in so doing spreads out its gills or hymenium. (Plate III, figs. C, D, E, p. 2.) The membrane which covered the gills either vanishes, or gathers round the stem in the form of a ring or circular apron, or it may partially adhere to the edges of the top, cap or pileus and hang as a fringe from it; the stem elongates; the whole plant assumes the colors of its species and in a few hours or days at most it stands forth, a marvel of beauty, structure and workmanship.

But little is known of how these spores reproduce themselves. The microscope fails to completely penetrate the mystery. A whole fungus is but a mass of cells, the spore is but one of them. That these simple cells do produce after their kind there is no doubt, but so minute is the germ and hidden its methods that science has failed to solve them.

The first Family of Hymenomycetes is Agaricaceæ. Its members always have gills or modifications of them. In some cases—notably in Cantharellus—the gills have the appearance of smooth, raised veins over which is the spore-bearing surface. The hymenium is but an extension of the fibers of the cap, folded up like the plaits and flutings of ruffles, and laundered with exquisite neatness. If it is carefully detached and spread out like a fan it will cover a large surface, many times the size of the cap from which it has been taken, and will show that what is a consumption of material in dress ornamentation is utilized by economical Dame Nature to increase the spore-bearing xxiiisurface within a small space and for purely business purposes—spore-bearing. The color of these spores has much to do with the classification. The microscope with high light reveals the delicate shades of their coloring, but the main colors are readily distinguished by the naked eye when the spores are collected in a mass on glass or paper.

The Polyporaceæ have in place of gills closely packed tubes on the inside of which is the spore-bearing surface; each has a mouth from which to eject the spores.

The Hydnaceæ bear their spores from spines or spicules of various length protruding from the external surface of the cap. Sometimes the spines mock in miniature the stalactites of the Caverns of Luray, sometimes the shaggy mane of the lion, sometimes flowing locks of hair. These three Families belong to the Cohort Hymenomycetes, having their spore-bearing surface exposed early in life by the rupture of the universal veil.

The Lycoperdons or Puff-balls have the hymenium enclosed within an outer case, just as the apple with its seeds is enclosed for a dumpling. When the spores are matured the sack is ruptured and they escape as the dusty powder so well known to all. The Puff-ball belongs to the Cohort Gastromycetes, because its spores are protected within the hymenium until they are matured.

There are other Families which contain edible species. The Clavariaceæ—branched or club-shaped—often found in as beautiful forms as delight us in coral, includes a few.

In Ascomycetes, of the covered spore division Sporidifera, there are several species which are excellent, and as they dry readily are much valued for flavoring purposes when winter forbids the growth of outdoor fungi. Of these the Morell has preference. The cap is covered with sinuosities and pits which bear the spores. There are several varieties of the Morell in the United States. They are known among the country people who cook and pickle them, as Honey-comb mushrooms.

The Tuberaceæ are subterranean fungi. The common truffle so much prized by epicures is a good representative. It is found a foot or more under the surface of the earth, and of such value is it that in some countries pigs are trained to hunt it from its hiding place. It is one of the few foreign growths apparently not taking kindly to our country. Efforts have been made to import and cultivate it, but without success. xxivIt is possible, even probable, that it may yet be found in America by assiduous search.

I have said that there is but one way to distinguish the edible from the non-edible fungi; that is by mastering the characteristics of each species one by one. There are signs which point to the evil and those which point to the good, but they must be used as signals, not directors.

A nauseous, fetid odor should condemn a species as non-edible at once. Those having the flavor of flour or fresh meal are generally accepted as worthy of trial. Slimy, water-soaked, partially decomposed plants, or those impressing one as unpleasant in any way, should never find their place upon the table. Do not eat of any toadstool, unknown to the collector, beyond the careful and systematic testing required to determine whether it is edible or not.

A few species have a serious charge remaining against them; that of partiality. They unmistakably signify with whom they will agree and with whom they will not. These are notably Clitocybe illudens, Lepiota Morgani, Panæolus papilionaceus, all specialized in their places in the text.

Other species have hereditary taints upon their reputations. Most, if not all of them have stood present tests and relieved themselves of suspicion. But, alas that it should be so! The stigma must rest upon them for yet a while and until their defenders are so numerous that their purity, without a smirch, is popularly proclaimed.

Wherever wood grows and decays as it will, Polyporus, Panus, Lenzites, Schizophyllum and kindred genera stand prominently forth in countless numbers. The great majority of them are inedible because of their woody substance. A few are valued as food. Very many of them yield their soluble matter and flavor when boiled, and in this way make excellent soups and gravies, just as flax-seed and the bark of the slippery elm yield succulent matter. These, however, are not, with a few exceptions, mentioned in this book. Numbers of Clavarieæ and Hydneæ are in the same category. M.C. Cooke tersely says: “Fruits that are not peaches or apricots may be very good plums.” In the introductions to genera their attributes are given; under “Instructions to Students” every guide to identification and selection will be found.

A Glossary, containing the botanic terms used in this book and, it is believed, all other terms used by mycologists in describing fungi, follows the descriptive text. It is strongly advised that it be carefully studied. xxvThe roots and derivatives of the botanic terms are fully and carefully given by Dr. John W. Harshberger, professor of botany, University of Pennsylvania, to whom the author is specially indebted.

The excellent Glossary published by Dr. Edwin A. Daniels, Boston, has furnished many comprehensive definitions. It is the property of the Boston Mycological Club, and can be obtained from its secretary for twenty-five cents.

The determination of the proper accentuation of the generic and specific terms has been in many cases a difficult task, and, in some cases, owing to the dubious origin of the words in question, there is certainly room for difference of opinion. This task has been kindly and conscientiously performed by Prof. M.W. Easton, professor of Comparative and English Philology, University of Pennsylvania. Thanks are due to the Hon. Addison Brown, president of the Torrey Botanical Club, and Dr. Nathaniel L. Britton, professor of Botany in Columbia College, authors of “Illustrated Flora,” for the determination of the accentuation of non-classical words ending in inus.

Three indexes are given: the first refers to the general contents, the second to the genera, the third to species and their genera, alphabetically arranged.

Mrs. Emma P. Ewing and Mrs. Sarah T. Rorer have kindly furnished some of their recipes for the preparation of several varieties of toadstools. The best results of the author’s long experience in cooking toadstools are given in the chapter “Recipes for Cooking and Preparing for the Table,” together with others selected from many sources. The personal taste of the server must be guide to the choice.

A child-friend of the writer, in telling him of her mother’s cook, said: “She’s a good cooker, but she has a bad temper.” A good “cooker” will soon learn how to best display the individual flavor of each species. And be it known that each species of toadstool has a flavor of its own. These flavors vary as much as among meats and vegetables. No one species can be taken as standard of excellence.

The greatest care has been taken to secure illustrations correct in every botanic detail. With few exceptions the colored figures were drawn and painted by the writer. To obtain this important feature the requirements of art have frequently been sacrificed. An artist can make a picture of a toadstool; the mycologist must guide his brush or pencil in the making of a correct presentation. The happy combination of xxviartist and mycologist occurs in Mr. Val. W. Starnes, Augusta, Ga., to whom this volume owes many of its illustrations. Mr. Frank D. Briscoe, widely known as an artist of rare ability, has arranged and painted in groups the studies made by the writer from typical plants, and added to the illustrations many excellent drawings of his own.

The unfailing reliability of the sun has been masterfully used by Dr. J.R. Weist, ex-Secretary of the American Society of Surgeons, Richmond, Ind.; H.I. Miller, Superintendent Terre Haute and Indianapolis Railroad, Terre Haute, Ind., and Mr. Luther G. Harpel, Lebanon, Pa., in making the unexcelled photographs generously contributed by them. The author is most thankful to them and to Mr. C.G. Lloyd, Cincinnati, Ohio—a scientific gentleman devoting lavishly of his time and money to the spread of mycological knowledge—for the privilege of selecting from his extensive collection of realistic photographs those adaptable to the species described herein.

The author’s thanks are gratefully given to the many who have by help and encouragement furthered his efforts in producing this, the first American text-book upon fungi. Space precludes the naming of the many, but the few named do not outrank them in their interest, help and the author’s appreciation:

Miss Lydia M. Patchen, President of the Westfield, N.Y., Toadstool Club (the first in America); Mrs. E.C. Anthony, Thomas J. Collins, E.B. Sterling, Berry Benson, Melvil Dewey, New York State Librarian; Dr. J.E. Schadle, Prof. J.P. Arnold, University of Pennsylvania; Prof. W.S. Carter, University of Texas; Boston School of Natural History; Massachusetts Horticultural Society; Prof. Wm. G. Farlow, University of Harvard.

Thus aided the author believes that his own conscientious, patient, loved labor in the study of edible and non-edible fungi and the production of this volume will be far-reaching in its one object—encouraging the study of toadstools.

The time for writing a complete flora of the United States has not yet come; a large part of the country remains as yet unexplored by mycologists; new species are being constantly discovered in the districts best known. Every book on the subject must be necessarily incomplete.

On the other hand, so far as concerns the known fungus-flora, there is imperative need of some guide to the student, which shall at least save him some part of the weary toil of hunting through the scattered xxviiliterature in which alone, as things are at present, can be found the information he seeks. In this book I have tried to meet this need. It is not complete, but I have tried to so arrange the matter that the student can always decide whether the particular specimen in hand is or is not included, and, at least for all of our more conspicuous fungi, determine the family and genus. If the student can do so much, the task of finding the specific name, even when not included in this book, becomes very much simpler.

So much for the more scientific aspect of my book. But I have also kept in constant view the needs of the large and constantly growing number of persons who have no aim further than to learn to know the principal toadstools seen in their walks, just as they wish to know the principal trees and the more conspicuous birds. For such as these, the difficulty of deciding whether or no a particular individual fungus is described in the brief (sketching) manuals hitherto accessible is even more formidable than with the special student of botany.

Finally, I have kept in view throughout the work the needs of the mycophagists. They are not pot-hunters; they care much less for the physical pleasure of the appetite than for the close study of Nature that their inclination leads them into. Some day the delights of a mushroom hunt along lush pastures and rich woodlands will take the rank of the gentlest craft among those of hunting, and may perchance find its own Izaak Walton.

It is the intention of the author and the publisher to keep this book up to date. Recognizing that future testing will prove many more species of toadstools to be edible, and that scientists will have more exact knowledge of toadstool poisons and their antidotes, they announce that illustrated sheets publishing new edible species and current information upon fungi will be, from time to time, issued, conforming in shape and style to this volume and at an acceptable price.

That the author and publishers may keep in touch with the owner of each volume, and be informed of new discoveries in species and of new experience, owners are requested to communicate their book numbers to Captain Charles McIlvaine, or the Bowen-Merrill Co., Indianapolis, Ind.

To catch fish one must know more than the fish; to find toadstools one must know their season and habitats. They are propagated by their spores and from their mycelium—that web-like growth which is the result of spore germination.

The spores of ground-growing kinds, when shed upon the ground, are washed by rains along the natural drainage; therefore, when a specimen of one of these kinds is found, it is well to look up and down the natural water-shed, and follow it. Good reward will usually come of it. Few fungi are strictly solitary.

Careful observation of the habitats of the various genera and species will enable the student to know what may and may not be expected in a particular locality, and will save many a hunt.

When an unknown species is found, collect it carefully, examine it closely, note all its features. Determine to which division of fungi it belongs. If to the gilled family (Agaricaceæ) obtain the color of the spores (see directions). Look at the chart “Tabular View of Genera of Agaricaceæ,” Plate I, p. 2 (after W.G. Smith, but enlarged, redrawn and emended). If the spores are white, it belongs to one of the genera in the first column—Leucosporæ; if pink, to one in the second column, and so on. It is often difficult to determine the spore color, because spores vary through many shades of the typical color. What are called white spores may be creamy, dirty, yellowish or brownish-white; pink spores will vary from almost white to reddish and salmon-color; brown spores from light-ochraceous through cinnamon to rusty; purple spores from dark-violet to purplish-black. Experience alone will enable the student to decide which color series is present. The Genera Charts, preceding the five different color series, show typical spore colors only. Again, authors describing the species frequently fail to see colors alike; if they do, their names for them frequently vary. For instance, few persons will agree upon a color expressed as “livid.”

xxxThe color system principally used by botanists is Saccardo’s “Chromotaxia,” costing fifty cents. It is decidedly inadequate. Ridgway’s “Nomenclature of Colors for Naturalists” is far better, but it is out of print and obtainable only at the principal libraries. “The Prang Standard of Color” is the most complete ever issued, but it is inapplicable to existing descriptions of fungi.

Take, to print upon, sheets of Bristol-board or any stiff, hard-surfaced white paper 6×9 inches or larger. Cut a round hole, four inches in diameter, in one of the sheets. Use this as a stencil. Lay it upon a print-sheet and where the opening occurs, paint with a weak solution of gum arabic—⅛ oz. (one teaspoonful) to one pint of water. Dry the print-sheets.

When a spore-print is to be taken, select a fully-grown specimen, remove the stem, place the spore-bearing surface upon the gummed paper, cover tightly with an inverted bowl or saucer, and allow to stand undisturbed for eight or ten hours. The moisture in the plant will soften the gummed surface; the spores will be shed and will adhere to it, making a perfect, permanent print. When the print is plain, remove the specimen carefully and dry the print. Number the print-cards to correspond with the number of the specimen in the “Record of Fungi,” and place them in a box or cover. Some genera shed their spores sooner and more freely than others. A surplus of spores is objectionable. In order to know when a print is plainly made, without disturbing the process, have either a specimen of the same age, or a piece of the one under the bowl, on another piece of gummed paper, covered in like manner. This can be examined and will give the desired information. A little experience will enable the student to obtain good and lasting prints.

The large black figures on some calendars, if cut with the white about them, are convenient as trial sheets for spore-printing. Lay the specimen partly on the white, partly on the black. If the spores are light, they show best on black ground, and if colored, they show best on the light.

Spore measurements, as given by different observers, vary to such a degree that they are of little value, excepting as determining a few species, but spore shapes and characteristics are of use as a last resort, in accurate determinations. A microscope of considerable power is needed.

xxxiA metrical scale and table of measures is here given, that the student may have a present guide to such measurements as are given in mycological publications.

Decimetre.

The spore color being determined, turn to the Genera Chart, showing spores of like color. Ascertain from the specimen whether or not its cap or hymenophore is distinct or easily separable from the stem and the gills free from the stem; if they are, it may belong to one of the genera in the upper row of figures; if the cap is not easily separable nor the gills free, look at the shape of the gills, and find on the chart a corresponding gill-shape. It is probable that the genus can thus be determined. Then turn to this genus in the text, read the heading, look over the “Analysis of Tribes,” go to the tribe nearest in designating the properties of the specimen; comparing the specimen with the descriptions of species given thereunder, will probably enable the seeker to decide upon its name.

It should be remembered that the descriptions in the text are of the xxxiispecimen or specimens which the author of the species saw. What the author says fixes the type of the species. Specimens of the species may, and very frequently do, vary greatly from the type. If the first attempt to fix the genus is not satisfactory, try again, and keep on trying until reasonably sure. The amateur will find, however good an opinion may exist in his mind of the stock of patience on hand, that the territory of patience has just been reached.

An excellent blank form for “Collectors’ Notes” is published by the Boston Mycological Club, at one cent. It is desirable that there should be uniformity in collectors’ notes, and that they should be as full as possible. A form of this, or a similar kind, should be filled in and kept, and should also be used when specimens are sent to an expert for identification. Such specimens should be fresh, wrapped separately in tissue paper, numbered, and a few should be packed in a box that will not crush in the mail. The address of the sender should be upon the outside. The collector’s notes should be sent in a letter, with a postage stamp for reply enclosed. If the specimens have to go a great distance, they should be partially dried in a slow, open oven, or they will be a rotten mass when they reach their destination.

There is but one way by which to determine the edibility of a species. If it looks and smells inviting, and its species can not be determined, taste a very small piece. Do not swallow it. Note the effect on the tongue and mouth. But many species, delicious when cooked, are not inviting raw. Cook a small piece; do not season it. Taste again; if agreeable eat it (unless it is an Amanita). After several hours, no unpleasant effect arising, cook a larger piece, and increase the quantity until fully satisfied as to its qualities. Never vary from this system, no matter how much tempted. No possible danger can arise from adhering firmly to it. Recipes for preparing, cooking and serving are given in chapter on cooking.

It is better for the student to first become familiar with the common species, one at a time, than to attempt tracing the rare or many. Worry, fatigue and uncertainty are plentiful in an indiscriminate gathering of fungi. One species a day, properly traced and named, means learning three hundred and sixty-five species a year.

xxxiiiUnfamiliar terms will be encountered in the descriptive text. The Glossary defines them; and not only those in this book, but, it is believed, all those found in other books upon fungi. Where possible throughout the text, botanical terms have been anglicized. The meanings of those remaining unchanged should be memorized. It is quite as easy, and far better, to learn the botanical names of species and their characteristics, as to learn their common names; easier in fact, for the common names often vary with locality. The writer received a letter from an Alsatian living in St. Louis, telling him of favorite fungi he used to eat when in his own country. To all he gave local names, not one of which could be referred to the particular species meant.

Success and pleasure in the study of fungi will attend the student who observes carefully and who systematically records that which is observed.

xxxviii

Plate III.

PROGRESSIVE GROWTH OF AGARICS.

Figs.

A. B. C. D. E. Stages of development of an agaric.

F. Gills shedding spores.

Figs.

A. Spore-print.

G. Section of gill magnified.

xxxix

Plate IV.

GILL SHAPES.

Fig. 1. Gills as veins; infundibuliform.

2. Gills rounded in front (anteriorly.)

3. Gills rounded behind (posteriorly.)

4. Gills lanceolate.

5. Gills ventricose.

6. Gills unequal; cap convex.

7. Gills adnexed.

8. Gills emarginate, also adnate and having decurrent tooth.

Fig. 9. Gills serrate.

10. Gills flexuose; waved.

11. Gills dichotomous.

12. Gills free; cap broadly umbonate.

13. Gills narrow; cap margin reflexed.

14. Gills slightly adnexed; cap umbonate; margin involute.

15. Gills decurrent; cap umbilicate.

xl

Plate V.

RING SHAPES AND POSITIONS; VOLVA SHAPES.

Fig. 1. Ring superior, broad.

2. Ring medial, pendulous.

3. Ring inferior (low down).

4. Ring narrow, fragments appendiculate.

5. Ring fibrillose.

Fig. 6. Ring persistent, sometimes movable.

7. Volva free.

8. Volva separating, circumscissile.

9. Volva irregularly, circumscissile.

10. Volva friable, disappearing.

Cohort HYMENOMYCETES. Gr.—a membrane, a fruit-bearing surface; Gr.—a mushroom. (So called from the hymenium or fruit-bearing surface.)

Fungi composed of membranes, fleshy, woody or gelatinous, growing on wood or on the ground. The hymenium or spore-bearing surface exposed at an early stage. The spores are borne on basidia, spread over the surface. The common mushroom is typical of the family. All the members resemble it, more or less, in organization and reproductive organs. These latter, in the mushroom, are spread over lamellæ or gills. The spores, after ripening and dissemination, germinate and produce a mycelium or thread-like vine, which in turn develops the spore-producing part of the plant. Hymenomycetes is divided into the following six Families:—

FAMILY I.—AGARICACEÆ.

In the Agaricaceæ the hymenium is spread over lamellæ or gills which radiate from a center or stem. The gills are composed of a double membrane, and are simple or branched.

The parts of an Agaric may all be present as in Amanitæ, or severally absent in other genera. When the young fungus is entirely enclosed in a wrapper or case, this case is called the universal veil. When this veil is ruptured by the growth of the stem, that part which remains 2attached to the base is called the volva. The membrane reaching from the stem to the margin of the cap is the partial veil; when it ruptures by the expansion of the cap and all or a portion adheres to and about the stem it forms the annulus or ring. In some species one or both veils may be present, or one or both may be absent.

The stem is central when supporting the cap at its center; excentric when at one side of the center; lateral when it supports the cap from the side. If the stem is absent, the cap is said to be sessile; if the cap is horizontal and supported by a broad base it is dimidiate; if attached to its place of growth by its back it is resupinate.

Genera are largely distinguished by the manner in which the gills are attached to the stem. These distinguishing attachments are shown in the plates illustrating genera and in Plate IV. Gill-shapes.

For convenience Agaricaceæ is divided by the color of the spores into five series: white, pink, brown, purple, black. The last two, owing to the similarity of hue, are by some writers (preferably) included in the black-spored series. Spore color is a valuable assistant in determining species.

Series I. LEUCOSPORÆ. Gr.—white; Gr.—seed.

Spores white, rarely dingy or inclining to reddish. In the genus Russula the spores of some species are white, in some cream-color, and in several pale ochraceous. Variations from pure white are found in the spores of Tricholoma personatum and a few other species. Gill-color is not a guide to spore-color. Purple, yellow, brown, pinkish gills may produce white spores.

AMANITA.

Universal veil (volva), which is at first continuous (completely enveloping the young plant), distinct from the skin of the cap. Hymenophore or cap, the part which bears the spore-bearing surface, distinct and easily separable from the stem, which leaves a socket in the flesh when it is removed. All growing upon the ground. Fries.

(Plate VII.)

Section of Amanita Phalloides.

Pileus somewhat fleshy, convex then expanded. Gills free. Universal veil at first enclosing the entire plant, which as it grows bursts 3through, generally carrying the upper part on the pileus, where it appears as patches or scales, the remainder enclosing the stem at the base as a volva, either in a cup-like form, closely adherent or friable and evanescent. The partial veil in youth extends from the stem to the margin of the pileus, enclosing the gills; when ruptured it depends from the stem as a ring. Stem furnished with a ring, and different in substance from that of the pileus. Spores white.

On the ground.

The nearest allied genus, Amanitopsis, is separated by the absence of a ring, and Lepiota by its lack of a volva; Volvaria, Acetabularia and Chitonia, possessing volvas, are distinguished by the color of their spores.

Amanitæ are the most beautiful and conspicuous of fungi. While there are comparatively few species of them, the individual members are plentiful in appearing from spring until the coming of frost. They are solitary or gregarious in growth. Occasionally two or three are found together. They frequent woods, groves, copse, margins of woods and land recently cleared of trees. They are seldom found in open fields. A careful study of all their botanic points should be the first duty of the student of fungi. Familiarity with every characteristic of the Amanitæ will insure against fatal toadstool poisoning, for it is the well-grounded belief of those who have made thorough investigation that, with the exception of Helvella esculenta, now Gyromitra esculenta, the Amanitæ, alone, contain deadly poisons.

No Amanita, or piece of one, should be eaten before its identity is fully established and its qualities ascertained by referring to the descriptions herein given or to the opinion of an expert.

They are the aristocrats of fungi. Their noble bearing, their beauty, their power for good or evil, and above all their perfect structure, have placed them first in their realm; and they proudly bear the three badges 4of their clan and rank—the volva or sheath from which they spring, the kid-like apron encircling their waists, and patch-marks of their high birth upon their caps. In their youth, when in or just appearing above the ground, they are completely invested with a membrane or universal veil, which is distinct and free from the skin of the cap. As the plant grows the membrane stretches and finally bursts. It sometimes ruptures in one place only and remains about the base of the stem as the volva. When such a rupture occurs the caps are smooth. In most species portions of the volva remain upon the cap as scruff or warts—pointed or rough—or as feathery adornment; any or all of which may in part or whole vanish with age or be washed away by rain.

Extending from the stem to the margin of the cap, and covering the gills, is the partial veil—a membranaceous, white texture of varying thickness. As the cap expands this veil tears from it. Portions frequently remain pendant from the edges, the rest contracts to the stem as a ring, or droops from it as a surrounding ruffle, or, if of slight consistency, may be fugacious and disappear, but marks, remains, or the veil itself will always be traceable upon the stem.

The Amanitæ are of all colors, from the brilliant orange of the A. Cæsarea, the rich scarlet or crimson of the A. muscaria, to the pure white of the A. phalloides in its white form.

Their stems are usually long, and taper from the base toward the top. In some forms the base is distinctly bulbous. The volva at the base is attached to the stem at its lower extremity. It may be visible as a cup or ruptured pouch with spreading mouth, or it may be of such friable texture as to appear like mealy scales. Often, when the plant is pulled from the ground, the volva remains, but the marks of its attachment will appear and should be carefully looked for. Their gills are commonly white, are of equal length and radiate from near the stem, which they do not reach, to the circumference of the cap. They are white, unless tinged with age, excepting upon A. Cæsarea and A. Frostiana where they are yellow.^[B] Their caps are umbrella-shaped, flat or convex. Their flesh is white, does not change color when bruised. They are scentless and almost tasteless when fresh, when old they have a slightly offensive odor and taste.

The family is not a large one, not over thirty members complete its circle. Every feature, every part of its several members, should be thoroughly known before the intimacy of eating. While at least nine 5of the family are not only edible but delicate and sapid, far better will it be to leave all alone than to make a mistake. A piece of a poisonous variety the size of a dime will often cause serious disorders if eaten. Many persons have died from eating very small quantities.

Because of its ovate or button-like form when young, it is frequently mistaken for the common field mushroom; even experienced mycophagists have been deceived by it. No other poison has so puzzled scientists. Other varieties of fungi may interfere with digestion, but to the Amanitæ all deaths from toadstool-eating are traceable. Its subtle alkaloid is absorbed by the system, and in most cases lies unsuspected for from six to twelve hours, then its iron grip holds to the death. For centuries it has defied all remedies. The problem has been partially solved. At Shenandoah, Pa., August 31, 1885, a family of five were poisoned by toadstools; two died, three lived. Noting the sad account in the newspapers, I at once wrote to Shenandoah for specimens of the fungi eaten and a description of the treatment. I promptly received from Dr. J.E. Schadle (now Professor Schadle), the physician in charge of the cases, a box containing two harmless varieties and several fine specimens of the Amanita phalloides, all of which were gathered on the same spot and by the same person who gathered the toadstools doing the poisoning. They told the tale. A remarkably full and interesting account of the cases was sent to me by Dr. Schadle. After exhausting all other remedies, and after two of the five had died, he administered subcutaneously, by hypodermic injection, sulphate of atropine—a product of the deadly nightshade analagous to belladonna—¹⁄₁₈₀ to ¹⁄₆₀ of a grain at a dose. It proved to be an antidote and saved the lives of the remaining three.

The action of atropine in arresting the deadly work of poisoning by amanitine had been foreshadowed by Schmidberg and Koppe, and dwelt upon in numerous published articles by Mr. Julius A. Palmer, to whom more than any other is due the branding of the murderous members of the Amanita family; but for the first time atropine was used upon the human system to ward their blows.

All of the species herein described are found in the United States. Of the twenty-seven, nine are edible, nine are either known to be deadly or are so closely allied to deadly species that it is unsafe to class them as other than poisonous until absolute proof is obtained of their harmlessness. 6The remaining nine I have not seen, neither is there any record of their qualities.

* Volva opening at the top or splitting all around, leaving a manifest, free border at the base of the stem. Pileus naked or with broad membranaceous patches.

** Volva splitting regularly all round the lower portion, persistent, more or less closely embracing the base of the bulbous stem. The upper portion being adnate to the pileus appears on it by expansion as scattered, thick warts.

*** Volva friable, entirely broken up into wart-like scales, therefore not persistent at the base of the stem, which is at first globose-bulbous, becoming less so as it lengthens. Pileus bearing mealy patches, soon disappearing or with small, hard, pointed warts.

**** Volva rudimentary, flocculose, wholly disappearing.

A. viro´sa Fr.—virus, poison.

Shining white. Pileus 3–4 in. broad, fleshy, at first conical and acute, afterwards bell-shaped, then expanded, naked, viscous in wet weather, shining when dry, margin always even, but most frequently unequal, turned backward and inflexed. Flesh white, unchangeable. Stem 4–6 in. long, wholly stuffed, almost solid, split up into longitudinal fibrils, cylindrical from the bulbous base, often compressed at the apex, torn into scales on the surface, springing from a lax, wide, thick volva, which bursts open at the apex. Ring close to the top, lax, silky, splitting up into floccose fragments. Gills free, thin, narrow, narrowing at both ends, but a little broader in front, not decurrent on the stem (although the apex of the stem is often striate), crowded, somewhat floccose at the edge. Fries.

The pilei are most frequently oblique, extended and lobed on one side as in Hygrophorous conicus, scarcely ever depressed. The pileus rarely becomes yellow. The fragments of the veil often adhere to the edge of the gills.

Grouped by F.D. Briscoe—Studies by C. McIlvaine.             Plate VI.

Fig.	Page.	Fig.	Page.
1. Amanita spreta,	11	4. Amanita muscaria,	14
2. Amanita phalloides (white var.),	7	5. Amanita frostiana,	16
3. Amanita phalloides (brown var.),	7	6. Gyromitra esculenta,	546

7In woods. Uncommon. August to October.

Fetid, poisonous. Stevenson.

Spores spheroid or subspheroid, 10–16µ, K.; 8µ W.P.; sub-globose, 8–10µ Massee.

POISONOUS.

I think it a variety of A. phalloides.

A. phalloi´des Fr. Gr.—phallus-like. (Plate VI, figs. 2, 3, p. 6.) Pileus 3–4 in. broad, commonly shining white or lemon-yellow, fleshy, oval bell-shaped, then expanded, obtuse, covered over with a pellicle which is viscid (not glutinous) in wet weather, naked, rarely sprinkled with one or two fragments of the volva, the regular margin even. Stem 3–5 in. long, ½ in. and more thick, solid downward, bulbous, hollow and attenuated upward, rather smooth, white. Ring superior, reflexed, slightly striate, swollen, commonly entire, white. Volva more or less buried in the soil, bulbous, semifree, bursting open in a torn manner at the apex, with a lax border. Gills free, ventricose, 4 lines broad, shining white. Fries.

Pileus very variable in color, commonly white or yellow (A. citrina Pers.), becoming green (A. viridis Pers.), olivaceous and occasionally variegated with tiger spots; in late autumn with the disk almost black but whitish round the margin. Odor somewhat fetid, but little remarkable as compared with that of A. virosa.

In woods. Frequent. August to November.

A very POISONOUS and dangerous species. Stevenson.

Spores 8–9µ W.G.S.; 8–10µ B.; 7–9µ diam. Massee; globose, 7.6×6µ Peck.

Pileus at first ovate or subcampanulate, then expanded, slightly viscid when young and moist, smooth or rarely adorned by a few fragments of the volva, even on the margin, white, yellowish-brown or blackish-brown. Lamellæ rather broad, rounded behind, free, white. Stem equal or slightly tapering upward, stuffed or hollow, smooth or slightly floccose, ringed, bulbous, the ruptured volva either appressed loose or merely forming a narrow margin to the bulb.

Plant 4–8 in. high. Pileus 2–5 in. broad. Stem 3–6 lines thick.

This species is common and variable. It occurs everywhere in woods and assumes such different colors that the inexperienced mycologist is apt to mistake its different forms for distinct species. With us the prevailing 8colors of the pileus are white, yellowish-white, grayish-brown and blackish-brown. It is remarkable that the form with a greenish pileus, which seems to be common enough in Europe, does not occur here. Fries also mentions a form having a white pileus with a black disk. A somewhat similar form occurs here, in which the pileus is grayish-brown with a black disk. Some of the variously colored forms were formerly taken to be distinct species, in consequence of which several synonyms have arisen, of which A. virescens Fl. Dan., Amanita viridis Pers., and Amanita citrina Pers., are examples. A. verna Bull. is a variety having a white pileus, a rather thick annulus and an appressed volva. It sometimes occurs early in the season; hence the specific name. It also occurs late in the season and runs into the typical form so that it is not easy to keep it distinct. The flesh and the lamellæ are white, the stem is white, pallid or brownish, and the annulus is either white or brownish. The bulb is generally very broad and abrupt or depressed, though it sometimes is small and approaches an ovate form. The large bulbs are sometimes split externally in two or three places and are, therefore, two- or three-lobed. In such cases the volva is less persistent than usual and its free portion then furnishes merely an acute edge or narrow margin to the bulb. Specimens sometimes occur in which the margin of the pileus is narrowly adorned with a slight woolly hairiness, but usually it is perfectly smooth and even. By this character, taken in connection with the membranous volva and bulbous base of the stem, the species is readily distinguished. Sometimes a strong odor is emitted by it, but usually the odor is slight. Authors generally pronounce this a poisonous and very dangerous species. Its appearance is attractive, but its use as food is to be avoided. Peck, 33d Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Common in woods and recently cleared woodlands. Frequent over the United States. June to frost.

An exceedingly poisonous, dangerous, seductive species, responsible for most of the deaths from toadstool eating; because in its white form it is mistaken for the common mushroom—Agaricus campester. The real fault is with the collector, who should never eat any fungus found in the woods, believing it to be the mushroom. The mushroom does not grow in the woods. Neither has it white gills, nor white spores, nor a volva at the base of the stem as have Amanitæ.

The caps of A. phalloides vary in color—white, oyster-color, smoky 9brown. The color of the commonest form is from white to a light hue of greenish yellow. The center of the cap, whatever may be the prevailing color, is usually several shades darker. In shape, the cap changes from a knob in youth, through the shapes of expansion, until it becomes fully spread, when it is umbrella-shaped, or almost flat. Some forms have a slightly raised portion or umbo in the center of the cap. The gills are white, of good width, rounded next to the stem and free from it.

The stem conforms in color to the cap, but in lighter shades. White-capped varieties have white stems. The stem has a sudden broad, distinct bulb at the base. On the upper side of the bulb there is usually a margin or rim. The stem tapers more or less toward the cap, from which it is easily separable. The cup, wrapper or volva is torn or split or irregular at the upper part, and is not pressed to the stem as in some forms.

Professor Peck, in his 48th Report, gives the following excellent synopsis of differences between the poisonous Amanita and edible fungi, for which it could only by great stupidity be mistaken:

Poison amanita. Gills persistently white. Stem equal to or longer than the diameter of the cap, with a broad, distinct bulb at the base.

Common mushroom. Gills pink, becoming blackish-brown. Stem shorter than the diameter of the cap, with no bulb at the base.

From all forms of the edible Sheathed amanitopsis the Poison amanita differs in its distinctly bulbous stem, in having a collar on the stem and in the absence of striations on the margin of the cap.

From the edible Reddish amanita, it is easily separated by the entire absence of any reddish hues or stains and of warts upon its cap.

From the Smooth lepiota its distinct, abrupt and marginal bulb at once distinguishes it.

A. ver´na Bull.—vernus, of spring. A variety of A. phalloides. POISONOUS. White. Pileus ovate then expanded, somewhat depressed, viscid, margin orbicular, even. Stem stuffed then hollow, equal, floccose, closely sheathed with the free border of the volva. Ring reflexed, swollen. Gills free. Pileus glabrous, even on the margin, white, viscid when moist. Gills white. Stem ringed, white, floccose, stuffed or hollow, closely sheathed at the base by the remains of the membranous volva, bulbous. Spores globose, 8µ broad.

10In woods. Spring and summer.

The Vernal Amanita scarcely differs from white forms of the A. phalloides except in the more persistent and more closely sheathing remains of the wrapper at the base of the stem. It is probably only a variety of that species, as most mycologists now regard it, and it should be considered quite as dangerous. I have not found it earlier than in July, although in Europe it is said to appear in spring, as its name implies. Peck, 48th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Common over the United States. West Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, May to November. It appeared at Mt. Gretna, Pa., on May 28, 1899. McIlvaine.

The absence of a ring separates white forms of A. volvata and A. vaginata.

The virulence of its poison is the same as that of A. phalloides.

A. magnivela´ris Pk.—magnus, large; velum, veil. Pileus convex or nearly plane, glabrous, slightly viscid when moist, even on the margin, white or yellowish-white. Gills close, free, white. Stem long, nearly equal, glabrous, white, furnished with a large membranous white annulus, sheathed at the base by the appressed remains of the membranous volva, the bulbous base tapering downward and radicating. Spores broadly elliptical, 10×6–8µ.

Pileus 3–5 in. broad. Stem 5–7 in. long, 4–6 lines thick.

Solitary in woods. Port Jefferson, Suffolk county. July.

The species resembles Amanita verna, from which it is separated by its large persistent annulus, the elongated downwardly tapering bulb of its stem, and especially by its elliptical spores. Peck, 50th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

I have not seen this species. Its resemblance to A. verna is enough to place the ban upon it until it has been tested.

A. map´pa Fr.—mappa, a napkin. From the volva. Pileus 2–3 in. broad, commonly white or becoming yellow, slightly fleshy, convexo-plane, obtuse or depressed, orbicular, dry, margin for the most part even. Stem 2–3 in. long, 3–5 lines thick, stuffed then hollow, almost equal above the bulb, rather smooth, white. Ring superior, soft, lax, here and there torn. Volva regularly circularly split, somewhat obliterated; the globoso-bulbous base united with the stem, with an acute 11and distant margin; the portion covering the pileus divided into broad, irregular, somewhat separating scales. Gills annexed, crowded, narrow, shining, white. Fries.

Odor stinking. The color is that of A. phalloides, with which A. virosa exactly agrees, more rarely straw color, lemon-yellow, becoming green.

In mixed woods. Frequent. Stevenson.

Spores spheroid, 7–10µ K.; 8–9×6–8µ B.; subglobose, 7–9µ diameter Massee.

New York woods and fields, common, September to October, Peck, 22d Rep.; North Carolina, Curtis; New England, Frost; Minnesota, Johnson; Ohio, Morgan; District Columbia, Miss Taylor.

POISONOUS.

Probably but a variety of A. phalloides.

A. spre´ta Pk.—spreta, hated. (Plate VI, fig. 1, p. 6.) Pileus subovate, then convex or expanded, smooth or adorned with a few fragments of the volva, substriate on the margin, whitish or pale-brown. Gills close, reaching the stem, white. Stem equal, smooth, annulate, stuffed or hollow, whitish, finely striate at the top from the decurrent lines of the lamellæ, not bulbous at the base, but the volva rather large, loose, subochreate. Spores elliptical, generally with a single large nucleus, 10–13×6–8µ.

Plant 4–6 in. high. Pileus 3–5 in. broad. Stem 4–6 lines thick.

Ground in open places. Sandlake and Gansevoort. August. Peck, 32d Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

This is a dangerous species, because containing a deadly poison and resembling the most common forms of Amanitopsis, therefore likely to be mistaken for them. Specimens sent by me to Professor Peck were identified as his species. I add my own description.

Pileus oval, broadly umbonate, date-brown toward and on umbo, soft, dry, smooth, more or less sulcate on edge. Flesh white, thin, except at center. Stem tapers rapidly above ring and at base, white-reddish-brown toward middle, narrows toward volva from which it is almost free at the base, hollow, furfuraceous above ring. Gills white, crowded, free. Ring white, thin, persistent, but at times hard to distinguish because clinging to stem. Volva free, fitting close, upper 12margin thin, lower part quite thick, making stem appear bulbous, which it is not. White forms occur.

Not as virulent as A. phalloides, but like it in its POISONOUS effects. It differs from Amanitopsis in having a ring.

Grows in woods and on wood-margins.

Angora woods, West Philadelphia. On ground in mixed woods, open and grassy places in wood and wood-margins. August to September. McIlvaine.

A. recuti´ta Fr.—having a fresh or new skin. Pileus convex then plane, dry, smooth, frequently bearing fragments of the volva, margin nearly even. Stem stuffed then hollow, attenuated, silky, volva circumscissile, becoming obliterated, margin closely pressed to stem; ring distant, white. Gills striate-decurrent.

In pine woods. Common.

No report upon quality.

A. Cæsa´rea Scop.—king-like. (Called by the Greeks Cibus Deorum, food of the gods.) CAUTION. Pileus 3–8 in. across, hemispherical, then expanded, free from warts, distinctly striate on the margin, red or orange becoming yellow. Gills free, yellow. Stem 4–6 in. long, up to ¾ in. thick at base, slightly tapering upward, yellowish, flocculose, stuffed with white fibrils or hollow, with a conspicuous yellowish ring or veil. Volva white, large, distinct and membranous. Spores elliptical, 8–10µ Peck.

Open woods, under pines on lawns. July to October.

Reported from North Carolina, South Carolina, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, Alabama, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, New York. Peck, Rep. 23, 32, 33, 48.

This emperor of fungi is the most showy of its race. It grows to 10 in. in height. The cap reaches 8 in. in diameter and the stem over 1½ in. in thickness. In very much smaller specimens about the same proportions occur. The cap is at first ovate, then hemispherical, then expanded. It has no warts or scales upon it. The margin is distinctly striate. The flesh is white, yellow or reddish under the skin; next to the gills it is usually yellow.

The stem tapers upward from the socket at its base. It is yellowish and covered with loose fibrils of darker hue. The ring is white, but 13frequently tinged with yellow. In taste and smell it is mild. Open woods is its favorite habitat, yet it is found growing luxuriantly under pines, maples, elms, on lawns. It is not often found, but when it is, it is solitary, or in groups or rings. In the latitude of Philadelphia it is found from July until October 1st. Further south its stay conforms to temperature, and it is more frequent. There is no doubt of its rare edibility abroad, and of its being eaten in America.

A specimen believed to be it should never be eaten until carefully distinguished from A. muscaria and A. Frostiana, which have warts or scales on the cap (which sometimes are not discernible after rain), white gills, and a volva which soon breaks up into fragments or scabs.

Appearing like a small form of A. muscaria, to which it was formerly referred, is A. Frostiana Pk. (Frost’s Agaric). It closely resembles small A. Cæsarea, especially in the yellow tinge of stem, ring and gills. The volva and ring (persistent in A. Cæsarea) soon disappear, but are traceable by fluffy fragments, or yellow stains. It is extremely poisonous.

The differences, concisely, are these: A. Cæsarea (Orange Amanita). Cap smooth, though occasionally with a few fragments of the volva as patches upon it. Gills yellow. Stem yellow. Volva usually persistent, sometimes breaking up into soft, fluffy masses.

A. muscaria (Fly Amanita). Poisonous. Cap covered with remains of the volva as scales or wart-like patches. Gills white. Stem white or light-yellow. Volva not persistent, breaking up into fluffy fragments or scales.

A. Frostiana. Poisonous. Smaller and more delicate than the two preceding. Cap smooth or with yellow scales or wart-like patches. Gills yellow or tinged on edge with yellow. Stem white or yellow, the ring evanescent, but always leaving a yellow mark on stem. Volva yellow, breaking up into yellow fluffy fragments.

Far better for the amateur to let the A. Cæsarea, and anything resembling it, respectfully alone.

New York, Gansvoort. Circle forty feet in diameter. Peck, 32d Rep.; Maryland. There is not a doubt that this fungus can be eaten with impunity, Banning; Alabama, abundant. Edible. Alabama Bull. No. 80.

Rogues and Cordier, French writers, regard it as the finest and most delicate of fungi, the perfume and taste being exquisite.

14The writer has not had opportunity to eat A. Cæsarea. If such should occur he would go about it very cautiously. No suspicion attaches to it abroad, but evidence is accumulating in the hands of the writer (not yet convincing) that either locality may render it poisonous or that A. muscaria varies so much in appearance as to deceive even the expert into mistaking it for A. Cæsarea. It is possible that A. muscaria is, at times, in certain localities, harmless; but no such exception as this is noted in the entire fungoid realm. It is not so common that collectors should mourn its waste. It is better, far, to let it alone.

A. musca´ria Linn.—musca, a fly. (Plate VI, fig. 4, p. 6. Plate IX.) POISONOUS. Pileus 4 in. and more broad, normally at first blood-red, soon orange and becoming pale, whitening when old, globose, then convex and at length flattened, covered with a pellicle which is at first thick, and in wet weather glutinous, but which gradually disappears, and sprinkled with thick, angular, separating fragments of the volva; margin when full-grown slightly striate. Flesh not compact, white, yellow under the pellicle. Stem as much as a span long, shining white, firm, torn into scales, at first stuffed with lax, spider-web fibrils, soon hollow; the adnate base of the volva forms an ovate bulb, which is marginate with concentric scales. Ring very soft, torn, even, inserted at the apex of the stem, which is often dilated. Gills free, but reaching the stem, decurrent in the form of lines, crowded, broader in front, white, rarely becoming yellow.

Var. rega´lis, twice as large. Stem stuffed, solid when young, as much as 1–2 in. thick, becoming light-yellow within; the volva terminates in 8–10 concentric squamoso-reflexed rows of scales. Pileus very glutinous, bay-brown or the color of cooked liver. Gills yellowish.

Var. formo´sa, soft, fragile. Pileus at first lemon-yellow, with mealy, lax, yellowish, easily-separating warts, often naked. Gills often becoming yellow. A. formosa, with the warts rubbed off.

Var. umbri´na, thinner and more slender. Stem hollow, often twisted, bulb narrowed. Pileus at first umber, then livid, with the exception of the disk, which is dingy-brown. Gills at length remote. Stev.

Photographed by Dr. J.R. Weist.                  Plate IX.
AMANITA MUSCARIA.

Pileus at first ovate or hemispherical, then broadly convex or nearly plane, slightly viscid when young and moist, rough with numerous 15whitish or yellowish warts, rarely smooth, narrowly and slightly striate on the margin, white, yellow or orange-red. Gills white. Stem equal or slightly tapering upward, stuffed with webby fibrils or hollow, bearing a white ring above, ovate-bulbous at the base, white or yellowish; the volva usually breaking up into scales and adhering to the upper part of the bulb and the base of the stem. Spores elliptical, 8–10x6–8µ.

Plant 5–8 in. high. Pileus 3–6 in. broad. Peck, 33d Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

A white variety, with the pileus thickly studded with sharp warts, occurs in Albany Rural Cemetery. July. Peck, 24th Rep.

Var. al´ba Pk. It also occurs on Long Island in two forms, the normal one and a smaller one, in which the warts of the pileus are evanescent or wanting. Not unfrequently it makes a close approach to white forms of A. pantherina, in having the upper part of the bulb uniformly margined by the remains of the definitely circumscissile volva, but this margin is more acute than in that species. Peck, 46th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Spores spheroid-ellipsoid, 10–12x8–9µ K.; 6x9µ, W.G.S.; elliptical, 8–10x6–8µ Peck.

“At Cincinnati, yellow A. muscaria are all we find.” Lloyd.

Reported from most of the states. At Mt. Gretna I found it in great quantity, and frequently three or four tightly crowded together. Many pounds of it were sent to Professor Chittenden, Sheffield Laboratory, Yale University. Near Haddonfield, N.J., large patches annually grow under pines, gorgeous in their rich orange-red caps, usually scaly, with at times lemon-yellow in the same clusters, smooth as A. Cæsarea. It grows from July until after hard frosts.

It is undoubtedly poisonous to a high degree. Its juices in minute quantity, carefully and scientifically injected into the circulation of etherized cats, kill in less than a minute. A raw piece of the cap, the size of a hazel nut, affects me sensibly if taken on an empty stomach. Dizziness, nausea, exaggeration of vision and pallor result from it. The pulse quickens and is full, and a dreaded pressure affects the breathing. I have not noticed change in the pupil of the eye. Nicotine from smoking a pipe with me abates the symptoms, which entirely disappear in two hours, leaving as reminiscence a torturing, dull, skull-pervading headache. If, as is asserted on good authority, the Siberians use it as an intoxicant, they certainly suffer the accustomed penalty. 16It is possible that persons may, in a degree, become immune to its poison, as they do to arsenic, strychnia, opium, nicotine, or it may be that a portion of the poison is extracted by boiling. It is, however, extremely dangerous to rely upon extracting by any means the poison of the Amanita, and to eat the residue. Acetic acid or vinegar does not destroy the poison; it dissolves it to an extent and extracts it, and becomes as poisonous as the plant itself. There is no means of telling how much of the poison remains in the plant after such treatment. The safe plan is to eat, only, of toadstools which do not contain any poison to extract.

One redeeming virtue, alone, rests with A. muscaria—it kills flies.

A. Frost´iana Pk.—in honor of Charles C. Frost. POISONOUS. (Plate VI, fig. 5, p. 6.) Pileus convex or expanded, bright-orange or yellow, warty, sometimes nearly or quite smooth, striate on the margin. Gills free, white or slightly tinged with yellow. Stem white or yellow, stuffed, bearing a slight, sometimes evanescent ring, bulbous at the base, the bulb slightly margined by the volva. Spores globose, 8–10µ in diameter.

Plant 2–3 in. high. Pileus 1–2 in. broad. Stem about 2 lines thick. June to October.

This appears like a very small form of the Fly Agaric, to which, as var. minor, it was formerly referred. The only decided characters for distinguishing it are its small size and globose spores. Our plant sometimes grows in company with A. muscaria, but it seems to prefer more dense woods, especially mixed or hemlock woods. It is generally very regular and beautiful and has the stem quite often of a yellow color, and the bulb margined above with a collar-like ring. Peck, 33d Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

West Virginia, New Jersey, North Carolina, McIlvaine.

A. Frostiana is found well over the land. It is frequent in shady woods and seems to favor ground under the prevailing tree—oak, chestnut, pine, hemlock, whichever it may be. From the many hundreds I have seen, I think it more likely to be mistaken by the novice for A. Cæsarea than A. muscaria, because of its often yellow gills and stem. It is much smaller and thinner than either. In the states I have found it, it is darker than described, being a rich reddish-orange or scarlet. The partial veil or ring is very evanescent but often found upon the 17stem as a yellow, floccose remnant. The stain of the ring is always noticeable. The volva is seldom found entire. It, too, is evanescent, but, like the veil, is found yellow and fluffy, adhering to the fingers when touched.

It is probable that its highly colored cap has caused it to be gathered by the careless collector of bright-capped Russulæ, and that thus R. emetica got its bad name. Examine carefully any toadstool resembling it. The Russulæ have neither ring nor volva.

A. excel´sa Fr.—excelsus, tall. POISONOUS. Pileus 4–5 in. broad, brownish-gray, darker in the center, fleshy, soft, globose, then plane, pellicle thin, but viscous, and in reality separable in wet weather, then the surface is often wrinkled-papillose, or in a peculiar manner hollowed and pitted, sprinkled with angular, unequal, whitish-gray, easily separating warts, the remains of the friable volva; margin at first even, but when properly developed manifestly striate, even furrowed. Flesh soft, white throughout, unchangeable. Stem 4–6 in. long, 1 in. thick, at first stuffed, almost solid, but at length hollow, globose-depressed at the base, attenuated upward from the bulb, covered, sometimes as far as the ring, sometimes only on the lower part with dense, squarrose, concentric scales (from the epidermis of the stem being torn), striate at the apex. Ring superior, large, separating-free or at length torn. Gills quite free, rounded (not decurrent on the stem in the form of lines), very ventricose, ½ in. and more broad, shining white.

The bulb when young is somewhat marginate, but by no means separable, the margin proper, like that of A. muscaria, is marked with scales, buried in the soil, somewhat rooting, beneath the margin marked here and there with a concentric furrow. The shorter gills intermixed are more numerous than is usual among Amanitæ. There is a smaller variety, with the margin more frequently striate and the stem stuffed, then hollow. Fries.

Solitary, in woods, chiefly under beech. Stevenson.

Spores 6x9µ W.G.S.; 8–9×5–6µ Massee.

North Carolina, Schweinitz, Curtis; South Carolina, Ravenel; California, Harkness and Moore; Massachusetts, Frost, Andrews; Minnesota, Johnson; Rhode Island, Olney.

A. pantheri´na De C.—spotted like a panther. Doubtful. Pileus 18commonly olivaceous-umber when young, fleshy, convex then flattened or somewhat depressed, with a sticky pellicle, which is at first thick and olivaceous dingy-brown, then thinned out, almost disappearing and livid, the disk only becoming brownish; margin evidently striate; the fragments of the volva divided into small, equal, white, regularly arranged, moderately persistent warts. Flesh wholly white, never yellow beneath the pellicle. Stem 3–4 in. long, ½ in. thick, at first stuffed then hollow with spider-web fibrils within, equal or attenuated upward, slightly firm and sometimes scaly downward, greaved at the base by the separable volva which has an entire and obtuse margin. Ring more or less distant, adhering obliquely, white, rarely superior. Gills free, reaching the stem, broader in front, 3–4 lines broad, shining white.

It is readily distinguished from A. muscaria, var. umbrina, by the white flesh never becoming yellow beneath the pellicle. Variable in size and color, which, however, is never red or yellow, and in the position of the ring.

In woods and pastures. Stevenson.

Spores 7–8×4–5µ K.; 6–10µ B.; 8×4µ W.G.S.; 7.6×4.8µ Morgan.

Not poisonous, W.G.S.; not edible, Roze; poisonous, Leuba.

North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio, California, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, New York. Peck.

A. Ravenel´ii B. and C.—in honor of Henry W. Ravenel. Pileus 4 in. across, convex, broken up into distinct areas, each of which is raised into an acute, rigid, pyramidal wart. Stem 3 in. high, bulbous. Volva thick, warty, somewhat lobed. Ring deflexed.

South Carolina, June, H.W. Ravenel; a very fine species allied to A. strobiliformis, Vitt. Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 1859; Alabama, Atkinson (Ll. Volvæ).

Properties not stated.

A. russuloi´des Pk.—resembling a Russula. Pileus at first ovate, then expanded or convex, rough with a few superficial warts, or entirely smooth, viscid when moist, widely striate-tuberculate on the margin, pale-yellow or straw color. Gills close, free, narrowed toward the stem, white. Stem firm, smooth, stuffed, annulate, equal or slightly tapering upward, bulbous; annulus thin, soon vanishing. Volva fragile, subappressed. Spores broadly elliptical, 10×8µ.

19Plant 2–3 in. high. Pileus 1.5–2 in. broad. Stem 3–5 lines thick. Grassy ground in open woods. Greenbush. June.

This species is remarkable for the thin striate-tuberculate margin of the pileus, which causes it to resemble some species of Russula. Peck, 25th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Qualities not stated.

Massachusetts, Francis.

Grouped by F.D. Briscoe—Studies by C. McIlvaine.           Plate VIII.

Fig.	Page.
1. Amanita chlorinosma,	25
2. Amanita rubescens and section,	21
3. Amanita strobiliformis,	19

A. strobilifor´mis Vitt.—strobilis, a pine-cone, from the shape of the warts. (Plate VIII, fig. 3, p. 18.) Cap 3–10 in. across, convex or nearly plane, white or cinereous, sometimes yellow on the disk, rough with angular, mostly persistent warts which sometimes fall away and leave the pileus nearly smooth; generally whitish, sometimes tinged with brown; the margin even and extending a little beyond the lamellæ. Gills free, rounded behind. Veil large and portions sometimes adhere to margin of cap. Stem 3–8 in. long, up to 1¼ in. thick, equal or slightly tapering upward, solid, floccose-scaly, white, bulbous, the bulb very large, sometimes weighing a pound, margined above and furnished with one or two concentric furrows, somewhat pointed below, firmly and deeply imbedded in the earth, floccose-mealy when young.

Spores elliptical, 13–15×8–10µ Peck.

Open woods and borders. June to October.

Edible. W.G. Smith, Curtis, Peck.

This is among the best of species. Its size, solidity, flavor are marked. I have found specimens weighing a pound and a half. It grows singly, but when one is found several are apt to be neighbors. When young, the cap is but a small knob upon a beet or top-shaped base, which is largely under ground. It cuts like a soft turnip, and has a strong, pungent, unmistakable odor, like chloride of lime, which entirely disappears in cooking. As the plant develops the bulb decreases in size. On all the many specimens the author has seen and eaten, the scabs are light brown and reddish-brown.

A. solita´ria Bull.—growing alone. Pileus convex or plane, warty, white or whitish, even on the margin. Gills reaching the stem, white or slightly tinged with cream color. Stem at first mealy or scaly, equal, solid, white, bulbous, the bulb scaly or mealy, narrowed below into a root-like prolongation. Ring lacerated, often adhering in fragments to the margin of the pileus and gills. Spores elliptical-oblong, 8–13×6.5µ.

20Plant 4–8 in. high. Pileus 3–6 in. broad. Stem 4–6 lines thick. Peck, 33d Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Solitary in woods and open places. July to October.

Georgia, H.N. Starnes; Indiana, H.I. Miller; West Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, McIlvaine.

Edible. Curtis, H.N. Starnes, Philadelphia Myc. Club.

In many localities I find it quite plentiful, and it is so reported from Georgia. Southern and middle New Jersey woods abound with it, and at Mt. Gretna, Pa., it is always present in its growing months.

The cap is sometimes tinged with brown as are the angular, erect warts which are generally numerous, but often falling off or few and scattered. The flesh is white and smells like chloride of lime, but not nearly so strong as A. strobiliformis. The volva is broken up into floccose scales which cling to bulb and lower part of stem. These scales may be white and mealy or brownish. The entire fungus has a fluffy exterior, which is easily removed by rubbing. The annulus is torn, a part often adhering to the margin of the pileus and the gills. This and the long, tapering, rooting bulb are marked characteristics. The bulb is brittle. It is difficult to get the fungus from the ground entire.

Stem and cap are juicy, tender, mild in flavor, wholesome. It is not equal in flavor to A. rubescens, but is more delicate.

By many its properties have been stated as poisonous, doubtful. Quantities of it have been eaten by myself and friends. Hypodermic injection of its juices into the blood circulation of live animals prove it perfectly harmless.

A. can´dida Pk.—shining white. Pileus thin, broadly convex or nearly plane, verrucose with numerous small, erect, angular or pyramidal, easily separable warts, often becoming smooth with age, white, even on the margin. Flesh white. Gills rather narrow, close, reaching to the stem, white. Stem solid, bulbous, floccose-squamose, white, the annulus attached to the top of the stem, becoming pendent and often disappearing with age, floccose-squamose on the lower surface, striate on the upper, the bulb rather large, ovate, squamose, not margined, tapering above into the stem and rounded or merely abruptly pointed below. Spores elliptical, 10–13×8µ.

Pileus 3–6 in. broad. Stem 2.5–5 in. long, 5–8 lines thick, the bulb 1–1.5 in. thick in the dried specimens.

21This is a fine large species related to A. solitaria, but differing from it in the character of its bulb and of its annulus. The bulb is not marginate nor imbricately squamose. Its scales are small and numerous. Nor is it clearly radicating, though sometimes it has a slight abrupt point or myceloid-agglomerated mass of soil at its base. The veil or annulus is large and well developed, but it is apt to fall away and disappear with age. Its attachment at the very top of the stem brings it closely in contact with the lamellæ of the young plant and the striations of its upper surface appear to be due to the pressure of the edges of these upon it. It separates readily from the margin of the pileus and is not lacerated. In the mature plant the warts have generally disappeared from the pileus and sometimes its margin is curved upward Peck, Bull. Torr. Bot. Club, Vol. 24, No. 3.

Woods. Auburn, N.Y., Alabama, U. and E.; Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New Jersey, August to October, McIlvaine.

A dozen or more specimens were found in oak woods near Philadelphia, and carefully tested. Their edible qualities were found to be precisely the same as A. solitaria.

A. rubes´cens Pers.—rubesco, to become red. (Plate VIII, fig. 2, p. 18. Plate XII, fig. 4, p. 32.) Pileus about 4 in. broad, dingy-reddish, becoming pale flesh-color, tan, scarcely pure, fleshy, convex, then plane, obtuse, moist but not glutinous in rainy weather and opaque when dry, covered with unequal, soft, mealy, whitish, easily-separating warts, which are smaller, harder and more closely adherent in dry weather; margin even and, when old, slightly striate only in wet weather. Flesh commonly soft, white when fresh, reddening when broken. Stem 4–5 in. long, as much as 1 in. thick, stuffed, somewhat solid, though soft within, conico-attenuated from the thickened base, reddish-scaled, becoming red-white, and without a trace of a distinct volva at the base. Ring superior, large, membranaceous, soft, striate and white within. Gills reaching the stem in an attenuated manner, forming decurrent lines upon it, thin, crowded, soft, as much as ½ in. broad, shining white.

Very changeable, but readily distinguished from all others of the same group by the flesh being reddish when broken; the stem and pileus are commonly spotted-red when wounded. In dry weather it is firmer, flesh reddening more slowly, warts minute. Odor scarcely any. There 22is a remarkable variety circinata, pileus becoming plane, umber-brown, warts adnate, crowded, roundish. A. circinatus Schum. Stevenson.

Spores spheroid-ellipsoid, 7–8×6µ K.; 8×6µ W.G.S.; 7–9×6–8µ B.; elliptical, 8–9µ long. Peck.

Not reported west of the Mississippi river.

Oak woods, borders and open places. July to September. Indiana, H.I. Miller; West Virginia, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, McIlvaine.

It is quite common, often growing in large patches. Recent authors agree upon the edibility and deliciousness of this species. The author knows it to be one of the most plentiful, useful and delicious, after several years of pleasant experience with it.

In July, 1899, at Mt. Gretna, I found, growing from the ground gregariously, a singular fungoid growth from 2–5 in. high; cap hemispherical, 1 in. in diameter, tightly fitting a solid stem of nearly the diameter of the cap. The whole was watery white, and evidently affected by a parasite. It was edible. September 1st Professor Peck wrote to me: “I think I have found the identity of the diseased Agaric, of which you sent me samples some time ago. I mean the one affected by Hypomyces inæqualis Pk. The host is Amanita rubescens, at least sometimes, and probably always.”

The plant is very heavy for its size. The lack of a volva, the dingy color and reddish stains distinctly separate this from any poisonous Amanita.

A. spis´sa Fr.—compact, dense;—of the warts. Pileus umber, sooty or gray, fleshy, somewhat compact, convexo-plane, obtuse, smooth, even, but marked with small, ash-colored, angular, adnate warts; margin even, but often torn into fibers. Flesh firm, white, quite unchangeable. Stem 2–3 in. long, as much as 1 in. thick, solid, turnip-shaped at the base, somewhat rooting with a globoso-depressed not marginate bulb, curt, firm, shining white, at length squamulose with concentric cracks. Ring superior, large. Gills reaching the stem, slightly striato-decurrent, broad, crowded, shining white. Fries.

Spores 14µ W.G.S.; subglobose, 8–10µ C.B.P.; 6µ W.P.; rather pear-shaped, 9–10×6µ Massee.

Cap 2–3 in. across. Stem 2½-3 in. long, up to ¾ in. thick.

New Jersey, oak woods, August and September. McIlvaine.

23A. spissa has been reported from but few localities. It is rare in the latitude of Philadelphia. Half a dozen specimens have been found in neighboring New Jersey.

Taste and smell strong, but when cooked the dish is savory and not unlike one of A. rubescens.

A. as´pera Fr.—asper, rough. Pileus 2–3 in. across. Flesh rather thick at the disk, whitish, white or reddish with tints of livid or gray, reddish or brownish under the cuticle; convex then plane, margin thin and even, rough with firmly adnate, minute, closely crowded, angular warts, reddish-brown or livid-brownish, not pure white, unchangeable. Gills free and rounded behind, not striately decurrent, ventricose, white. Stem stuffed, striate above the ring, short at first, ovate, then elongating to 2–3 in., attenuated upward from a wrinkled bulb, squamulose, white without and within. Ring superior, entire.

Spores 8×6µ Massee; 8×6–7µ W.G.S.

The flesh of stem and bulb when eaten by insects is reddish, the bulb when old is a reddish-brown. The large ring and stem become red when touched. In these particulars it resembles A. rubescens. In smell it is somewhat strong, not unlike A. strobiliformis, but not nearly so pungent.

Cooked it is of excellent quality and flavor. I have eaten it since 1885.

A. abrup´ta Pk.—abrupt, of the bulb. Pileus thin, broadly convex or nearly plane, covered with small angular or pyramidal, erect, somewhat evanescent warts, white, slightly striate on the margin. Flesh white. Gills moderately close, reaching the stem and sometimes terminating in slightly decurrent lines upon it, white. Stem slender, glabrous, solid, bulbous, white, the bulb abrupt, subglobose, often coated below by the white persistent mycelium, the ring membranous, persistent. Spores broadly elliptical or subglobose, 8–10×6–8µ.

Pileus 2–4 in. broad. Stem 2.5–4 in. long, 3–4 lines thick.

The chief distinguishing mark of this species is the abrupt, nearly globose, bulbous base of the stem. This is somewhat flattened above and is sometimes longitudinally split on the sides. The small warts of the pileus are easily separable, and in mature specimens they have often wholly or partly disappeared. The remains of the volva are not present on the bulb in mature dried specimens, which indicates that the 24species should be placed in the same group with A. rubescens, A. spissa, etc. The latter species have the bulb of the stem similar to that of our plant, but the color of the pileus and other characters easily separate it. Peck, Bull. Torr. Bot. Club, Vol. 24, No. 3.

Alabama, Underwood; New Jersey, Pennsylvania, McIlvaine. July to September.

This species is edible and quite equal in quality to A. rubescens. Great care should be exercised in distinguishing it.

A. nit´ida Fr.—niteo, to shine. Pileus when flattened 4 in. broad, whitish, fleshy, somewhat compact, at first hemispherical, wrapped up, the thick volva forming a floccose crust, then broken up into thick, remarkably angular, adhering warts, which become brownish, dry, shining, without a glutinous pellicle, margin always even. Flesh white, quite unchangeable. Stem 3 in. long, 1 in. thick, solid, firm, conico-attenuated, with a bulb-shaped base, squamulose, white. Ring superior, thin, torn, slightly striate, white, villous beneath, at length disappearing. Gills free, crowded, very broad, as much as ½ in., ventricose, shining white. Fries.

Menands. Albany county. Our plant is more slender than the typical form, and has smaller but more numerous warts, but in other respects it exhibits the characters of this species. Peck, 43d Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

California, H. and M.; Maryland. Common in nearly every woods in Maryland. Banning.

From its likeness to poisonous species it should be suspected.

A. prairiic´ola Pk—prairie, colo, to inhabit. Pileus thin, convex, slightly verrucose, white, more or less tinged with yellow, even on the margin. Flesh white. Gills rather broad, subdistant, reaching the stem, white. Stem equal or slightly tapering upward, somewhat squamose toward the base, white or whitish, the annulus persistent. Spores large, broadly elliptical, 12–14µ long, 7–9µ broad.

Pileus 1.5–3 in. broad. Stem 2–2.5 in. long, 2–4 lines thick.

Bare ground on open prairies. Kansas. September. E. Bartholomew.

This species belongs to the same tribe as A. abrupta. The only evidence of the presence of a volva shown by the dried specimens is found in a few inconspicuous, but separable warts on the pileus. There is no 25well marked bulb to the stem and no evidence remains of a volva at its base. Peck, Bull. Torr. Bot. Club, Vol. 24, No. 3.

Reported from Kansas only. Qualities unknown.

A. monticulo´sa Berk.—mountain, from the warts. Pileus 2.5–3 in. across, convex, areolate, with a wart in the center of each areola; those toward the margin consisting of soft threads meeting in a point, but sometimes simply flocculent, the central warts angular, pyramidal, truncate, discolored. Stem bulbous, scaly, flocculent, white. Veil thick, at length distant. Gills free, ventricose, remote, forming a well-defined area around the top of the stem. The warts are not hard and rigid as in A. nitida, and the free remote gills separate it from that and the neighboring species. Berk.

North Carolina, sandy woods, common. Curtis.

Properties not known.

A. dau´cipes B. and M.—daucum, a carrot; pes, a foot. Pileus 2–5 in. broad, hemispherical, globose. Flesh white, soft, warts regular, pyramidal, saffron color. Gills narrow, reaching the stem, broadest in the middle. Stem 5–6 in. high, solid, base bulbous, with a restricted cortina above, squamulose downward. Veil fibrillose, extending from the margin of the pileus to the apex of the stem, fugacious.

In cultivated fields. Ohio. Sullivant. Properties not given.

A. lenticular´is Lasch.—resembling (the stem) a lentil.

Fries places this species in Amanita, in which Stevenson follows him. Cooke and Massee place it in Lepiota, where it will be found.

A. chlorinos´ma Pk.—smelling like chlorine. (Plate VIII, fig. 1, p. 18.) Pileus convex or expanded, warty on the disk, covered on the even margin with a light powdery, at length evanescent substance, white. Gills white. Stem nearly cylindrical, stout, deeply penetrating the earth. Spores broadly elliptical, 7–10µ long. Odor distinct, chlorine-like.

Plant 6–7 in. high. Pileus 4–6 in. broad. Stem 1–2 in. thick. Peck, Bot. Gaz., Vol. 4.

26Burnt ground in woods. August. Closter, N.J., C.F. Austin; Alabama, U. and E.; West Virginia, Nuttall; New Jersey, Ellis; Mt. Gretna, Pa., July, in a cluster of a dozen individuals, and afterward until frost, strong smelling, warts brownish-white. McIlvaine.

It is edible and equal to A. strobiliformis.

A. calyptra´ta Pk. Pileus fleshy, thick, convex or nearly plane, centrally covered by a large irregular persistent grayish-white fragment of the volva, glabrous elsewhere, striate on the margin, greenish-yellow or yellowish-brown tinged with green, the margin often a little paler or more yellow than the rest. Lamellæ close, nearly free, but reaching the stem and forming slight decurrent lines or striations on it, yellowish-white tinged with green. Stem stout, rather long, equal or slightly tapering upward, surrounded at the base by the remains of the ruptured volva, white or yellowish white with a faint greenish tint. Spores broadly elliptic, 10µ long, 6µ broad, usually containing a single large nucleus.

Pileus 10–20 cm. broad. Stem 10–15 cm. long, 12–20 mm. thick.

Rich ground in fir woods or their borders. Autumn. Oregon. Dr. H. Lane.

This is a large and interesting species, well marked and easily recognized by its large size, by the greenish tint that pervades the pileus, lamellæ, annulus and stem, and especially by the large persistent patch of grayish-white felty material that covers the center of the pileus and sometimes extends nearly to the margin. This is in fact the upper part of the ruptured volva that is carried up by the growing plant, and is very suggestive of the specific name. In the young state the plant is entirely enveloped in the volva, which then is similar to a goose egg in size and shape, and its walls are one-fourth to one-half inch thick. So thick and firm are they that the young plant appears sometimes to be unable to break through and it decays in its infancy.

Dr. Lane says that, having found that the Italians made use of this mushroom for food, he began eating it and introducing it to his friends, and he learned by personal trial that it is a thoroughly good and wholesome mushroom, which, when broiled with bacon, fried, baked or stewed, may be eaten with perfect safety and that it is a nutritious food. Peck, Bull. Torrey Bot. Club, Vol. 27, January, 1900.

27A. crenula´ta Pk. Pileus thin, broadly ovate, becoming convex or nearly plane and somewhat striate on the margin, adorned with a few thin whitish floccose warts or with whitish flocculent patches, whitish or grayish, sometimes tinged with yellow. Lamellæ close, reaching the stem, and sometimes forming decurrent lines upon it, floccose crenulate on the edge, the short ones truncate at the inner extremity, white. Stem equal, bulbous, floccose mealy above, stuffed or hollow, white, the annulus slight, evanescent. Spores broadly elliptic or subglobose, 7.5–10µ long, nearly as broad, usually containing a single large nucleus.

Pileus 2.5–5 cm. broad. Stem 2.5–5 cm. long, 6–8 mm. thick.

Low ground, under trees. Eastern Massachusetts. September. Mrs. E. Blackford and George E. Morris.

The volva in this species must be very slight, as its remains quickly disappear from the bulb of the stem. The remains carried up by the pileus form slight warts or thin whitish areolate patches. The annulus is present in very young plants, but is often wanting in mature ones, in which state the plant might be mistaken for a species of Amanitopsis. Its true affinity is with the tribe to which A. rubescens belongs. As in that species, the bulb soon becomes naked and exhibits no remains of the volva. It is similar to A. farinosa also in this respect, but quite unlike it in color, in the adornments of the pileus and in the character of its margin, which is even in the young plant and but slightly striate in the mature state. Its dimensions are said sometimes to exceed those here given, and it is reported to have been eaten without harm and to be of an excellent flavor. I have had no opportunity to try. Peck, Bull. Torrey Bot. Club, Vol. 27, January, 1900.

28AMANITOP´SIS Roze.

Having a universal veil at first completely enveloping the young plant, which soon bursts through, carrying particles of it on the pileus, where they appear as scattered warts readily brushed off; the remainder or volva closely enwraps the base of the stem. Ring absent. Spores white. This genus was formerly included in Amanita. It differs from Amanita in the absence of a ring or collar upon the stem and in the more sheathing volva. It differs from Lepiota in having a volva.

Close observation is necessary in collecting Amanitopsis for the table. It has no trace of ring or veil upon the stem. So far as the species are known no poisonous one exists. But Amanita spreta Pk., which is deadly, so closely resembles forms of Amanitopsis that those confident of their knowledge will be deceived. The veil or traces of veil, which Amanita spreta always has, sometimes so adheres to and wraps the stem that it is not noticeable without close examination, thus giving to it every appearance of an Amanitopsis.

The volva of A. spreta is attached for a considerable distance to the base of the tapering stem, and is not readily removed. This is a guide to detect it. It is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Amanitopsis corresponds to Volvaria in the pink-spored series, in which, as far as known, there is no poisonous species.

All American species of Amanitopsis are given. Several have not been tested by the writer because of lack of opportunity.

Grouped by F.D. Briscoe—Studies by C. McIlvaine.          Plate X.

Fig.	Page.	Fig.	Page.
1. Amanitopsis vaginata,	28	5. Mycena galericulata,	127
2. Amanitopsis vaginata, var. livida,	29	6. Mycena prolifera,	126
3. Amanitopsis nivalis,	29	7. Mycena prolifera (section),	126
4. Amanitopsis strangulata,	30

A. vagina´ta Roze—vagina, a sheath. (Plate X, figs. 1, 2, p: 28.) Pileus thin, fragile, glossy, smooth except in rare instances where a few fragments of the volva adhere to it for a time, deeply and distinctly striate on the margin, sometimes umbonate. Flesh white, in the dark forms grayish under the skin. Stem ringless, sometimes smooth, but generally mealy or floccose, hollow or stuffed with a cottony pith, not bulbous. Volva long, thin, fragile, closely sheathing yet free from the stem, except in the lower part, easily detachable and frequently remaining in the ground when the plant is pulled. Color variable, generally mouse-gray, sometimes livid, tawny-yellow or white, in one variety a 29rich date-brown. Spores globose, 8–10µ broad Peck; elliptical 10×7–8µ Massee.

Var. liv´ida Pers.—livid. Leaden brown, gills dingy. (Plate X, fig. 2, p. 28.)

Var. ful´va Schæff.—yellowish. Tawny-yellow or pale ochraceous.

This plant is widely dispersed, having been reported from many localities in the United States, also from Nova Scotia and Greenland.

On ground in woods and on margins of woods, under trees, in shaded grassy places. Sometimes in open stubble and pastures. June to frost. Mt. Gretna, September, 1899, found a cluster on decayed chestnut stump. Various colors abound—hazel, brown, gray, yellow, whitish. The caps and stems are tender as asparagus tips, but without much distinct flavor when cooked.

Great care must be taken to distinguish these forms from Amanita spreta Pk. which is poisonous. See heading of genus—Amanitopsis.

A. niva´lis Grev.—snowy. (Plate X, fig. 3, p. 28.) Pileus at first ovate, then convex or plane, smooth, striate on the thin margin, white, sometimes tinged with yellow or ochraceous on the disk. Flesh white. Gills subdistant, white, free. Stem equal, rather tall, nearly smooth, bulbous, stuffed, white; the volva very fragile, soon breaking up into fragments or sometimes persisting in the form of a collar-like ring at the upper part of the bulb. Spores globose, 7.5–10µ in diameter.

Plant 4–6 in. high. Pileus 2–3 in. broad. Stem 2–4 lines thick. July to October.

It approaches in some respects A. Frostiana, but its larger size, smooth pileus, lighter color and the absence of an annulus will easily distinguish it from that species. Peck, 33d Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Specimens have been repeatedly found by the writer in open oak woods near Philadelphia.

A strong, unpleasant bitter, which appears to develop while cooking, renders it unpalatable. It is harmless, but its use is not advised.

A. velo´sa Pk.—velosus, fleecy. Pileus at first subglobose, then bell-shaped or nearly plane, generally bearing patches of the remains of the whitish felty or tomentose volva, elsewhere glabrous, becoming sulcate-striate on the margin, buff or orange-buff. Flesh compact, white. Gills close, reaching the stem, subventricose, pale cream color. Stem 30firm, at first attenuated and tomentose at the top, then nearly equal, stuffed, white or whitish, closely sheathed at the base by the thick volva. Spores globose, 10–13µ.

Pileus 2–4 in. broad. Stem 3–4 in. long, 3–4 lines thick.

Under oak trees. Pasadena, California. April. A.J. McClatchie.

This fungus is closely related to A. vaginata, from which it may be separated by the more adherent remains of the thicker volva which sometimes cover the whole surface of the pileus, and by the thicker gills which are somewhat adnate to the stem and terminate with a decurrent tooth. Bull. Torr. Bot. Club, Vol. 22, No. 12.

As it is probable this species will be found elsewhere than California, and from its close relation to A. vaginata likely to be edible, its description is here given.

A. strangula´ta (Fr.) Roze—choked, from the stuffed stem. (Plate X, fig. 4, p. 28.) Pileus at first ovate or subelliptical, then bell-shaped, convex or plane, warty, slightly viscid when moist, deeply and distinctly striate on the margin, grayish-brown. Gills free, close, white. Stem equal or tapering upward, stuffed or hollow, nearly smooth, white or whitish, the volva soon breaking up into scales or subannular fragments. Spores globose, 10–13µ.

Plant 4–6 in. high. Pileus 2–4 in. broad. Stem 3–6 lines thick. Peck, 33d Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

A. Ceciliæ B. and Br. is a synonym.

Not distinct in color and general appearance from A. vaginata, but distinctly separated by its warty pileus and evanescent mouse-colored volva which does not sheath the stem. Pileus striate when young, then sulcate. Stem mealy, especially on the upper part.

Woods, open grassy places, wheat stubble, etc. June to September. Pennsylvania, New Jersey, West Virginia, McIlvaine.

In the latitude of Philadelphia the plant is found in great abundance. Its rather early appearance, staying quality, delicate consistency and flavor make it valuable as a food supply.

Pearl color, bluish-gray and gray are the prevailing cap-coloring.

A. adna´ta (W.G.S.) Roze—adnatus, adnate, of the gills. Pileus about 3 in. across. Flesh thick, whitish, firm, convex, then expanded, rather moist, pale yellowish-buff, often furnished with irregular, woolly 31patches of volva; margin even, extending beyond the gills. Stem 2–4 in. long, ½ in. thick, cylindrical, rough, fibrillose, pale buff, flesh distinct from that of the pileus, stuffed, then hollow; base slightly swollen. Volva adnate, white, downy, margin free and lax, sometimes almost obsolete. Gills truly adnate, crowded, with many intermediate shorter ones, white. Spores subglobose, with an oblique point, 7–8µ Massee.

Tender, good flavor, yielding more substance when cooked than any other Amanitopsis.

A. volva´ta Pk.—possessing a volva. Pileus convex, then nearly plane, slightly striate on the margin, hairy or floccose-scaly, white or whitish, the disk sometimes brownish. Gills close, free, white. Stem equal or slightly tapering upward, stuffed, minutely floccose-scaly, whitish, inserted at the base in a large, firm, cup-shaped, persistent volva. Spores elliptical, 10×8µ.

Plant 2–3 in. high. Pileus 2–3 broad. Stem 3–4 lines thick. Peck, 33d Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

The plant is easily recognized by its large, cup-shaped volva and cap, which is not smooth, as is usual in a species with a persistent membranous volva, more or less scaly with minute tufts of fibrils or tomentose hairs. The gills are white in the fresh plant.

Professor Peck notes the species as quite rare. Numerous specimens occur in the sandy oak woods of New Jersey, and in oak woods near Angora, Philadelphia. July to October.

Care must be taken to determine the absence of an annulus or any trace of one. Tender, delicate, without pronounced flavor. Equal to Amanitopsis vaginata.

A. farino´sa Schw.—covered with farina, meal. Pileus nearly plane, thin, flocculent-pulverulent, widely and deeply striate on the margin, grayish-brown or livid-brown. Gills free, whitish. Stem whitish or pallid, equal, stuffed or hollow, mealy, sub-bulbous, the volva flocculent-pulverulent, evanescent. Spores variable, elliptical ovate or subglobose, 6–8µ long.

Plant about 2 in. high. Pileus 1 in. to 15 lines broad. Stem 1–3 lines thick. July to September.

This is our smallest Amanita (now Amanitopsis). It is neither very common nor very abundant when it does occur. It is described by 32Schweinitz as “solid,” but I have always found it stuffed or hollow. Peck, 33d Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

A. pusil´la Pk.—small. Pileus thin, broadly convex or nearly plane, subglabrous, slightly umbonate, even on the margin, pale brown. Gills narrow, thin, close, free, becoming brownish. Stem short, hollow, bulbous, the bulb margined by the remains of the membranous volva. Spores broadly elliptical, 5–6×4µ.

Pileus about 1 in. broad. Stem 8–12 lines long, 1–2 lines thick.

Grassy ground. Gouverneur, St. Lawrence county. September. Mrs. Anthony. Peck, 50th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Edibility not tested.

A. pubes´cens Schw.—downy. Pileus yellow, covered with a thin pubescence, margin involute. Stem short, about 1 in. in length, at first white becoming yellowish, bulbous, bulb thick. Volva evanescent. Gills white.

In grassy grounds. Rare.

North Carolina, Schweinitz, Curtis.

A. agglutina´ta B. and C.—viscid. Pileus 1–2 in. broad, white, hemispheric then plane, viscid, areolate-scaly from the remains of the volva, margin thin, sulcate. Stem .5–1.5 in. long, 2 lines thick, short, solid, bulbous. Volva with a free margin. Gills broad, ventricose, rotundate-free. Spores elliptic.

In pine woods.

North Carolina, Curtis.

Resembling some of the dwarf forms of A. vaginata but at once distinguished by its solid stem and decidedly viscid, areolate-squamose pileus. Am. Jour. Sci. and Arts, 1848.

Grouped by F.D. Briscoe—Studies by C. McIlvaine.         PLATE XII.

Fig.	Page.	Fig.	Page.
1. Lepiota americana,	48	3. Lepiota Cepaestipes,	46
2. Lepiota naucinoides,	45	4. Amanita rubescens,	21

33LEPIO´TA Fr.

(Plate XI.)

Section of Lepiota procera.

Pileus generally scaly from the breaking up of the cuticle and the adherence of the concrete veil. Gills free, often very distant from the stem and attached to a cartilaginous collar. Stem hollow or stuffed, its flesh distinct from that of the pileus. Ring at first attached to the cuticle of the pileus, often movable, sometimes evanescent.

On the ground. Several are found in hot-houses and hot-beds, and are probably introduced species.

The universal veil, covering the entire plant when very young, is closely applied to the pileus, which from the breaking up of the cuticle is generally scaly. The stem in most species differs in substance from the pileus. This is readily seen by splitting the plant in half from cap to base. It is easily separated from the cap, leaving a cup-like depression therein. Gills usually white. In some species they are yellow-tinted. In others they become a dingy red when wounded or ageing.

The veil in this genus, being concrete with the cuticle of the pileus, never appears as loose warts or patches, neither is there a volva as in Amanita and Amanitopsis. These three genera are the only ones in the white-spored series having gills free from the stem. In a few species the gills are slightly attached to the stem, but are never decurrent upon it as in Armillaria. When the plant is young it is egg-shaped. It then gradually spreads, becomes convex, and opens until it is nearly flat, with a knob in the center.

The only species in this genus known to be poisonous to some persons is L. Morgani Pk., which is distinguished by its green spores and white 34gills becoming green. L. Vittadini has also been regarded with suspicion.

Ring movable. The plant is at first entirely enclosed in a universal veil, which splits around at the base, the lower part disappearing on the bulb, the upper part attached to the pileus breaking up into scales. Stem encircled at the top with a cartilaginous collar to which the free, remote gills are attached.

Ring fixed, attached to the upper portion of the universal veil which sheaths the stem from the base upward, making it downy or scaly below the ring. The remainder of the veil united with the pileus breaking up and becoming downy or scaly. Collar at the apex of stem not so large as in Proceri, hence the gills are not usually so remote. Taste and smell unpleasant, resembling that of radishes.

Ring fixed, somewhat persistent, universal veil closely attached to the pileus. Collar absent or similar in texture to the stem. Stem, not sheathed.

Pileus granular or warty. Universal veil sheathing the stem, at first continuous from the stem to the pileus, finally rupturing, forming a ring nearer the base. Stem not so distinctly different from the pileus as in other sections.

Small, slender, stem hollow. Pileus smooth, dry.

Photographed by Dr. J.R. Weist.             Plate XIII.
LEPIOTA PROCERA.

Proce´ri. Ring movable, etc.

L. proce´ra Scop.—procerus, tall. (Plate XIII, p. 34.) Tall Lepiota, Parasol Mushroom, in some localities Pasture Mushroom (a misleading title).

The Flesh not very thick, soft, permanently white. Pileus at first ovate, finally expanded, cuticle soon breaking up into brown scales, excepting upon the umbo, umbo smooth, dark-brown, distinct. The caps vary in shades of brown, sometimes they have a faint tinge of lavender. Gills whitish, crowded, narrowing toward the stem, and very remote from it. Stem variable in length, often very long, tubular, at first stuffed with light fibrils, quite bulbous at base, generally spotted or scaly with peculiar snake-like markings below the ring, which is thick, firm and readily movable. When the stem is removed from pileus it leaves a deep cavity extending nearly to the cuticle.

Pileus 3–6 in. broad. Stem 5–12 in. high, about ½ in. thick.

White spores elliptical, 14–18×9–11µ Peck; 12–15×8–9µ Massee; 14×10µ Lloyd.

Readily known by its extremely tall stem, shaggy cap, distinct umbo and the channel between the gills and stem. Resembles no poisonous species.

Before cooking the scurf should be rubbed from the caps, which alone should be eaten, as the stem is tough. Though the flesh is thin, the gills are meaty and have a pleasant, nutty flavor. Fried in butter it has few equals. It makes a superior catsup.

L. racho´des Vitt. Gr.—a ragged, tattered garment. Pileus very fleshy, but very soft when full grown, globose then flattened or depressed, not umbonate, at first incrusted with a thick, rigid, even, very smooth, bay-brown, wholly continuous cuticle, which remains entire at the disk but otherwise soon becomes elegantly reticulated with cracks; these very readily separate into persistent, polygonal, concentric scales, which are revolute at the margin and attached to the surface with beautifully radiating fibers, the surface remaining coarsely fibrillose-downy. Flesh 36white, immediately becoming saffron-red when broken, easily separating from the apex of the distinct stem, which is encircled with a prominent collar. Stem stout, at the first bulbous with a distinct margin upon the bulb, conical when young, then elongated, attenuated upward, as much as a span long, very robust, 1 in. thick, and more at the base, always even, and without a trace of scales or even of fibrils although the appearance is obsoletely silky, wholly whitish, hollow within, stuffed with spider-web threads, the walls remarkably and coarsely fibrous. Ring movable, adhering longer to the margin of the pileus than to the apex of the stem, hence rayed with fibers at the circumference, clothed beneath with one or two zones of scales. Gills very remote, tapering toward each end or broadest at the middle, crowded, whitish, sometimes reddening. Stevenson.

Veil remarkable in its development and thick margin.

Spores 6×8µ W.G.S.

Fort Edward, Howe; Westfield, N.Y., Miss L.M. Patchen; Pennsylvania, New Jersey, McIlvaine.

A heavier species than L. procera, of which by some writers it has been considered a variety, but it differs in the absence of umbo and flesh becoming tinged with red.

Stem is decidedly swollen downward. Veil heavy, apparently double, thickest at margin of cap to which it remains attached in heavy fragments. It tears from the stem, leaving no mark of ring.

Var. puella´ris Fr.—puella, a girl. Smaller than typical form, shining white, pileus with downy scales. Not yet reported in America.

Edible qualities similar to those of L. procera. It is sold indiscriminately with it in London markets.

L. excoria´ta Schaeff.—stripped of its skin. Flesh spongy, rather thick, white, unchangeable. Pileus at first globose, then flat, hardly umbonate, pale-fawn or whitish, disk dark; cuticle thin, silky or scaly, sometimes areolate, more or less peeled toward margin, hence its name. Gills ventricose, white, free, somewhat remote. Stem attenuated, hollow or stuffed, short, scarcely bulbous, smooth, white, not spotted, very distinct from flesh of pileus. Ring movable but not so freely as that of L. procera.

Stem 1½-2½ high, less than ½ in. thick. Pileus 2–3 in. broad.

Spores 14–15×8–9µ Massee.

37In pastures or grassy lawns. May to September.

North Carolina, edible, Curtis; Massachusetts, Frost; California, H. and M.; Ohio, Morgan; Minnesota, Johnson.

Distinguished from the preceding by its smaller size and short stem which is scarcely bulbous.

Esculent qualities good.

L. mastoi´dea Fr. Gr.—breast-shaped. Pileus rather thin, ovate, bell-shaped, then flattened, with a conspicuous acute umbo, cuticle thin, brownish, breaking up in minute scattered scales; the pileus appears whitish beneath. Stem hollow, smooth, tough, flexible, attenuated from the bulbous base to the apex. Ring entire, movable. Gills very remote, crowded, broad, tapering at both ends, white.

Pileus 1–2 in. broad. Stem 2–3 in. long, 3–4 lines thick at base, 1½-2 lines at apex.

North Carolina, edible, Curtis. It is generally eaten in Europe. In woods, especially about old stumps. October.

The entire plant is whitish and is well marked by the prominent umbo, which generally has a depression around it. It has the least substance of any in this section, and consequently not much value as food.

L. gracilen´ta Krombh.—gracilis, slender. Pileus rather fleshy, thickest at the disk, ovate then bell-shaped, finally flattened, obscurely umbonate; at first brownish from the adnate cuticle, which, breaking up into broad adpressed scales, allows the whitish pileus to be seen beneath them. Gills remote, very broad, crowded, pallid. Stem whitish, obscurely scaly, hollow or containing slight fibrils, slightly bulbous. Ring thin, floccose, vanishing.

Stem 5–6 in. long, 3–5 lines thick. In pastures, also in woods.

Spores 11×8µ W.G.S.

Almost as tall as L. procera, but slighter in stem and pileus; the ring, instead of being firm and persistent, is thin and fugacious, and the stem is hardly bulbous.

Edible, but not of the first quality.

Photographed by Dr. J.R. Weist.                 Plate XIV.
LEPIOTA MORGANI.

L. Mor´gani Pk.—in honor of Professor Morgan. (Plate XIV.) Pileus fleshy, soft, at first subglobose, then expanded or even depressed, white, the brownish or yellowish cuticle breaking up into scales except 38on the disk. Gills close, lanceolate, remote, white, then green. Stem firm, equal or tapering upward, subbulbous, smooth, webby-stuffed, whitish, tinged with brown. Ring rather large, movable. Flesh both of the pileus and stem white, changing to reddish and then to yellowish when cut or bruised. Spores ovate or subelliptical, mostly uninucleate, sordid green, 10–13×7–8µ.

Plant 6–8 in. high. Pileus 5–9 in. broad. Stem 6–12 lines thick. Peck in Bot. Gaz., March, 1879.

Open dry grassy places. Dayton, Ohio. A.P. Morgan.

This species is remarkable because of the peculiar color of the spores. No green-spored Agaric, so far as I am aware, has before been discovered, and no one of the five series, in which the very numerous species of the genus have been arranged, is characterized in such a way as to receive this species.

It seems a little hasty to found a series (Viridispori) on the strength of a single species. Until other species of such a supposed series shall be discovered it seems best to regard this as an aberrant member of the white-spored series. The same course has been taken with those Agarics which have sordid or yellowish or lilac-tinted spores.

It gives me great pleasure to dedicate this fine species to its discoverer Mr. Morgan. Peck.

Commonly 6–8 in. high, 5–9 in. diameter, though larger specimens are sometimes found. It is the most conspicuous Agaric in the meadows and pastures of the Miami valley; it appears to flourish from spring to autumn whenever there is abundance of rain.

It is heavier and stouter than L. procera and I am disposed to claim that it is the largest Agaric in the world. Spores 10–12×7–8µ. In immature specimens they are greenish-yellow. Morgan.

Kansas, Bartholomew (Peck, Rep. 50); Kansas, Cragin; Alabama, U. and E.; Georgia, Benson; Louisiana, Rev. A.B. Langlois; Michigan, C.F. Wheeler (Lloyd, Myc. Notes); Texas, Prof. W.S. Carter; Indiana, H.I. Miller.

L. Morgani is one of the largest, handsomest of the genus. It is very abundant in the western and southwestern states. Mr. H.I. Miller, Terre Haute, Ind., writes August 18, 1898: “I have recently measured several which were more than twelve inches across. At the present time this mushroom is growing in more abundance throughout Indiana than any other. It grows luxuriantly in the pastures, generally 39in grand fairy rings, five, ten, fifteen feet in diameter. We find it also in the woods. It is beautifully white and majestic, and these rings can be seen in meadows where the grass has been eaten close, for half a mile or more. The gills are white until the cap is almost opened, by which time the green spores begin to cause the gills to change to green. The meat is fine and is usually more free from worms than other mushrooms. Six families, here, have eaten heartily of them. The experience is that one or two members of each family are made sick, though in two families, who have several times eaten them, no one was made sick. I enjoy them immensely, and never feel any the worse for eating them. I doubt if we have a finer-flavored fungus. The meat is simply delicious. One fairy ring yields a bushel.”

Prof. W.S. Carter, University of Texas, Galveston, reported to me (and sent specimens of L. Morganii) the poisoning of three laboring men from eating this fungus. They were seriously sick, but recovered.

The conclusion is inevitable that this green-spored Lepiota contains a poison which violently attacks some persons, yet is harmless upon others.

I have not had opportunity to test it. It should be tested with great caution.

Clypeola´rii. Clypeus, a shield. Ring fixed; stem sheathed, etc.

L. Frie´sii Lasch.—in honor of Fries. Pileus fleshy, soft, lacerated into appressed tomentose scales. Stem hollow, with a webby pith, subbulbous, scaly. Ring superior, pendulous, equal. Gills subremote, linear, crowded, branched. Fries.

Pileus fleshy but rather thin, convex or nearly plane, clothed with a soft, tawny or brownish-tawny down, which breaks up into appressed, often subconfluent scales, the disk rough with small acute, erect scales. Flesh soft, white. Gills narrow, crowded, free, white, some of them forked. Stem equal or slightly tapering upward, subbulbous, hollow, colored like the pileus below the ring, and there clothed with tomentose fibrils which sometimes form floccose or tomentose scales, white and powdered above. Ring well developed, flabby, white above, tawny and floccose-scaly below. Spores 7–8×3–4µ.

Plant 2–5 in. high. Pileus 1–4 in. broad. Stem 2–5 lines thick.

Catskill mountains and East Worcester. July to September.

I have quoted the description of this species as it is found in Epicrisis, 40because the American plant which I have referred to it does not in all respects agree with this description, but comes so near it that it can scarcely be specifically distinct. In the American plant, so far as I have seen it, erect, acute scales are always present, especially on the disk, and the down of the pileus does not always break up into distinct areas or scales. Neither is the stem usually scaly, but rather clothed with soft tomentose or almost silky fibrils. The gills are crowded and some of them are forked. At the furcations there are slight depressions which interrupt the general level of the edges, and give them the appearance of having been eaten by insects. The plant has a slight odor, especially when cut or bruised. Peck, 35th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Remarks under L. acutesquamosa apply to L. Friesii, which Fries himself doubts being distinct from the first. The plants vary greatly in size, color and habitat. The name—acutesquamosa—carries a descriptive meaning with it that L. Friesii does not.

It does not appear to have been reported except by Professor Peck, but probably appears as L. acutesquamosa in other lists.

The edible qualities are excellent.

L. acutesquamo´sa Wein.—acutus, sharp; squama, a scale. Pileus fleshy, obtuse, at first hairy-floccose, then bristly with erect, acute, rough scales. Stem somewhat stuffed, stout, bulbous, powdered above the moderate-sized ring. Gills approximate, lanceolate, simple. Fries.

Pileus convex or nearly plane, obtuse or broadly subumbonate, clothed with a soft tawny or brownish-tawny tomentum, which usually breaks up into imperfect areas or squamæ, rough with erect, acute scales, which are generally larger and more numerous on the disk. Gills close, free, white or yellowish. Stem equal, hollow or stuffed with webby filaments, subbulbous. Spores about 7×3–4µ.

Woods and conservatories. Buffalo, G.W. Clinton; Albany, A.F. Chatfield; Adirondack mountains and Brewertown, Peck.

The form found in the hot-houses seems to have the tomentum of the pileus less dense and the erect scales more numerous than in the form growing in woods. The annulus is frequently lacerated. In the specimens of the woods the erect scales are sometimes blackish in color, and they then contrast quite conspicuously with the tawny or brownish-tawny tomentum beneath them. They vary in size and shape. Some resemble pointed papillæ, others, being more elongated, are almost 41spine-like. These are sometimes curved. They are generally larger and more numerous on the disk than elsewhere, and often they are wholly wanting on the margin. Peck, 35th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

West Philadelphia, 1897, on lawn and growing from trunk of a maple tree; Mt. Gretna, Pa., mixed woods. McIlvaine.

I first saw specimens of L. acutesquamosa when sent to me by Miss Lydia M. Patchen, President Westfield Toadstool Club. It was later found by myself and tested. Specimens were sent to Professor Peck and identified as L. acutesquamosa.

Caps and stems brownish-purple. The pointed squamules or tufts have dark-brown points, shaded to a delicate purple at base. Gills light, faint flesh-color. Veil is silky, transparent, beautiful, quite tenacious—stretching until cap is well expanded, persistent, though at times fugacious. Smell like stewed mushrooms. The caps are of excellent substance and flavor.

L. his´pida Lasch.—rough. Pileus 2–3 in. across. Flesh thin, white, unchangeable; hemispherical then expanded, umbonate, tomentose or downy at first from the remains of the universal veil; during expansion the down becomes broken up into small, spreading, scaly points, which eventually disappear, umber-brown, sometimes with a tawny tinge. Gills free but near to the stem, the collar of the pileus prominent and sheathing the stem, crowded, ventricose, simple, white. Stem about 3–5 in. long, 3–5 lines thick, attenuated upward, densely squamosely-woolly up to the superior, membranaceous, reflexed ring, dingy-brown, stem tubular, but fibrillosely stuffed. Spores 6–7×4µ Massee.

In margins of and in open mixed woods, under pine trees, Haddonfield, N.J., July to September, 1892. Quite plentiful year after year in the same places. The American plant is taller than the English species, the stem reaching five inches, and the color of the cap a delicate tawny-brown. Smell slight, but pungent like radishes.

The whole fungus is tender and delicious. It is one of the few Lepiotæ that stews well.

L. feli´na Pers.—belonging to a cat. Pileus thin, bell-shaped or convex, subumbonate, adorned with numerous subtomentose or floccose blackish-brown scales. Gills close, free, white. Stem slender, rather 42long, equal or slightly tapering upward, hollow, clothed with soft, loose, floccose filaments, brown. Ring slight, evanescent. Spores elliptical, 6–8×4–5µ.

Plant 2–3.5 in. high. Pileus .5–1.5 in. broad. Stem 1–2 lines thick.

Woods. Adirondack Mountains. August and September.

It is easily distinguished from A. rubrotincta by the darker color of the scales of the pileus, by the loose floccose filaments that clothe the brown stem, by the fugacious ring and the smaller spores. Peck, 35th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

The caps compare favorably with other Lepiotæ in substance and flavor.

L. crista´ta A. and S.—crista, a tuft, crest. Pileus thin, bell-shaped or convex, then nearly plane, obtuse, at first with an even reddish or reddish-brown surface, then white adorned with reddish or reddish-brown scales formed by the breaking up of the cuticle, the central part or disk colored like the scales. Gills close, free, white. Stem slender, hollow, equal, smooth or silky-fibrillose below the ring, whitish. Ring small, white. Spores oblong or narrowly subelliptical, 5–7×3–4µ.

Plant 1–2 in. high. Pileus .5–1.5 in. broad. Stem 1–2 lines thick.

Grassy places and borders of woods. June to September.

This species is easily known by its small size and the crested appearance of the white pileus, an appearance produced by the orbicular unruptured portion of the cuticle that remains like a colored spot on the disk. The fragments or scales are more close near this central part and more distant from each other toward the margin, where they are often wholly wanting. The scales are sometimes very small and almost granular. In very wet weather the margin of the pileus in this and some other species becomes upturned or reflexed. Peck, 35th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Found in Woodland Cemetery, Philadelphia. June to September, 1897. McIlvaine.

Scales were appressed and slightly tinged with brown, often very small. Caps of same, upturned and bare near margin. Taste sweet, slightly like new meal. Odor strong.

Cooked it is of good consistency and pleasing to taste.

43L. alluvi´na Pk.—alluvies, the over-flowing of a river. Pileus thin, convex or plane, reflexed on the margin, white, adorned with minute pale-yellow hairy or fibrillose scales. Gills thin, close, free, white or yellowish. Stem slender, fibrillose, whitish or pallid, slightly thickened at the base. Ring slight, subpersistent, often near the middle of the stem. Spores elliptical, 6–7×4–5µ.

Plant 1–2 in. high. Pileus .5–1 in. broad. Stem 1–1.5 lines thick. Alluvial soil, among weeds. Albany. July.

In the fresh plant the scales are of a pale yellow or lemon color, but in drying they and the whole pileus take a deeper rich yellow hue. The ring is generally remote from the pileus, sometimes even below the middle of the stem. Peck, 35th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

In 1897, I found it growing among weeds on lot near University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. Seemingly it is a city resident.

The taste and smell are pleasant. Cooked it is tender and savory. Both stems and caps are good.

L. metulæ´spora B. and Br.—metula, an obelisk. Pileus thin, bell-shaped or convex, subumbonate, at first with a uniform pallid or brownish surface, which soon breaks up into small brownish scales, the margin more or less striate, often appendiculate with fragments of the veil. Gills close, free, white. Stem slender, equal or slightly tapering upward, hollow, adorned with soft floccose scales or filaments, pallid. Ring slight, evanescent. Spores long, subfusiform.

Plant 2–3.5 in. high. Pileus .5–1.5 in. broad. Stem 1–2 lines thick.

Woods. Adirondack mountains. August and September.

This species occurs with us in the same localities as L. felina, which it very much resembles in size, shape and general characters, differing only in color, the striate margin of the pileus and the character of the spores.

The species has a wide range, having been found in Ceylon, England, Alabama and Kentucky. Peck, 35th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

This has not been elsewhere noted in the United States, probably from neglect of the spore characters, being reported as L. clypeolaria.

New Jersey and Pennsylvania. McIlvaine.

44Annulo´si. Ring large, fixed; stem not sheathed.

L. holoseri´cea Fr. Gr.—entire, silken. Pileus 3 in. and more broad, whitish or clay-white, fleshy, soft, convex then expanded, rather plane, obtuse, floccoso-silky, somewhat fibrillose, becoming even, fragile, disk by no means gibbous; and wholly of the same color; margin involute when young. Flesh soft, white. Stem 2½-4 in. long, ½ in. and more thick, solid, bulbous and not rooted at the base, soft, fragile, silky-fibrillose, whitish. Ring superior, membranaceous, large, soft, pendulous, the margin again ascending. Gills wholly free, broad, ventricose, crowded, becoming pale-white. Fries.

A species well marked from all others. Inodorous.

On soil in flower beds.

Spores elliptical, 7–8×5µ Massee; 6×9µ W.G.S.

Wisconsin, Bundy; Minnesota, Johnson.

Considered esculent in Europe.

L. Vittadi´ni Fr.—in honor of the Italian mycologist. Pileus 3–4 in. across. Flesh 4–6 lines thick at the disk, becoming very thin at the margin, white; convex then plane, obtuse or gibbous, densely covered with small, erect, wart-like scales, altogether whitish. Gills free but rather close to the stem, 3–4 lines broad, rounded in front, thickish, ventricose, with a greenish tinge. Stem 2½-3½ in. long, up to ⅔ in. thick, cylindrical, with numerous concentric rings of squarrose scales, up to the superior, large ring; whitish, or the edges of the scales often tipped with red, solid. Fries.

In pastures, etc.

Intermediate between Lepiota and Amanita.

Noted by Fries as poisonous. It may or may not be, but as a matter of precaution it is described. A large species, pure white, extremely beautiful.

Massachusetts, Farlow.

Photographed by Dr. J.R. Weist.            Plate XV.
LEPIOTA NAUCINOIDES.

L. nauci´na Fr. No translation applicable. Pileus 1–1½ in. broad, white, the disk of the same color, fleshy, soft, gibbous or obtusely umbonate when flattened, even, the thin cuticle splitting up into granules. Stem 1½-3 in. long, stuffed, at length somewhat hollow, but without a definite tube, attenuated upward from the thickened base, fibrillose, 45unspotted, white. Ring superior, tender, but persistent, adhering to the stem, at length reflexed. Gills free, approximate, crowded, ventricose, soft, white.

There is a prominent collar, as in the Clypeolarii, embracing the stem. Stature and appearance of L. excoriata, but commonly smaller, the superior ring adfixed, etc. Fries.

Spores subglobose, 6–7µ Massee.

L. naucina Fr. is the European species which has its American counterpart in L. naucinoides Pk. The variations in the American species are noted under L. naucinoides.

As Amanita phalloides—in its white form—the poisonous white Amanita, resembles L. naucina or L. naucinoides in some stages of its growth and may be confounded with it, careful note should be taken of their external differences. In L. naucinoides the bulb and stem are continuous, each passing into the other imperceptibly; in A. phalloides the junction of stem and bulb is abrupt and remains so, and the bulb is more or less enwrapped in the volva. The ring is also larger than in L. naucinoides and is pendulous, and the gills are permanently white. A certain means of distinguishing between them is by the application of heat as in cooking. On toasting both it will be found that the gills of the Amanita remain white, but those of the Lepiota turn quickly brown.

L. naucinoi´des Pk. No translation applicable. (Plates Plate XV, XII fig. 2, p. 32.) Pileus soft, smooth, white or snowy-white. Gills free, white, slowly changing with age to a dirty pinkish-brown or smoky-brown color. Stem ringed, slightly thickened at the base, colored like the pileus. Spores subelliptical, uninucleate, white, 8–10 long×5–8µ broad. Peck, 48th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Kansas, Cragin; Wisconsin, Bundy; New Jersey, Ellis; Iowa, Macbride; New York, Peck, 23d, 29th, 35th Rep.; Indiana, H.I. Miller, Dr. J.R. Weist.

L. naucinoides Pk. is the American counterpart of L. naucina Fr., a European species, excepting that the spores of the latter are described as globose. The caps are ovate when young and usually from 1½-3 in. across when expanded, but occasionally reach 4 in., smooth, but frequently rough or minutely cracked in the center, white or varying shades of white deepening in color at the summit. In a rare form var. squamo´sa, large, thick scales occur which are caused by the breaking 46up of the cap surface. When young the gills are white or faintly yellow, becoming pinkish or dull brown in age. The pinkish hue is not always apparent. The outer edge of the veil or ring is thickest; usually it is firmly attached to the stem, but movable rings are frequently noticed. When the plant ages the ring is often missing, but traces of it are always discernible. Stem rarely equal, often it is distinctly bulbous, generally tapering upward from a more or less enlarged base, hollow when fully grown, until then containing cottony fibers within the cavity or appearing solid, 2–3 in. long, ¼-½ in. thick.

Its habitat is similar to that of the common mushroom—lawns, pastures, grassy places—though unlike the latter it is found in woods. Until thoroughly acquainted with it, specimens found in woods and supposed to be L. naucinoides should not be eaten. An Amanita might be mistaken for it. It is readily distinguishable from the common mushroom and its allies by the color of the gills and spores which are white, and differences in stem and veil.

It is found from July until after hard frosts. It was first reported edible by Professor Peck in 1875, under the name of Agaricus naucinus.

The L. naucinoides is rewarding the favor with which it has been received as an esculent, it being equal to the common mushroom and quite free from insects. Large crops of it are reported from all over the country, and from many sections it is told of as a stranger. During 1897–98 the author has found it in plenty upon ground familiar to him for years, upon which it had not previously shown itself. The common mushroom must look to its laurels.

Its cultivation as a marketable crop is possible and probable.

L. cepæsti´pes Sow.—cepa, an onion; stipes, stem. (Plate XII, fig. 3, p. 32.) Pileus thin, at first ovate, then bell-shaped or expanded, umbonate, soon adorned with numerous minute brownish scales, which are often granular or mealy, folded into lines on the margin, white or yellow, the umbo darker. Gills thin, close, free, white, becoming dingy with age or in drying. Stem rather long, tapering toward the apex, generally enlarged in the middle or near the base, hollow. Ring thin, subpersistent. Spores subelliptical, with a single nucleus, 8–10×5–8µ.

Plant often cespitose, 2–4 in. high. Pileus 1–2 in. broad. Stem 2–3 lines thick.

47Rich ground and decomposing vegetable matter. Also in graperies and conservatories. Buffalo, G.W. Clinton; Albany, A.F. Chatfield. Peck, 35th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Spores elliptical, 7–8×4µ Massee; 8×4µ W.G.S.; 8–10×5–8µ Peck.

Haddonfield, N.J., Pennsylvania, McIlvaine; New York, Mrs. E. C. Anthony; Indiana, H.I. Miller. July to October.

Whoever has seen the seed-stalks of an onion knows the shape from which this fungus takes its name. The dense clusters are graceful, dainty, and contain many individuals of all ages—from the very young with egg-shaped heads, like pigmy C. comatus, to the fluff-capped eldest, willowy and fair to look upon. The out-door kind soon droops when matured; the young plants of a cluster will remain fresh for several days after taken from their habitat. Stems in these tufts are often quill-shaped, and the striations on the cap margins are shorter than those on their indoor cousins. These grow in hot-houses and stables. One of the two forms has a yellow cap, the other is white and fair.

These forms have often come to my table as a pleasant winter surprise. Children in the hot-houses of Haddonfield, N.J., watched for its appearance among the bedded plants, sure of a present when they brought me a meal of it. Both the white and yellow varieties were equally enjoyed.

The entire fungus is tender and delicious cooked in any way.

L. farino´sa Pk.—farina, meal. Pileus thin, rather tough, flexible, at first globose or ovate, then bell-shaped or convex, covered with a soft, dense, white veil of mealy down, which soon ruptures, forming irregular, easily-detersible scales, more persistent and sometimes brownish on the disk. Flesh white, unchangeable. Gills close, free, white, minutely downy on the edge. Stem equal or slightly tapering upward, somewhat thickened at the base, slightly mealy, often becoming glabrous, hollow or with a cottony pith above, solid at the base, white, pallid or straw-colored, the ring lacerated, somewhat appendiculate on the margin of the pileus, evanescent. Spores subovate, 10–13×8µ.

Pileus 1.5–2.5 in. broad. Stem 2–3 in. long, 2–4 lines thick.

Mushroom beds in a conservatory, Boston, Mass. March. Communicated by E.J. Forster.

This species is related to L. cepæstipes, from which it may be distinguished 48by its pileus, which is not folded on the margin, and by its larger spores. It is edible. It is very distinct from Amanita farinosa. Peck, 43d Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Ohio, Lloyd, Prof. William Miller (Lloyd Myc. Notes).

L. America´na Pk. (Plate XII, fig. 1, p. 32. Plate XVa.) Pileus at first ovate, then convex or expanded, umbonate, scaly, white, the umbo and scales reddish or reddish-brown. Gills close, free, white. Stem somewhat thickened at or a little above the base, hollow, bearing a ring, white. Spores subelliptical, uninucleate, 8–10×5–8µ.

The American lepiota belongs to the same genus as the parasol mushroom and the Smooth lepiota. It has one character in which it differs from all other species of Lepiota. The whole plant when fresh is white, except the umbo and the scales of the cap, but in drying it assumes a dull reddish or smoky-red color. By this character it is easily recognized.

In the very young plant the cap is somewhat egg-shaped and nearly covered by the thin reddish-brown cuticle, but as the plant enlarges the cuticle separates and forms the scales that adorn the cap. On the central prominence or umbo, however, it usually remains entire. The margin of the cap is thin and is generally marked with short radiating lines or striations. The gills do not quite reach the stem and are, therefore, free from it. Sometimes they are connected with each other at or near their inner extremity by transverse branches. They are a little broader near the margin of the cap than at their inner extremity. The stem affords a peculiar feature. It is often enlarged towards the base and then abruptly narrowed below the enlargement, as in the Onion-stemmed lepiota. In some instances, however, the enlargement is not contracted below and then the stem gradually tapers from the base upward. The stem is hollow and usually furnished with a collar, but sometimes this is thin and may disappear with advancing age. Wounds or bruises are apt to assume brownish-red hues.

The caps vary in width from 1–4 in.; the stems are from 3–5 in. long, and 2–5 lines thick. Sometimes plants attain even larger dimensions than these. The plants grow singly or in tufts in grassy ground or on old stumps. They may be found from July to October.

Photographed by Dr. J.R. Weist.              Plate XVa.
LEPIOTA AMERICANA.

In flavor this species is not much inferior to the parasol mushroom, but when cooked in milk or cream it imparts its own reddish color to 49the material in which it is cooked. It is, however, a fine addition to our list of esculent species. Peck, 49th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

I found several on a decaying willow trunk, and on the ground beside it, in Philadelphia. In July, 1898, large quantities, often clustered, grew under the great, open auditorium of the Pennsylvania Chautauqua, at Mt. Gretna, Pa., from ground covered with crushed limestone.

The caps are meaty and excellent in flavor. They should be broiled or fried.

Granulosi. Pileus granular or warty. Stem sheathed, etc.

L. granulo´sa Batsch.—granosus, full of grains. Pileus thin, convex or nearly plane, sometimes almost umbonate, rough, with numerous granular or branny scales, often radiately wrinkled, rusty-yellow or reddish-yellow, often growing paler with age. Flesh white or reddish-tinged. Gills close, rounded behind and usually slightly adnexed, white. Stem equal or slightly thickened at the base, stuffed or hollow, white above the ring, colored and adorned like the pileus below it. Ring slight, evanescent. Spores elliptical 4–5×3–4µ.

Plant 1–2.5 in. high. Pileus 1–2.5 in. broad. Stem 1–3 lines thick. Woods, copses and waste places. Common. August to October.

This is a small species with a short stem and granular reddish-yellow pileus, and gills slightly attached to the stem, a character by which it differs from all the preceding. The ring is very small and fugacious, being little more than the abrupt termination to the coating of the stem. Peck, 35th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Spores 5–6×3µ B.; 3×4µ W.G.S.; elliptical, 4–5×3–4µ Peck.

Var. rufes´cens B. and Br. Pure white at first, then partially turning red and in drying acquiring everywhere a reddish tint.

Var. al´bida Pk. Persistently white.

Though small many plants grow neighboring. Being fleshy for their size, and of pleasing quality, they well repay gathering. Remove stems.

Open woods, Angora, West Philadelphia; Haddonfield, New Jersey, McIlvaine.

L. delica´ta Fr.—delicatus, delicate. Up to 1½ in. across, reddish, becoming yellowish toward margin. Flesh well proportioned to cap, 50convex, obscurely umbonate, glabrous, slightly viscid. Stem 1½-2 in. long, very thin, but covered with dense downy scales, equal, lighter than cap. Ring usually entire, membranaceous, fluffy from scales. Gills free, crowded, ventricose, white.

Haddonfield, N.J., January, 1896–97, in hot-houses. McIlvaine.

A delicate, delicious Lepiota. Though small, it is meaty. Its appearance in hot-houses (it is found in woods) insures a crop at a time of year when other species are not plentiful, and when anything edible in the toadstool line is most welcome to their lovers.

L. lenticula´ris Lasch.—lenticula, a lentil. Pileus at first globose, then convex, even, naked, pinkish-tan color. Flesh thick, spongy, white. Gills close to stem, but free from it, ventricose, crowded, whitish. Stem 4–6 in. high, thick, equal or swollen at base, solid but spongy, more or less covered with scales; above the ring it is frequently covered with drops of water more or less green, which leave spots when they dry. Veil superior and very large.

Pileus 3–4 in. across. Stem 4–6 in. long, ½ in. and more thick. In damp woods.

Redman’s Woods, Haddonfield, N.J. September, 1894. McIlvaine.

This species is included in Amanita by Fries and Stevenson. Massee places it in Lepiota. In the dozen or more specimens I have found, there was no trace of a volva, even when very young. I tested it carefully and at one time ate three good-sized caps without experiencing any indications of poison. I have seen it during but one season and not then (at one time) in sufficient quantity to make a meal off it. Cooked it has a slight cheesy flavor which is pleasant.

L. illi´nita Fr.—illino, to smear over. Pileus rather thin, soft, at first ovate, then campanulate or expanded, subumbonate, smooth, white, very viscid or glutinous, even or striate on the margin. Gills close, free, white. Stem equal or slightly tapering upward, stuffed or hollow, viscid, white. Spores broadly elliptical, 5×4µ broad.

Plant 2–4 in. high. Pileus 1–2.5 in. broad. Stem 2–3 lines thick.

Thin or open woods. Adirondack mountains. July to September.

This is a smooth white species with the stem and pileus clothed with a clear viscid or glutinous veil. The margin of the pileus is often even, but the typical form of the species has it striate. The flesh is soft and 51white. The species may be distinguished from the viscid white species of Hygrophorus by the free, not adnate nor decurrent lamellæ. Peck, 35th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Springton and Mt. Gretna, Pa., 1887–1897. McIlvaine.

Not yet found by me in quantity. Several specimens eaten were of good flavor.

L. rugulo´sa Pk. Pileus thin, submembranaceous, broadly convex or nearly plane, umbonate, rugulose, widely striate on the margin, whitish. Lamellæ thin, narrow, close, free, whitish. Stem short, equal, slightly silky, whitish, the annulus thin, persistent, white. Spores elliptic, 7.5µ long, 4µ broad.

Pileus 12–20 mm. broad. Stem about 2.5 cm. long, 2 mm. thick.

Moist grassy places under trees. Washington, D.C. July. Mrs. E.M. Williams. Perhaps in the fresh state the pileus is not as distinctly rugulose as when dry. Peck, Bull. Torrey Bot. Club, Vol. 27, January, 1900.

52ARMILLA´RIA Fr.

(Plate XVII.)

Armillaria mellea.

Pileus and Stem continuous. Veil partial, sometimes only indicated by the scales which clothe the stem terminating in the form of a ring. Spores white. On the ground or on stumps.

In the young plant the veil extends from the stem to the pileus, sometimes forming scaly patches upon it; below the ring it is attached to the stem often in scales.

But for the presence of the ring the species of this genus could be distributed in Tricholoma, Clitocybe and Collybia, with which they agree in all other characters.

In Amanita and Lepiota, the other ringed genera of the white-spored series, the flesh of the stem and pileus is not continuous; and their stems are therefore easily separated. Amanita is also distinguished by its volva.

Gills sinuately adnexed, stem fleshy, ring often evanescent. (Like Tricholoma.)

Gills not sinuate, more or less decurrent, narrowed behind; ring permanent. (Resembling Clitocybe.)

Gills adnate, equal behind; stem somewhat cartilaginous outside; ring permanent. (Resembling Collybia.)

Grouped by F.D. Briscoe—Studies by C. McIlvaine and Val Starnes.        Plate XVI.

Fig.	Page.	Fig.	Page.
1. Armillaria mellea,	55	3–4. Lentinus lepideus,	230
2. Armillaria mellea var. exannulata,	56

A. robus´ta A. and S.—robustus, robust, sturdy. Substance of entire plant compact. Pileus 2–3 in. across, varying in shades of gray and 53brown, scaly, fibrillose on margin, decreasing toward center or smooth, convex or top-shaped and margin involute at first, expanding. Flesh firm, very thick. Gills broad, emarginate, nearly free, crowded, whitish, up to ½ in. broad. Veil large, membranaceous, sometimes floccose, remaining adherent to the stem. Stem 1–2 in. long, obese, solid, tapering at the base, brownish-white and fibrillose below veil, white and flocculose above, flesh of stem continuous with that of the cap.

Stevenson gives var. minor with even cap with both gills and ring very narrow.

Spores ovoid-spherical. 7µ. Q.

Edible, Curtis; District Columbia, Mrs. M. Fuller.

In mixed woods. Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New Jersey, McIlvaine.

The substance of A. robusta differs from all other Armillaria in being very compact. It is not acrid but has a marked flavor. Cut into small pieces and well cooked it makes an acceptable dish. It is best in croquettes and patties, or served with meats.

A. viscid´ipes Pk.—viscidus, sticky; pes, a foot. Pileus fleshy, compact, convex or nearly plane, glabrous, whitish with a slight yellowish or reddish-yellow tint. Flesh white, odor peculiar, penetrating, sub-alkaline. Gills narrow, crowded, sinuate or subdecurrent, whitish. Stem equal, solid, viscid and slightly tinged with yellow below the narrow membranous ring, whitish above. Spores elliptical, 8×5µ.

Pileus 3–6 in. broad. Stem 3–4 in. long, 6–12 lines thick.

In mixed woods. Rock City, Dutchess county. October.

It is a large fine fungus, easily known by its white and yellowish hues, its crowded gills, viscid stem and peculiar penetrating almost alkaline odor. The cuticle of the pileus is thin and soft to the touch, but it sometimes cracks longitudinally and is sometimes slightly adorned with innate fibrils. A. dehiscens is said to have a viscid stem, but it is also squamose and the pileus is yellowish-ochraceous. Peck, 44th Rep N.Y. State Bot.

Quite common in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. McIlvaine.

It loses its strong odor when cooked and is equal to other Armillaria in edibility. Unless well cooked it has a slight saponaceous flavor. This is easily overcome by a few drops of lemon juice or sherry.

54A. appendicula´ta Pk.—bearing an appendicula or small appendage. Pileus broadly convex, glabrous, whitish, often tinged with rust color or brownish rust color on the disk. Flesh white or whitish. Gills close, rounded behind, whitish. Stem equal or slightly tapering upward, solid, bulbous, whitish, the veil either membranous or webby, white, commonly adhering in fragments to the margin of the pileus. Spores subelliptical, 8×5µ.

Pileus 2–4 in. broad. Stem 1.5–3.5 in. long; 5–10 lines thick.

Auburn, Ala. October. C.F. Baker.

The general appearance of this species is suggestive of Tricholoma album, but the presence of a veil separates it from that fungus and places it in the genus Armillaria. The veil, however, is often slightly lacerated or webby and adherent to the margin of the pileus. Peck, Bull. Torrey Bot. Club, Vol. 24.

Mt. Gretna, Pa., Angora, Pa. On decaying roots in ground. August to November. Found plentifully in resorts of other Armillaria. Edibility the same. McIlvaine.

A. pondero´sa Pk.—ponderosus, weighty, ponderous. Pileus thick, compact, convex or subcampanulate, smooth, white or yellowish, the naked margin strongly involute beneath the slightly viscid, persistent veil. Gills crowded, narrow, slightly emarginate, white inclining to cream color. Stem stout, subequal, firm, solid, coated by the veil, colored like the pileus, white and furfuraceous above the ring. Flesh white. Spores nearly globose, 4µ in diameter.

Plant 4–6 in. high. Pileus 4–6 in. broad. Stem about 1 in. thick.

Ground in woods. Copake, Columbia county. October.

The veil for a long time conceals the gills, and finally becomes lacerated and adheres in shreds or fragments to the stem and margin of the pileus. Peck, 26th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

New England, Frost; New York, Peck, Repts. 26, 29, 41. West Virginia and Pennsylvania. Ground in woods. September to November. McIlvaine.

Professor Peck says in 26th Report: “This species has not been found since its discovery in 1872.”

Where the Armillaria mellea frequents I have often found A. ponderosa. It was plentiful at Mt. Gretna, Pa., in September, 1898. 55Young specimens are quite as edible as A. mellea, and rather more juicy.

A. mel´lea Vahl.—melleus, of the color of honey. (Plate XVI, fig. 1, p. 52.) Pileus adorned with minute tufts of brown or blackish hairs, sometimes glabrous, even or when old slightly striate on the margin. Gills adnate or slightly decurrent, white or whitish, becoming sordid with age and sometimes variegated with reddish-brown spots. Stem ringed, at length brownish toward the base. Spores elliptical, white, 8–10µ long. Peck, 48th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Spores 9×5–6µ W.G.S.; 10×8µ B.; 8–10µ Peck.

The A. mellea is unusually prolific and is common over the United States and Europe. Specimens may be found in the spring-time, but in middle latitudes it is common from August until after light frosts. It is usually in tufts, some of which contain scores of plants and are showy over ground filled with roots, or on stumps or boles of decaying trees. It frequents dense woods and open clearings. I have seen acres of dense woodland at Mt. Gretna, Pa., so covered with it and its varieties that but few square yards were unoccupied.

A description of the typical A. mellea will rarely apply to any one plant. A combination of its variable features in one description would include something of nearly every white-spored Agaric under the sun. Yet there is something indescribable about it which once learned will unerringly betray it.

Its Caps vary from perfectly smooth, through tufts of scales and hairs, more or less dense, to matted woolliness. It may show any one of these conditions in youth and be bald in age. Some shade of yellow is the prevailing color, but this will vary from whitish to dark-purplish or reddish-brown. When water-soaked it is one color, when dry, another. Commonly the margins of the Caps are striated, sometimes they are smooth as a cymbal, and not unlike one, have a raised place or umbo in the center. Flesh white or whitish. Gills when young are white or creamy, usually running down the stem, sometimes slightly notched at attachment. They freckle in age and lose their fair complexion. The Veil or collar about the stem is as variable as fashion—thick and closely woven or flimsy as gossamer, or vanishing as the plant grows old. The 56Stems may be even as a lead pencil, or swollen like a pen-holder, or bulbous toward the base, or distorted by pressure in the tufts. It is as variable in color as the cap, usually darkening downward in hues of brown. The outside is firm and fibrous, sometimes furrowed, inside soft or hollow.

Cap 1–6 in. across. Stem 1–6 in. long, ¼-¾ in. thick.

Var. obscu´ra has the cap covered with numerous small blackish scales.

Var. fla´va has the cap yellow or reddish-yellow, but in other respects it is like the type.

Var. gla´bra has the cap smooth, otherwise like the type.

Var. radica´ta has a tapering, root-like prolongation of the stem, which penetrates the earth deeply.

Var. bulbo´sa has a distinctly bulbous base to the stem, and in this respect is the reverse of var. radicata.

Professor Peck writes: “Var. exannulata (Plate XVI, fig. 2, p. 52) has the cap smooth and even on the margin, and the stem tapering at the base. The annulus is very slight and evanescent or wholly wanting. The cap is usually about an inch broad, or a little more, and the plants grow in clusters, which sometimes contain forty or fifty individuals. It is more common farther south than it is in our state (N.Y.), and is reported to be the most common form in Maryland. This I call var. exannulata.” From Dr. Taylor, Washington, D.C.; Indiana, H.I. Miller.

To these may be added also var. al´bida Pk. in which the pileus is white or whitish.

A variety, perhaps a variation of var. bulbosa was sent to me by E. B. Sterling, Trenton, N.J., and afterward found by myself at Mt. Gretna, Pa. The Cap purplish-brown, convex, striate and light on margin, edge irregular with parts of veil attached. Flesh white, very thin. Gills decurrent, arcuate, pinkish-gray. Stem stuffed, fibrous, white above, dense floccose veil, same color as cap below, swollen toward base which is pointed, sulcate, white inside, closely clustered and some of the stems distinctly bulbous. Taste decidedly unpleasant. An intense acridity develops and increases when the juices of raw pieces are swallowed, and the salivary glands are much excited. The acridity is not lost in cooking. It simply can not be eaten. Specimens were sent by me to Professor Peck who referred it to A. mellea.

I have never seen the abortive form of Clitopilus abortivus, though 57found in many places and in great quantity, showing any part or trace of the original plant. But that a similar monstrosity occurs upon A. mellea is shown by individuals and parts of individuals of a cluster being aborted. Without such positive proof, no one would suspect either of these odd formations to be abortive of either C. abortivus or A. mellea, or any other fungus. I consider the abortive form of A. mellea far superior in substance and flavor to it or any of its varieties.

The Armillaria can not be ranked among the tender or high-flavored toadstools, yet their abundance, meaty caps and nourishing qualities place them among our most valuable food species.

The caps when chopped into small pieces make good patties and croquettes. They have an impressive flavor of their own, and offer an esculent medium for seasoning and the gravies of various meats.

A. nardos´mia Ellis—nardosmius, of the odor of nardus. (A name applied by the ancients to several plants, especially spica nardi—spikenard.) Pileus fleshy, firm, thick and compact on the disk, thin toward the margin, whitish, variegated with brown spots, with a thick, tough and separable cuticle. Flesh white. Gills crowded, subventricose, slightly emarginate, whitish. Stem solid, fibrous, not bulbous, sheathed below by the brown velvety veil, the ring narrow, spreading, uneven on the edge. Spores subglobose, 6µ in diameter.

Pileus about 3 in. broad. Stem 1.5–3 in. long, 4–6 lines thick.

Ground in woods, Suffolk county. September. Peck, 43d Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Several specimens from sandy grounds in pine woods, Haddonfield, N.J., were sent by me to Professor Peck and were identified by him. Plentiful at Mt. Gretna, Pa., September to frost, 1898. In mixed woods, on gravelly ground. Eaten in quantity by several persons. McIlvaine.

Cuticle of caps when dry breaking up into brownish, squamulose scales, margin involute. Gills subdecurrent. Veil thick, persistent. Stem short, subbulbous, solid. Flesh white. Very much resembles a short-stemmed Lepiota. Smell and taste strong, like almonds. Disappears in cooking.

A. mu´cida Schrad.—mucidus, slimy. Pileus commonly shining white, thin, almost transparent, hemispherical then expanded, obtuse, more or less radiato-wrinkled, smeared over with a thick tenacious gluten; margin striate when thinner. Stem 1½-3 in. long, 1–2 lines thick at the apex, thickened at the base, stuffed, thin, rigid, curved ascending, smooth, white, but sooty scaly at the base when most perfectly developed. Ring inserted at the apex of the stem, bent downward and glued close to the stem, furrowed, the white border again erect, with a swollen and entire margin, which sometimes becomes dingy brown. Gills rounded behind, obtuse, adhering to the stem and striato-decurrent, distant, broad, lax, mucid, always shining white.

Very variable in stature, from 1 in. (when of this size the stem is almost equal) to as much as 6 in. broad. The color of the pileus varies gray, fuliginous, olivaceous. The gills sometimes become yellow, but only from disease. Sometimes solitary, sometimes a few are joined in a cespitose manner at the base. Stevenson.

Spores elliptical, 15–16×8–9µ Massee; 17×14µ W.G.S.

North Carolina, Schweinitz, Curtis; Pennsylvania, Schweinitz; Maryland, Miss Banning.

West Virginia mountains, 1882, Haddonfield, N.J., 1891–94, on beech trees and roots. McIlvaine.

Commonly considered esculent in Europe.

Dirt adheres so tenaciously to it that it is difficult to clean. This, however, occurs only when the fungus grows from roots and pushes its way up through covering earth. When growing from trees it is attractive and of good quality.

Should be chopped fine and well cooked.

59TRICHOLO´MA Fr.

(Plate XIX.)

Section of tricholoma.

Pileus symmetrical, generally fleshy, never truly umbilicate, seldom umbonate. Veil absent or appearing only as fibrils or down on the margin of the pileus. Gills sinuate (the small sudden curve near the stem always apparent in the young plant), sometimes with a slightly decurrent tooth. Stem central, usually stout, fleshy-fibrous, without a bark-like skin. Flesh continuous with that of the pileus. Ring and Volva absent. Spores white or dingy.

But one is known to be poisonous. Some are acrid or unpleasant in flavor. With one exception all grow on the ground in pastures and woods, appearing from May to late in the autumn.

Gills generally white or dingy, frequently spotted or stained. The pileus may be smooth or adorned with fibrous or downy scales, dry, moist, viscid or water-soaked.

The distinguishing feature of Tricholoma is the sinuate gills. In Collybia the stem bears a distinct bark-like skin; in Clitocybe the gills are never sinuate; species of Pleurotus are distinguished by growing on wood only, and Paxillus by their strongly-incurved margin and anastomosing gills.

In cooking Tricholoma consistency must be the guide to plan and time. The tougher varieties require to be cut into small pieces and to be well cooked, while the brittle and delicate varieties will cook quickly. Many of them make excellent soups.

Stem fibrillose from the remains of the adnate universal veil.

Cuticle of pileus viscid when moist, innately fibrillose or scaly, but not lacerated; flesh of pileus thick, firm; margin almost naked.

* Gills not discolored, nor becoming reddish.

** Gills discolored, usually spotted with reddish-brown.

Cuticle of the pileus never moist or viscid; torn into downy or floccose scales. Flesh soft, not water-soaked; margin involute and slightly downy at first.

* Gills not changing color, nor spotted with red or black.

** Gills becoming reddish or gray, the edge at last generally with reddish or black spots.

Pileus rigid, hard, somewhat cartilaginous when fleshy, very fragile when thin, cuticle rigid, granulated or broken up when dry into smooth scales, not torn into fibrils. Young specimens occur which are fibrillose from the veil, not from laceration of the cuticle.

* Gills white or pallid, not becoming spotted with red or gray.

** Gills becoming reddish, grayish or spotted.

Pileus first slightly silky, soon becoming smooth, very dry, neither moist, viscid, water-soaked, nor distinctly scaly; rather thin, opaque, absorbing moisture, but is the same color as the gills. Stem fibrous, by which the smaller species resembling Collybia may be distinguished.

* Gills broad, rather thick, somewhat distant.

**:sericella2 Gills narrow, thin, crowded.

In rainy weather moist; when very young pruinose (but rarely conspicuously) from the universal veil. Flesh soft and spongy or very thin when it is water-soaked.

Pileus fleshy, soft, fragile, marked with drop-like spots or rivulose. Appearing in spring, rarely in autumn.

61Cespitose, in troops or often in rings.

* Gills whitish.

** Gills becoming reddish or smoky-gray.

Grouped by F.D. Briscoe—Studies by C. McIlvaine.            Plate XVIII.

Fig.	Page.	Fig.	Page.
1–2. Tricholoma personatum,	79	5. Tricholoma columbetta,	68
3. Tricholoma russula,	65	6. Tricholoma humile,	81
4. Tricholoma terreum,	71

Pileus compact, then spongy, obtuse, even, smooth, moist but not hygrophanous; firm, growing in troops late in the autumn. Stem stout, base usually thickened, spongy fibrous. Gills at length decurrent but sinuate, by which character they are distinguished from Clitocybe.

* Gills not discolored.

** Gills discolored.

Pileus thin, somewhat umbonate; flesh at length soft, watery. Stem rootless, containing a pith, entirely fibrous.

Flesh not exceeding in depth the width of the not broad, thin gills; thinnest toward the margin, hence somewhat umbonate. Color of the pileus either moist or dry, very variable in the same species. Pileus sometimes pulverulent from the persistence of the veil in dry weather.

* Gills whitish, not spotted.

** Gills more or less violet, gray or smoky. Not represented.

T. eques´tre Linn.—equestre, belonging to a horseman or knight, from distinguished appearance. Pileus fleshy, compact, convex becoming expanded, obtuse, pale-yellowish, more or less reddish tinged, the disk and central scales often darker, the margin naked, often wavy. Flesh white or tinged with yellow. Gills rounded behind, close, nearly free, sulphur-yellow. Stem stout, solid, pale-yellow or white, white within. Spores 6.5–8×4–5µ.

Pileus 3–5 in. broad. Stem 1–2 in. long, 6–10 lines thick.

62Pine woods, especially in sandy soil. Albany county. September to November.

This is a noble species but not plentiful in our state (N.Y.). The pileus is said to become greenish very late in the season. The stem, in the typical form, is described as sulphur-yellow in color, but with us it is more often white. The scales of the disk are sometimes wanting. In our plant the taste is slightly farinaceous at first, but it is soon unpleasant.

Var. pinastreti A. and S. is a slender form having a thin, even pileus, thinner and more narrow gills and a more slender stem. A. crassus Scop., A. aureus Schaeff., and A. flavovirens Pers. are recorded as synonyms of this species. Peck, 44th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Professor Peck later says in “Mushrooms and Their Use,” p. 52: “I confidently add it to the list of edible species.”

New Jersey, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. In pine forests and groves. September to frost. McIlvaine.

I have eaten it since 1883. All disagreeable odor about T. equestre (which I have seldom noticed) disappears upon cooking. The substance is rather tough, but good.

T. coryphæ´um Fr.—chief, leader. From its distinguished appearance. Pileus very fleshy but not compact, convex then plane, obtuse, viscid, yellowish, streaked with small brownish scales. Stem solid, attenuated upward. Gills emarginate, crowded, white, edge yellow.

Large and of striking appearance. In shady beech woods.

Pronounced a good edible by the Boston Myc. Club.

The color of the plants is given as greenish-yellow. Bull. Boston Myc. Club, 1896.

T. ustale Fr.—uro, to burn. Pileus fleshy, convex, then plane, obtuse, even, smooth, viscid, bay-brownish. Stem stuffed, equal, dry, rufo-fibrillose, apex naked, silky, nearly smooth. Gills emarginate, crowded, white, at length with reddish spots. Cooke.

Chiefly in pine woods.

Pileus 3 in. Stem 2–3 in. long, about ½ in. thick.

Spores 5×8µ W.G.S.; 7–8×5µ Massee.

North Carolina, Curtis, pine woods, Schweinitz; Kansas, Cragin. Massachusetts. Edible. Boston Myc. Club, Bull. No. 5.

63T. resplen´dens Fr.—shining brightly. Pileus fleshy, convex then nearly plane, even, bare, viscid, white, sometimes hyaline-spotted or yellowish on the disk, shining when dry, the margin straight. Flesh white, taste mild, odor pleasant. Gills nearly free when young, then emarginate, somewhat crowded, rather thick, entire, white. Stem solid, bare, subbulbous, even, dry, white. Spores 8×4µ.

Pileus 2–4 in. broad. Stem 2–3 in. long, 4–8 lines thick.

Thin woods. Catskill mountains. September. Peck, 44th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Mt. Gretna, Pa., in mixed woods. October and November. McIlvaine.

It is of excellent flavor, consistency and food value.

T. transmu´tans Pk.—changing. Pileus convex, nearly bare, viscid when moist, brownish, reddish-brown or tawny-red, usually paler on the margin. Flesh white, taste and odor farinaceous. Gills narrow, close, sometimes branched, whitish or pale yellowish, becoming dingy or reddish-spotted when old. Stem equal or slightly tapering upward, bare or slightly silky-fibrillose, stuffed or hollow, whitish, often marked with reddish stains or becoming reddish-brown toward the base, white within. Spores subglobose, 5µ.

Pileus 2–4 in. broad. Stem 3–4 in. long, 3–6 lines thick.

Woods. The plants are often cespitose.

I suspect that Agaricus frumentaceus of Curtis’s catalogue belongs to this species. Both the pileus and stem, as well as the gills, are apt to assume darker hues with age or in drying, and this character suggested the specific name. The species is classed as edible. Peck, 44th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Curtis catalogues T. frumentaceum as edible.

T. transmutans is reported from many states. It has a mealy taste and odor. Wherever it is found it is a valuable food species.

T. sejunc´tum Sow.—separated; from the peculiar manner in which the gills separate from the stem. Pileus fleshy, convex then expanded, umbonate, slightly viscid, streaked with innate brown or blackish fibrils, whitish or yellowish, sometimes greenish-yellow. Flesh white, fragile. Gills broad, subdistant, rounded behind or emarginate, white. Stem solid, stout, often irregular, white. Spores subglobose, 6.5µ.

Pileus 1–3 in. broad. Stem 1–3 in. long, 4–8 lines thick.

64Mixed woods. Suffolk county, N.Y. September.

The plants referred to this species are not uncommon on Long Island, growing on sandy soil in woods of oak and pine. They are usually more or less irregular and the pileus becomes fragile. It is quite variable in color, sometimes approaching a smoky-brown hue, again being nearly white. The taste of the typical form is said to be bitter, but the flavor of our plant is scarcely bitter. In other respects, however, it agrees well with the description of the species. Peck, 44th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Spores 6µ. W.G.S.

Flesh is tender. Cooked, of good body and peculiar but pleasant flavor. A valuable species, baked, scalloped, fried.

T. terri´ferum Pk.—terra, earth; fero, to bear. Pileus broadly convex or nearly plane, irregular, often wavy on the margin, glabrous, viscid, pale-yellow, generally soiled with adhering particles of earth carried up in its growth. Flesh white, with no decided odor. Gills thin, crowded, slightly adnexed, white, not spotted or changeable. Stem equal, short, solid, white, floccose-squamulose at the apex. Spores minute, subglobose, 3µ.

Pileus 3–4 in. broad. Stem 1–1.5 in. long, 6–8 lines thick.

Woods. Catskill mountains. September. Peck, 44th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Found in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey. August to frost. McIlvaine.

Not inviting, hard to clean, nevertheless edible and good.

T. portento´sum Fr.—portentosus, strange, monstrous. Pileus 3–5 in. broad, sooty, livid, sometimes violaceous, fleshy, but thin in comparison with the stoutness of the stem, convexo-plane, somewhat umbonate, unequal and turned up, viscid, streaked with black lines (innate fibrils), but otherwise even and smooth, the very thin margin naked. Flesh not compact, white, fragile. Stem commonly 3 in. often 4–6 in. long, 1 in. thick, stout, solid, the whole remarkably fibrous-fleshy, somewhat equal, naked, but fibrilloso-striate, white; the base, which is occasionally attenuato-rooted, villous. Gills rounded, almost free, 3–4 lines to as much as 1 in. broad, distant, white, but varying, becoming pale-gray or yellow. Fries.

65Spores 4–5×4µ K.; 5×4µ W.G.S

West Virginia, 1882; New Jersey, Pennsylvania, in woods and open places. May to November. McIlvaine.

It is one of the first toadstools I experimented upon. I have been constant to it. Its caps fried in butter are unsurpassed.

T. fla´vo-brun´neum Fr.—flavus, yellow; brunneus, brown. Pileus fleshy, conical, then convex, at length expanded, subumbonate, viscid, clothed with streak-like scales. Stem hollow, somewhat ventricose, fibrillose, at first viscid, yellowish within, tip naked. Gills emarginate, decurrent, crowded, yellowish, then reddish. Fries.

Odor that of new meal. Stem 3–5 in. long, ½ in. thick, dull-reddish or brownish. Pileus 3–6 in. broad, disk darker, dingy dull-red or reddish-brown.

North Carolina, Curtis; damp woods, A. fulvus, Schweinitz.

Edible, Cooke, 1891.

T. rus´sula Schaeff.—reddish. (Plate XVIII, fig. 3, p. 60.) Pileus fleshy, convex, becoming plane or centrally depressed, obtuse, viscid, even or dotted with granular squamules on the disk, red or incarnate, the margin usually paler, involute and minutely downy in the young plant. Flesh white, sometimes tinged with red, taste mild. Gills sub-distant, rounded behind or subdecurrent, white, often becoming red-spotted with age. Stem solid, firm, whitish or rose-red, squamulose at the apex. Spores elliptical, 7×4µ.

Pileus 3–5 in. broad. Stem 1–2 in. long, 6–8 lines thick.

Mixed woods. Albany. Cattaraugus and Steuben counties. September and October.

According to the description the typical plant has the pileus incarnate and the stem rosy-red, but in the American plant the pileus is generally more clearly red and the stem white, though this is often varied by reddish stains. Peck, 44th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Mixed woods. August until after frost. At Mt. Gretna, Pa. 1897–1898 the patches were large, generous yielders.

Edible, Cooke; edible, Cordier, Roques.

T. russula is a dressy fungus and has a fashion of its own. The mottlings 66upon its cap, gill and stem, in shades of red, subdued though they be, give it a handsome personality distinct from any other.

The species is a variable one in its minor markings. When moisture is prevalent the caps of all are viscid. Both young and old are often cracked. Stems frequently not squamulose at apex, frequently rosy when young, often flattened. The fibrous interior of the stem and its fibrous connection with the flesh of the cap are very marked. Gills emarginate in youth as well as in age. It is solitary, gregarious, occasionally bunched.

An excellent fungus, a free late grower, meaty, easily cooked, and of fine flavor.

T. frumenta´ceum Bull.—frumentum, made of corn. Pileus 2–3 in. broad, whitish or clay-color and variegated dull red, truly fleshy, convex then plane, obtuse, viscous, dry in fine weather, even, smooth. Flesh white. Stem 3 in. long, ½ in. thick, solid, equal, fibrillose when dry, whitish. Gills rounded, somewhat crowded, rather broad, white, at length spotted-red.

Wholly becoming pale white, but the stem and pileus are alike marked-red, and the gills are at length reddish, wherefore, as well as for the strong smell of new meal, it is undoubtedly nearest to A. pessundatus. When full grown it has all the appearance of Entoloma. On the ground. Stevenson.

Spores 6µ W.G.S.

North Carolina, Curtis. Edible. Porcher says Dr. Curtis was the first to declare it edible.

T. pessunda´tum Fr.—pessum dare, bent downward. Pileus fleshy, compact, convex, very obtuse, repand, viscid, granulose or spotted. Stem solid, firm, at first ovato-bulbous, everywhere villose with whitish scales. Gills emarginate, nearly free, crowded, white, at length spotted with red.

In pine woods. Odor and taste mealy.

Pileus bay, reddish, paler at the margin. Stature of Ag. equestris. Fries.

Spores 5×2.5µ Massee; very minute, globose, 2–3µ C.B.P.

Reckoned edible, but very rare. Stevenson.

California, H. and M.

67II.—Genui´na. Cuticle of pileus torn into downy or fibrillose scales.

(Plate XX.)

Tricholoma decorosum.
Two-thirds natural size.

T. decoro´sum Pk.—decorus, decorous. Pileus firm, at first hemispherical, then convex or nearly plane, adorned with numerous brownish sub-squarrose tomentose scales, dull ochraceous or tawny. Flesh white. Gills close, rounded and slightly emarginate behind, the edge slightly scalloped. Stem solid, equal or slightly tapering upward, white and smooth at the top, elsewhere tomentose-scaly and colored like the pileus. Spores broadly elliptical, 5×4µ.

Pileus 1–2 in. broad. Stem 2–4 in. long, 2–4 lines thick.

Decaying trunks of trees. Catskill mountains and Alleghany county. September and October.

A rare but beautiful species. It is often cespitose. It departs from the character of the genus in growing on decaying wood. Peck, 44th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Tricholoma decorosum is not rare in Pennsylvania. I have found it at Angora, Philadelphia and in Chester county, Pa., growing in clusters and singly. At first sight one might take it for one of the many forms of Armillaria, but even cursory examination shows the difference.

It is of good consistency and flavor, having a decided mushroom taste.

T. flaves´cens Pk.—pale yellow. Pileus convex, firm, often irregular, dry, slightly silky becoming bare, sometimes cracking into minute scales on the disk, whitish or pale yellow. Flesh whitish or yellowish. Gills close, white or pale-yellow, emarginate, floccose on the edge. Stems firm, solid, often unequal, central or sometimes eccentric, single or cespitose, colored like the pileus. Spores subglobose, 5µ in diameter.

68Pileus 2–3 in. broad. Stem 1–2.5 in. long, 4–6 lines thick.

Pine stumps. Albany and Rensselaer counties. October.

The species seems to be related to T. rutilans but has not the red or purplish tomentum of that fungus. It, like T. decorosum, is always lignicolous. T. rutilans is sometimes so. Peck, 44th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Frequently found in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Pine stumps. September to frost. McIlvaine.

The flesh compares with that of T. rutilans, and makes an equally good dish.

T. gran´de Pk. Pileus thick, firm, hemispherical, becoming convex, often irregular, dry, scaly, somewhat silky-fibrillose toward the margin, white, the margin at first involute. Flesh grayish-white, taste farinaceous. Gills close, rounded behind, adnexed, white. Stem stout, solid, fibrillose, at first tapering upward, then equal or but slightly thickened at the base, pure white. Spores elliptical, 9–11×6µ.

Pileus 4–5 in. broad. Stem 2–4 in. long, 1–1.5 in. thick.

Among fallen leaves in woods. Cattaraugus county. September.

The plants are often cespitose, and then the pileus is more or less irregular and the gills somewhat lacerated. The species is related to T. columbetta, from which its larger size, constantly scaly pileus, more cespitose mode of growth, larger spores and farinaceous taste separate it. The scales of the pileus are brownish, and the pileus itself is sometimes slightly dingy on the disk. The young margin is pure white like the stem, and both it and the upper part of the stem are sometimes studded with drops of moisture.

The plant was found on trial to be edible, but not of first quality. The flesh is not very tender, nor the flavor captivating even in young specimens. Peck, 44th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Mt. Gretna, Pa. Mixed woods. August to frost. McIlvaine.

Gross when old. Young specimens of medium quality and flavor.

T. columbet´ta Fr.—columba, a pigeon. (Plate XVIII, fig. 5, p. 60.) Pileus convex, then nearly plane, fleshy, obtuse, rigid, somewhat flexuous, dry, at first bare, then silky-fibrillose, becoming even or scaly, white, the margin at first involute, more or less tomentose. Flesh white, 69taste mild. Gills close, emarginate, thin, white. Stem stout, solid, unequal, nearly bare, white. Spores 7–8×4.5µ.

The species is very variable and the following varieties have been described:

Var. A. Pileus nearly always repand or lobed, at first bare, even, at length cracked-scaly, often reddish spotted, the margin when young inflexed, tomentose. Stem obese, even, unequal, swollen, an inch thick. The typical form.

Birch wood among mosses.

Var. B. Pileus subflexuous, silky-fibrillose, at length scaly, sometimes dingy-brown spotted, the margin scarcely tomentose. Stem longer, equal or slightly narrowed at the base.

Bushy places. Intermediate between A and C.

Var. C. Pileus regular, flattened, evidently fibrillose, sometimes spotted with blue, four inches broad. Stem equal, cylindrical, fibrillose-striate, four inches long.

Beech woods. A showy variety so diverse from variety A that it might be regarded as a distinct species, did not variety B connect them, and so much resemble both that it might with equal propriety be referred to either.

Pileus 2–4 in. broad. Stem 1–4 in. long, 3–12 lines thick.

Woods and pastures. Albany county, N.Y.

It may be distinguished from T. album by its mild taste. It is recorded as edible. Peck, 44th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Edible, Curtis, Cooke, Stevenson.

This much varied Tricholoma is as varied in its habitat. I have found it on vacant lots in Philadelphia, in mixed woods at Devon, Pa., and in the forests of the West Virginia mountains, and eaten it since 1881.

It cooks readily and is of mild, agreeable flavor.

T. ru´tilans Schaeff.—rutilo, to be reddish. Pileus fleshy, campanulate becoming plane, dry, at first covered with a dark-red or purplish tomentum then somewhat scaly, the margin thin, at first involute. Flesh yellow. Gills crowded, rounded, yellow, thickened and downy on the edge. Stem somewhat hollow, nearly equal or slightly thickened or bulbous at the base, soft, pale-yellow variegated with red or purplish floccose scales. Spores 6.5–8×6.5µ.

70

(Plate XXI.)

Tricholoma rutilans.
About three-eights natural size.

Pileus 2–4 in. broad. Stem 2–4 in. long, 5–8 lines thick.

On or about pine stumps, rarely on hemlock trunks. July to November. Peck, 44th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Spores subglobose, 5–6µ diameter Massee; 6–8×6µ B.; 6×9µ W.G.S.

West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey. May to November. McIlvaine.

Quite common in West Virginia mountains and in pine woods of New Jersey. The Boston Mycological Club reports it found in quantity in Massachusetts. The flesh when cooked is gummy, like the marshmallow confection. It is excellent.

T. vacci´num Pers.—vacca, a cow. Pileus fleshy, convex or campanulate, becoming nearly plane, umbonate, dry, floccose-scaly, reddish-brown, the margin involute, tomentose. Flesh white. Gills adnexed, subdistant, whitish, then reddish or reddish-spotted. Stem equal, hollow, covered with a fibrillose bark, naked at the apex, pale reddish.

Spores subglobose, 6µ.

Pileus 1–3 in. broad. Stem 2–3 in. long, 4–6 lines thick.

Under or near coniferous trees. Greene and Essex counties. September and October. Peck, 44th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Recorded as edible by Gillet.

Plentiful in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia. Have eaten it since 1885. Fair.

T. fuligi´neum Pk.—fuligineus, resembling soot. Pileus convex or nearly plane, obtuse, often irregular, dry, minutely scaly, sooty-brown. Flesh grayish, odor and taste farinaceous. Gills subdistant, uneven on the edge, ash-colored becoming blackish in drying. Stem short, solid, equal, bare, ash-colored. Spores oblong-elliptical, 8×4µ.

71Pileus 1–2.5 in. broad. Stem 1–1.5 in. long, 3–5 lines thick.

Among mosses in open places. Greene county. September. Rare. Peck, 44th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Quite common in Pennsylvania and New Jersey on mossy wood margins. It is of fair quality and flavor.

(Plate XXII.)

Tricholoma terreum.
One-half natural size.

T. ter´reum Schaeff.—the earth. (Plate XVIII, fig. 4, p. 60.) Pileus fleshy, thin, soft, convex, campanulate or nearly plane, obtuse or umbonate, innately fibrillose or floccose-scaly, ashy-brown, grayish-brown or mouse color. Flesh white or whitish. Gills adnexed, subdistant, more or less eroded on the edge, white becoming ash-colored. Stem equal, varying from solid to stuffed or hollow, fibrillose, white or whitish. Spores broadly elliptical, 6–7×4–5µ.

Pileus 1–3 in. broad. Stem 1–2 in. long, 2–4 lines thick.

Woods. Albany, Rensselaer and Cattaraugus counties. September to November. Peck, 44th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Spores 7×5.5µ Morgan; 5–6µ, Massee; 6–7×4µ K.; 6µ W.G.S.

Eaten by Professor Peck. Eaten by McIlvaine. Quality fair.

T. ter´reum Schaeff.—var. fra´grans Pk. Pileus convex or nearly plane, dry, innately-fibrillose or minutely floccose-scaly, grayish-brown or blackish-brown. Gills rather broad, adnexed, whitish or ash-colored. Stem equal, solid or stuffed, rarely hollow, whitish. Spores broadly elliptical, 6–7×4–5µ.

The Fragrant tricholoma has a distinct farinaceous odor and flavor. In other respects it closely resembles the Earth-colored tricholoma of which it is considered a mere variety. The typical European plant is said to be without odor or nearly so and has not been classed among the edible species by European writers. But our variety, though not high-flavored, is fairly good and entirely harmless. Its cap varies considerably in color but is some shade of gray or brown. Its center is without any prominence or very bluntly prominent, and its surface is 72commonly very obscurely marked with innate fibrils or in small plants may have very small flocculose tufts or scales. The flesh is whitish as also are the gills, though these sometimes assume a more decided grayish hue. They are rather broad and loose and sometimes uneven on the edge or even split transversely. They are usually deeply excavated next the stem and attached to it by a narrow part. The stem is whitish or slightly shaded with the color of the cap. It often has a few longitudinal fibrils, but never any collar. It may be either solid, stuffed or spongy within, or in large specimens, hollow.

The plants grow gregariously or sometimes in tufts on the ground under or near trees or in thin woods, especially of pine, or in mixed woods. The caps vary from 1–4 in. broad, and the stems from 1–3 in. long and from 2–6 lines thick. The plants occur in autumn. In Europe there is a variety of this species which also has a farinaceous odor, but it differs from our plant in having reddish edges to the gills. It is called variety orirubens. Peck, 49th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Var. fragrans is plentiful and gregarious among New Jersey pines, October to frost. Other varieties are often found. Specimens found by me at Mt. Gretna, Pa., and sent to Professor Peck who identified them as var. fragrans Pk., were decidedly umbonate. Gills were easily separable from cap.

Var. fragrans is a favorite. It is pleasant to many, even raw. Plentiful salting while cooking develops a high and exquisite flavor.

T. fumes´cens Pk.—smoky. Pileus convex or expanded, dry, clothed with a very minute appressed tomentum, whitish. Gills narrow, crowded, rounded behind, whitish or pale cream color, changing to smoky-blue or blackish where bruised. Stem short, cylindrical, whitish. Spores oblong-elliptical, 5–6.5µ.

Pileus 1 in. broad. Stem 1–1.5 in. high, 2–3 lines thick.

Woods. Columbia county. October. Rare.

The species is remarkable for the smoky or blackish hue assumed by the gills when bruised and also in drying. It is apparently related to T. immundum Berk., but in that species the whole plant becomes blackish when bruised, and the gills are marked with transverse lines and tinged with pink. Peck, 44th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Mt. Gretna, Pa. September to November, 1898. McIlvaine.

The size of cap sometimes attains to 3 in and stem to ½ in. in thickness. 73Taste at first farinaceous then sweetish. The caps are of excellent quality and flavor.

(Plate XXIII.)

Tricholoma imbricatum.
One-half natural size.

T. imbrica´tum Fr.—covered with tiles. Pileus fleshy, compact, convex or nearly plane, obtuse, dry, innately scaly, fibrillose toward the margin, brown or reddish-brown, the margin thin, at first slightly inflexed and pubescent then naked. Flesh firm, thick, white. Gills slightly emarginate, almost adnate, rather close, white when young, becoming reddish or spotted. Stem solid, firm, nearly equal, fibrillose, white and mealy or pulverulent at the top, elsewhere colored like the pileus. Spores 6.5 × 4–5µ.

Pileus 2–4 in. broad. Stem 2–3 in. long, 4–10 lines thick. Under or near coniferous trees. Greene and Essex counties. September and October.

This is an edible species. It has a farinaceous odor and taste when fresh. Peck, 44th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Closely resembles T. transmutans in size, color and taste. It is, however, easily separated by its dry cap and solid stem. Peck.

Plentiful in pine woods of New Jersey, and among hemlocks in West Virginia. Mt. Gretna, Pa., under pines. October and November, 1898. McIlvaine.

Specimens found at Mt. Gretna had caps dark umber when young, and margin incurved to stem. Gills yellowish. Stem up to 4 in. long, stout, solid, swollen at base, and having a short pointed ending, firm, fibrillose, white. Flavor farinaceous.

Flesh of good texture and taste.

T. sapona´ceum Fr.—sapo, soap. Strong, smelling of an undefinable soap. Cap 2–4 in. across, involute at first, convex then flattened, dry, glabrous, moist in wet weather, never viscid, brownish, more or less spotted or having the skin cracked into scales, occasionally covered with dark fibrils. Flesh firm, whitish becoming reddish when wounded. Gills emarginate, with a hooked tooth (uncinate) thin, distant, pale white. Stem 2–4 in. long, about ½ in. thick, often unequal, base sometimes long and rooting, usually smooth, at times reticulated with black fibrils, or is scaly. Distasteful.

The species is variable in size and color. Stevenson remarks: “Scarcely any species has been more confounded with others.” It may always be safely distinguished by its odor, by its distant gills, by the smooth cuticle of the cap cracking into scales, and by the change of color to reddish when bruised.

West Virginia mountains. August to frost. 1881–85. New Jersey, Pennsylvania. McIlvaine.

This fungus is not extremely unpleasant when eaten—like T. sulphureum, but no one will care to eat it. There is nothing in the flavor to recommend it or to inspire a cultivation of taste for it.

T. sulphu´reum Bull.—sulphur, brimstone. Odor strong, fetid or like gas tar. Cap 1–4 in. across, subglobose, then convex and plane, slightly umbonate, sometimes depressed, fleshy, margin at first involute. Color dingy or reddish sulphur-yellow, at first silky, becoming smooth or minutely tomentose. Flesh thick, yellow. Gills rather thick, narrowed behind, emarginate or acutely adnate, sometimes appearing arcuate from shape of cap. Stem 2–4 in. long, 3–5 lines thick, equal or 75slightly bulbous, often curved, smooth striate, sulphur-yellow, stuffed, fibrous or hollow, yellow within, at times having yellow fibrous roots.

Spores 9–10×5µ Massee.

Very variable in size. Gregarious, common in mixed woods.

West Virginia, 1881. West Philadelphia, 1886. McIlvaine.

When quite young T. sulphureum is showy and inviting. Its smell is discouraging, its taste forbidding. No amount of cooking removes its unpleasant flavor. I have tried to eat enough of it to test its qualities, but was satisfied after strenuous efforts to mark it INEDIBLE.

T. chrysenteroi´des Pk.—like gold. Pileus fleshy, convex or plane, not at all umbonate, firm, dry, glabrous or slightly silky, pale-yellow or buff, becoming dingy with age, the margin sometimes reflexed, flesh pale-yellow, taste and odor farinaceous. Gills rather close, emarginate, yellowish, becoming dingy or pallid with age, marked with transverse veinlets along the upper edge, the interspaces veined. Stem equal, firm, solid, bare, fibrous-striate, yellowish without and within. Spores elliptical, 8–10×5–6µ.

Pileus 1–2 in. broad. Stem 2–3 in. long, 3–4 lines thick.

Woods. Lewis and Cattaraugus counties. September.

Nearly allied to T. chrysenterum, but separable by the gills, which are somewhat veiny and not free, by the entire absence of an umbo and by its farinaceous odor and taste. Peck, 44th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Frequently found at Angora, and in Woodland Cemetery, West Philadelphia.

Edible. Fair flavor and good quality.

T. o´picum Fr.—uncouth. Pileus 1–1½ in. across. Flesh rather thin, becoming grayish; convex, then expanded, obtusely-umbonate, at length usually upturned and split, very dry, even at first, then minutely scaly, gray. Gills broadly emarginate, ventricose, rather thick, scarcely distant, hoary. Stem 2–3 in. long, 2–3 lines thick, equal, fibrillose, becoming almost glabrous, pallid then grayish, stuffed. Massee.

Among moss, in pine woods, etc.

Inodorous. Somewhat resembling T. saponaceum, but distinguished by the absence of smell.

Waretown, N.J. Under pines and open places in pine woods. August to September, 1889. McIlvaine.

76When wet the caps become darker and have a mottled appearance. They are tender, but rather tasteless. The species serves to make quantity when cooked with others of higher flavor.

T. pipera´tum Pk.—piper, pepper. Pileus rather thin, firm, dry, convex, obtuse or subumbonate, virgate with innate brownish fibrils, varying in color from grayish-brown to blackish-brown, sometimes with greenish or yellowish tints. Flesh white or whitish, taste acrid. Gills broad, close, rounded behind, adnexed, whitish or yellowish. Stem generally short, equal, solid, silky, slightly mealy or pruinose at the top, white or slightly tinged with yellow. Spores elliptic, 6–7µ long, 5µ broad. Pileus 4–7 cm. broad. Stem 5–7 cm. long, 6–12 mm. thick.

The central part of the pileus is sometimes a little darker than the rest. The peppery or acrid taste is very distinct and remains in the mouth many minutes. This and the innately fibrillose character of the pileus are distinguishing characters of the species. The plants appear from September to November. Peck, Torr. Bull., Vol. 26.

Mt. Gretna, Pa. October to November, 1898, on damp ground among moss. McIlvaine.

Cap up to 3 in. across, bell-shaped, then convex, depressed in center and undulate, light-brown, darker toward center, dry, minutely fibrillose. Flesh thick, white, thin toward margin. Gills emarginate, unequal, not forked. Stem 1½-2 in. long, hard, equal or enlarging toward base, white, silky, striate.

Though peppery raw, this Tricholoma is of good substance and flavor when cooked.

* Gills whitish.

T. gambo´sum Fr.—gambosus, swelling near the hoof. Pileus 3–4 in. and more broad, becoming pale-tan, fleshy, hemispherico-convex, then flattened, obtuse, undulated and bent backward, even, smooth, but spotted as with drops, at length widely cracked (not, however, torn into squamules), the margin at the first involute and tomentose. Flesh thick, soft, fragile, white. Stem 2 in. and more long, ½-1 in. thick, solid, fleshy-firm, almost equal, often curved-ascending at the base, white, 77downy at the apex. Gills rounded or emarginato-adnexed, with a somewhat decurrent tooth and when old sinuato-decurrent, crowded, ventricose, 2–3 lines broad, whitish. Fries.

Odor pleasant, of new meal. Often forming large rings or clusters. A whitish form must not be confounded with T. albellus.

Spores 13×11µ W.G.S.; 13–14×8–9µ Massee; 13×10µ Cooke.

Angora, Philadelphia. Chester and Lebanon county, Pa. McIlvaine. Fair.

T. tigri´num Schaeff.—spotted like a tiger. Pileus 2 in. broad, pallid-brown, variegated with crowded and darker dingy-brown spots, compactly fleshy, convex then expanded, obtuse, repand. Flesh thick, firm, white, unchangeable, but thin at the involute margin. Stem 1 in. long and thick, very compact, solid, pruinate, white. Gills rounded behind, at length decurrent with a tooth, crowded, narrow, white, at length darker.

Solitary or cespitose. Very distinguished, obese, and without any marked smell of new meal. In fir woods and open grassy ground. Rare. June to July. Stevenson.

Edible, Cooke, Fries.

T. albel´lum Fr.—albus, white. Pileus about 3 in. broad, becoming pale-white, passing into gray when dry, fleshy, thick at the disk, thinner at the sides, conical then convex, gibbous when expanded, when in vigor moist on the surface, spotted (mottled) as with scales, the thin margin naked. Flesh soft, floccose, white, unchangeable. Stem curt, 1½-2 in. long, 1 in. thick at the base, reaching ½ in. toward the apex, solid, fleshy-compact, ovato-bulbous (conical to the middle, cylindrical above the middle), fibrillose-striate, white. Gills very much attenuated behind, not emarginate, becoming broad in front, very crowded, quite entire, white. Fries.

Spores elliptical, 6–7×4µ Massee; ovoid, 3µ W.G.S.; ovoid, 3µ Cooke.

Pileus not becoming yellow. Odor weak when fresh, taste pleasant, almost that of cooked flesh. There are two forms: one larger, solitary, another smaller, connato-cespitose, quite as in A. albellus Sow. It is often confounded with smaller forms of A. gambosus. Stevenson.

North Carolina, Curtis. Damp woods. Edible.

T. vires´cens Pk.—viresco, to grow green. Pileus convex or nearly plane, sometimes centrally depressed, moist, bare, dingy-green, the margin sometimes wavy or lobed. Gills close, gradually narrowed toward the outer extremity, rounded or slightly emarginate at the inner, white. Stem subequal, stuffed or hollow, thick but brittle, whitish, sometimes tinged with green. Spores broadly elliptical, 5×4µ.

Pileus 3–5 in. broad. Stem 3–4 in. long, 6–12 lines thick.

Thin woods. Essex county. July.

The dull smoky-green hue of the pileus is the distinguishing feature of this species. Peck, 44th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Quite common in West Virginia, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. July to October. McIlvaine.

Edible. Tastes somewhat like many Russulæ, when cooked. Flavor good.

T. fumidel´lum Pk.—smoky. Pileus convex, then expanded, subumbonate, bare, moist, dingy-white or clay-color clouded with brown, the disk or umbo generally smoky-brown. Gills crowded, subventricose, whitish. Stem equal, bare, solid, whitish. Spores minute, subglobose, 4.5×4µ.

Pileus 1–2 in. broad. Stem 1.5–2.5 in. long, 2–3 lines thick.

Woods. Albany county and Catskill mountains. September and October.

The stem splits easily and the pileus becomes paler in drying. It sometimes becomes cracked in areas. Peck, 44th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

On ground. Mt. Gretna. October and November. 1897. McIlvaine.

The species was plentiful among the leaf mold, growing from the ground in mixed woods.

The caps are delicate in substance and flavor.

T. leucoceph´alum Fr. Gr.—white; head. Pileus 1½-2 in. across, convex then plane, even, moist, smooth, but when young covered with a satiny down; water-soaked after rain. Flesh thin, tough, white. Gills rounded behind and almost free, white. Stem up to 2 in. long, ¼ in. 79thick, exterior hard, shining, fibrous; interior hollow but solid at base which is attenuated and rooting, twisted. Smell strong of new meal. Taste pleasant.

Spores 9–10×7–8µ.

Mt. Gretna, Pa. Grassy woods and borders. October to November, 1898. McIlvaine.

Quite common. The caps are excellent.

T. al´bum Schaeff.—albus, white. Pileus fleshy, tough, convex, becoming plane or depressed, obtuse, very dry, even, glabrous, white, sometimes yellowish on the disk, rarely wholly yellowish, the margin at first involute. Flesh white, taste acrid or bitter. Gills emarginate, somewhat crowded, distinct, white. Stem solid, elastic, equal or tapering upward, externally fibrous, obsoletely frosted at the apex, white. Spores elliptical, 5–6µ, long.

Pileus 2–4 in. broad. Stem 2–4 in. long, 4–6 lines thick.

Woods. Common. August to October. This species is variable in color and in size, being sometimes robust, sometimes slender. It grows singly, in troops or in tufts. It has no decided odor, but a bitter unpleasant taste. Peck, 44th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Cooked, tender and of fair flavor.

T. persona´tum Fr.—wearing a mask (from its many varieties of colors). (Plate XVIII, p. 60.) Pileus compact, becoming soft, thick, convex or plane, obtuse, regular, moist, bare, variable in color, generally pallid or ashy tinged with violet or lilac, the margin at first involute and frosted with fine hairs. Flesh whitish. Gills broad, crowded, rounded behind, free, violaceous becoming sordid-whitish or dingy-brown. Stem generally thick, subbulbous, solid, fibrillose or frosted with fine hairs, whitish or colored like the pileus. Spores dingy white, subelliptical, 8–9×4–5µ. On white paper the spores have a slight salmon tint, but they are regular in shape, not angular as in Entoloma.

Pileus 2–5 in. broad. Stem 1–3 in. long, 6–12 lines thick. Peck, 44th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Woods and open places, and growing from old, matted stable straw. Common over the United States.

80When T. personatum becomes known to the collector, either in the field or on the table, it is sure to become a favorite. It is fleshy, rotund, stocky, moist and smooth, with a tendency in its cap to be wavy-rimmed and jauntily cocked in wet weather. It grows singly or in troops, occasionally in tufts of from five to six individuals. A patch of it is valuable and worth husbanding with covering of fine straw. Cortinarius violaceus resembles it somewhat in color and shape, but it shows a spidery veil, and has brown spores. It is edible.

The common name of T. personatum in England is Blewits, which translated into understandable English is believed to be “blue-hats.” It is everywhere eaten, being of substantial substance, good flavor and cookable in any way. It is especially fine in patties, stews and croquettes.

T. nu´dum Bull.—naked. Pileus about 3 in. broad, becoming purple-violaceous then changing color, reddish, fleshy, comparatively thin, convexo-plane then depressed, obtuse, even, smooth, with a pellicle which is moist and manifest in rainy weather; margin inflexed, thin, naked. Flesh thin, pliant, colored. Stem about 3 in. long, ½ in. thick, stuffed, elastic, equal, almost naked, mealy at the apex, violaceous then becoming pale. Gills rounded then decurrent (on account of the depressed pileus), crowded, narrow, of the same color as the pileus or deeper violaceous, but soon changing color, at length reddish without the least tinge of violet. Stevenson.

Spores 7×3.5µ Massee; 6–8×4µ B.; 6×3µ W.G.S. On ground among leaves. Esculent, very good and delicate. Cordier. Edible. Roze. Edible, all American authorities.

T. grammopo´dium Bull. Gr.—a line; Gr.—a foot. Pileus 3–6 in. broad, pallid-livid or brownish-red when moist, whitish when dry, fleshy, very thin toward the margin, campanulate then convex, and at length flattened, obtusely umbonate, even, smooth, pellicle moist in rainy weather, not viscous, separating, flesh-colored when moist, white when dry, soft, fragile. Stem tall, about 3–4 in. long, ½ in. and more 81thick, solid, elastic, equal with exception of the thickened base, cylindrical, firm, smooth, evidently longitudinally sulcate, whitish. Gills arcuato-adnate or broadly horizontally emarginate, acute at both ends, very crowded, quite entire, very many shorter, somewhat branched behind, white.

Odor moldy. Striking in appearance; the chief of this group. There is a variety wholly white. In pastures and grassy woods. Stevenson.

Spores 5–6µ Massee.

Distinguished by the grooved stem and crowded gills, which are adnate when the pileus is expanded. Often growing in rings.

North Carolina, Curtis. Not reported elsewhere. Esculent. Cooke. Much eaten in Europe.

T. bre´vipes Bull.—brevis, short; pes, a foot. Pileus about 2 in. broad, umber then becoming pale, fleshy, soft, convex then becoming plane, even, smooth, moist (opaque when dry); flesh of the pileus becoming brownish when moist, becoming white when dry. Stem solid, very rigid, at length fibrous, pruinate at the apex, externally and internally fuscous; otherwise very variable, sometimes very short, 2–3 lines only long and thick, attenuated downward; commonly 1 in., sometimes bulbous, sometimes equal, more slender. Gills emarginato-free, crowded, ventricose, disappearing short of the margin, quite entire, becoming fuscous then whitish. Solitary. Inodorous. The pileus is often stained with soil. Stevenson.

Spores elliptical, 7.5×5µ Peck; 7–4µ Massee.

Esculent and very delicate. Paulet. Esculent. Cooke.

T. hu´mile Pers.—low, small. (Plate XVIII, fig. 6, p. 60.) Very variable in form and color. Cap 2–3 in. across, convex then expanded, wavy, flattened, sometimes umbonate, sometimes depressed, glabrous, occasionally powdered with thin white dust, fragments of veil, sometimes viscid. Color changes with moisture, blackish, grayish, and having somewhat the appearance of an oyster. Gills rounded-adnexed, with a slight tooth, arcuately decurrent, crowded, 2–3 lines broad, whitish. Flesh soft, whitish or grayish. Stem 1–2 in. long, up to ½ in. thick, equal (misshapen by pressure when tufted), light gray, covered 82with fine down, stuffed, becoming hollow, soft, fragile. Gregarious, usually tufted.

Spores 7–8×5–6µ K.

Open woods, in gardens, among cinders, grass, etc., September to frost.

Woodland Cemetery, Philadelphia, 1897. McIlvaine.

Its tufted habit and fair size, fleshy cap of good flavor, make it a desirable species. It cooks readily and the caps are of fine flavor.

T. pæ´didum Fr.—pædidus, nasty. Pileus about 1-½ in. across. Flesh very thin, tough, becoming whitish; bell-shaped then convex, at length expanded, umbonate, at length depressed round the conical, prominent umbo, moist, virgate or streaked with innate fibrils radiating from the center, otherwise almost even, smoky-mouse color, opaque, margin naked. Gills adnexed with a slight decurrent tooth, slightly sinuate, crowded, narrow, white then gray. Stem about 1 in. long and 2 lines thick, base slightly bulbous, tough, slightly striate, naked, dingy-gray. Spores elliptic-fusiform, 10–11×5–6µ.

In gardens, on dung-hills, etc. Small, tough, color dingy, without a trace of violet tinge. Massee.

Edible. Cooks tender, and is of good flavor, notwithstanding its name, which in no way applies.

T. subpulverulen´tum Pers.—slightly dusty. Pileus 1–2½ in. across, convex then plane or depressed in center, even, innately pruinose, hoary, white, whitish, grayish, margin extending as a slight rim incurved beyond gills. Flesh white, thick, firm, hygrophanous. Gills rounded without a tooth, close, narrow, white. Stem 2–3 in. long, 3–5 lines thick, equal, solid, somewhat striate, whitish.

Spores 5×3µ Massee; 4×3µ W.G.S.

Biological grounds, University of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia. May to November, 1898. McIlvaine.

A species one is glad to find. It has a healthy substantial presence full of promise. It is a solitary grower among grass on lawns and pastures, but its individuals are neighborly. Caps and stems are excellent.

83

Grouped by F.D. Briscoe—Studies by C. McIlvaine.            Plate XXIV.

Fig.		Page.	Fig.		Page.
1–2–3.	Clitocybe ochropurpurea,	108	8.	Clitocybe amethystina,	107
4.	Clitocybe ochropurpurea (section),	108	9.	Clitocybe odora,	90
5.	Clitocybe maxima,	99	10.	Clitocybe laccata,	107
6.	Clitocybe maxima (section),	99	11.	Clitocybe infundibuliformis,	100
7.	Clitocybe nebularis,	85

CLITO´CYBE Fr.

Pileus generally fleshy, becoming thin toward the margin, flexible or tough, plane or depressed, margin involute. Gills adnate or decurrent, never sinuate. Stem confluent and homogeneous with flesh of pileus, somewhat elastic, with a spongy stuffing, frequently becoming hollow, externally fibrous. Universal veil when present conspicuous on the pileus like frost or silky dew, but commonly wanting.

Growing on the ground, frequently in groups. The thinner and hygrophanous species appear late in autumn. Some are quite fragrant. Collybia, Mycena and Omphalia are separated by their stems being cartilaginous, not externally fibrous as in Clitocybe. Tricholoma by its sinuate gills.

Variations in species of Clitocybe are great. A few are easily fixed in the genus, but many of them will puzzle the amateur and perplex the expert. The gills are always attached to the stem, and usually run down it. They are not notched next to the stem as in Tricholoma.

Like Tricholoma, Clitocybe has many species, most of which are common, and are probably edible. I therefore give Professor Peck’s description of all Clitocybes thus far submitted to him.

I know of but one species which is injurious to some persons—Clitocybe illudens. Many eat and enjoy it. It does not agree with others. A few untried species are suspicious to a like extent. Clitocybe illudens possesses the property of phosphorescence.

Several species of Clitocybe have not been seen or tested by me, nor have I information that these have been tested.

Flesh firm, not watery, nor splitting into plates. Those which turn pale in drying differ from Series B by their silky luster.

Pileus somewhat equally fleshy; convex then plane or depressed, obtuse, regular; gills at first adnate or regularly adnato-decurrent. Normally solitary.

84* Pileus gray or brownish.

** Pileus violet or reddish.

*** Pileus becoming yellowish.

**** Pileus greenish, becoming pale.

***** Pileus white, becoming shining white.

Distinguished from white hygrophanous species and white species of Paxillus.

Pileus fleshy in the center, thin at the margin, at first umbonate, then expanded and depressed, irregular. Gills unequally decurrent, longer in some places than in others, sometimes rounded on one side of the stem or only reaching it as in Tricholoma. Stem somewhat cartilaginous externally, but fibrous.

Cespitose, often grown together at base, variable in form, sometimes solitary.

Pileus becoming thin from the fleshy center to the margin, at length funnel-shaped or deeply umbilicately depressed in the center. Stem spongy, externally fibrous. Gills deeply and equally decurrent from the first. Pileus often becoming discolored or pallid, not hygrophanous.

* Pileus colored or becoming pale, the surface (at least under a lens) innately flocculose or silky, bibulous, not moist.

** Pileus colored or pallid, smooth, moist in rainy weather.

*** Pileus shining whitish, with scattered superficial flocci or becoming smooth.

Flesh thin, soft, watery, hygrophanous.

Flesh of pileus thin, consisting of two separable plates, disk not compact, hygrophanous, depressed then cup-shaped; gills at first adnate then decurrent, descending, straight. Color dingy when moist.

Pileus somewhat fleshy, hygrophanous, convex then flattened or depressed, 85polished, not squamulose nor mealy; gills plane, horizontal, thin, crowded, adnate or decurrent with a small tooth. Color dingy or becoming watery pale.

* Gills becoming ash-colored. Pileus at first dark.

** Gills whitish. Pileus becoming pale.

Pileus thin, convex then deformed, tough, more or less squamulose or furfuraceous; gills adnate, broad, rather thick, generally distant. Color hygrophanous.

* Pileus squalid or brownish with dark squamules. None known to be edible.

** Pileus bright, of one color.

I.—Discifor´mes.

C. nebula´ris Batsch.—nebula, a cloud. (Plate XXIV, fig. 7, p. 82.) The Clouded clitocybe, Clitocybe nebularis, takes its name from the clouded-gray appearance of its thick cap, which is at first convex, but when mature, either flat or a little depressed. Its flesh is white, thickest in the middle, and in a vertical section is seen to taper rapidly downward into the stem. The gills are close together and rather narrow for the size of the plant. They are white or yellowish-white. The stout solid stem usually tapers upward from the base and is whitish.

The cap is two to four inches or more broad, the stem one to two inches long and about half an inch thick. The Clouded mushroom grows in woods, and sometimes forms large tufts or clusters among fallen leaves. It is found in autumn, but is not very common in this country. Authors differ in their estimate of the edible qualities of this mushroom, but the more recent ones generally agree in classing it as edible. “Mushrooms and Their Use,” C.H. Peck.

Spores 4.5×3µ Cooke; elliptical 6×3.5µ Massee; 3×4µ W.G.S.

There has been great diversity of opinion as to the edibility of this species on the continent. Cordier and a friend suffered from it. Paulet counseled mistrust.

86This fungus is quite common in the West Virginia mountains and in some parts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, where I have found it. It is, however, limited to localities. It is one of my favorites, being of marked flavor and agreeable consistency. I have not known it to harm anyone.

(Plate XXV.)

Clitocybe clavipes.
About two-thirds natural size.

C. cla´vipes Pers.—clava, a club; pes, a foot. Pileus 1½-2½ in. across, rather convex at first, soon plane, at length almost obconical, very obtuse, even, glabrous, dry, sometimes all one color, brown, sooty, livid-gray, etc., sometimes whitish towards the margin, very rarely entirely white. Flesh loose in texture, white, thin at the margin. Gills deeply decurrent, continued down the stem as straight lines, rather distant, flaccid, quite entire, broad, entirely and persistently white. Stem 2 in. long, base ½ in. and more thick, conically attenuated upward, rather fibrillose, livid, sooty, solid, spongy within. Spores elliptical, 6–7×4µ.

In woods, especially pine. Resembling C. nebularis in color, but quite distinct. Smell pleasant, entire substance soft and elastic. Fries.

Spores elliptical, 6–7×4µ Massee; sub-ellipsoid, 5–7×3–4µ K.; 6×8µ W.G.S.

Found in pine woods of New Jersey, and under spruce in West Virginia. Its substance is spongy, therefore does not stew well. Cooked in any other way it is delicate and of excellent flavor.

C. gangræno´sa Fr.—gangræna, gangrene. Pileus fleshy, convex then plane, obtuse, whitish, at first sprinkled with white powder, then naked, variegated, streaked. Gills slightly decurrent, arcuate, crowded, dingy-white. Stem somewhat bulbous, soft, striate, spongy, solid.

Stinking; large, flesh becoming blackish and variegated with black. Stem curved, sometimes excentric. Pileus whitish, here and there greenish, livid, etc. Fries.

87Var. nigres´cens Lasch. Whitish; pileus thin, soft, at first convex, obtuse then plane, somewhat umbonate, and somewhat depressed; gills decurrent, very much crowded, narrow, stem solid, downy.

Pileus 2–3 in. broad. Stem 1¼-1½ in. long, 2–3 lines thick.

Odor rather sweet, taste unpleasant. Cooke.

New Jersey, Haddonfield, pine woods. July to August. McIlvaine.

This Clitocybe is in every way unattractive. It is not poisonous, but no one would care to eat it.

(Plate XXVI.)

Clitocybe media.
One-half natural size.

C. me´dia Pk.—medius, middle. Because intermediate between C. nebularis and C. clavipes. Pileus fleshy, convex, becoming plane or slightly depressed, dry, dark grayish-brown, the margin often wavy or irregular, flesh white, taste mild. Gills broad, subdistant, adnate or decurrent, whitish, the interspaces somewhat venose. Stem equal or but slightly thickened at the base, solid, elastic, not polished, colored like or a little paler than the pileus. Spores elliptical, 8×5µ.

Pileus 2–4 in. broad. Stem 1–2 in. long, 4–8 lines thick. Mossy ground in deep woods. North Elba. September.

This species is intermediate between C. nebularis and C. clavipes. In its general appearance, and in the character of the pileus and stem, it resembles C. nebularis, but in the character of the more distant gills and in the size of the spores it is nearer C. clavipes, of which it might perhaps be regarded as a variety. Two forms are distinguishable. In one the gills are more distant, slightly rounded behind, and adnate or abruptly terminated; in the other they are closer and more distinctly decurrent. The plant is edible. Peck, 42d Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

I have known this fungus very favorably since 1883, and regard it as one of the best. I have seen it in the West Virginia mountains only, but it will probably be found in cool, shaded, high localities all over the country. Both it and the C. nebularis are well worthy of search.

88C. viles´cens Pk.—vilesco, of little value. Pileus convex, then plane or depressed, often irregular, glabrous, slightly pruinose on the involute margin, brown or grayish-brown, becoming paler with age, often concentrically rivulose. Gills close, adnate or decurrent, cinereous, sometimes tinged with dingy-yellow. Stem short, solid, sometimes compressed, grayish-brown, with a whitish tomentum at the base. Spores subglobose or broadly elliptical, 5–6.5µ; flesh whitish-gray, odor slight.

Plant gregarious, 1–2 in. high. Pileus 1–1.5 in. broad. Stem 1–2 lines thick. Grassy pastures. Jamesville, August. Peck, 33d Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

A pale form of this species grows on sandy soil, in which the pileus is smoky white, but it becomes grayish-brown in drying. The mycelium binds together a mass of sand, so that when the plant is taken up carefully a little ball of sandy soil adheres to the base of the stem. The stem is sometimes pruinose. The flavor is mild and agreeable. Peck, 50th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Sometimes plentiful about Philadelphia. Edible. Caps tender, slight flavor.

C. comitia´lis Fr.—belonging to an assembly. Pileus about 1½ in. across, fleshy, convex, then plane, obtuse, even, glabrous, rather moist but not hygrophanous, every part colored alike, sooty-umber, almost black. Flesh firm, white. Gills very slightly decurrent, horizontal, plane, thin, crowded, white. Stem 2–3 in. long, 3–4 lines thick, equally attenuated upward from the base, glabrous, sooty, elastic, stuffed. Spores elliptical, 7–8×4µ.

Damp places among mosses in pine woods, etc. Distinguished by the blackish color of the almost flat pileus, and the very slightly decurrent gills. Somewhat allied to C. clavipes, but firmer, smaller and inodorous. Massee.

Rather rare. Found in New Jersey among pines; in Pennsylvania in mixed woods.

Edible. Good texture and flavor.

Photographed by Dr. J.R. Weist.                Plate XXVII.
CLITOCYBE MONADELPHA.

C. cyanophæ´a Fr. Gr.—blue. Pileus 3–4 in. broad, becoming bluish-dusky-brown, compact, convex then plane, obtuse, smooth. 89Stem 3 in. long, 1 in. thick at the base, attenuated upward, robust, solid, smooth, becoming azure-blue when young, abruptly white at the apex. Gills deeply decurrent, crowded, violaceous, then becoming pale.

New York, Albion. In woods. October. Edible. Dr. E.L. Cushing.

Specimens sent to me by Dr. Cushing are the first and only ones of the species I have seen. The description is accurate. The spores were cream color.

C. monadel´pha Morg.—monas, single; adelphos, a brother. From its cespitose habit. (Plate XXVII.) Densely cespitose. Pileus fleshy, convex then depressed, at first glabrous, then scaly, honey color, varying to pallid-brownish or reddish. Stem elongated, solid, crooked, twisted, fibrous, tapering at the base, pallid-brownish or flesh color. Gills short, decurrent, not crowded, pallid flesh color. Spores white, a little irregular, 7.5×5.5µ.

On the ground in wet woods, spring to late autumn. Pileus 1–3 in. Stem 3–7 in. Morgan.

Grassy places. Menands. Albany county. September. Edible. Resembling Armillaria mellea, but distinguished from it by the absence of a collar from the stem, by the more decidedly decurrent lamellæ and by the solid stem. It is also more agreeable in flavor. It is related to C. illudens in habit and manner of growth. Peck, 51st Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Spores 8×5µ Peck.

October 15, 1898. Identified by Professor Peck. September until frost.

Grows in great clusters about roots, etc., at Mt. Gretna. Frequently much water-soaked and uninviting. Taste variable, sometimes strong, woody.

It is edible, but care should be exercised in collecting to get young, fresh groups.

C. socia´lis Fr.—socius, a companion. Pileus about 1 in. broad, pale-yellowish with a reddish tinge, fleshy, convex then expanded, acutely umbonate especially when young, even, smooth, dry. Flesh moderately thin, white. Stem 1 in. long, 2 lines or a little more thick, 90solid, fibrous, commonly ascending, smooth, reddish, the rooting base hairy. Gills plano-decurrent, scarcely crowded, becoming yellow. Fries.

A very pretty species, densely gregarious, inodorous. The stem is sheathed-hairy at the base like Marasmius peronatus. Its greatest affinity is with A. vernicosus, of which it is perhaps a variety. Stevenson.

Quite common in pine woods of New Jersey. Though small, goodly messes of it may be gathered from its patches. The caps make a pleasing dish.

None reported as tested for edibility.

C. odo´ra Bull.—odorus, fragrant. (Plate XXIV, fig. 9, p. 82.) Fragrant. Pileus about 2 in. across, flesh rather thick, tough; soon plane and wavy, even, smooth, pale dingy green, silky when dry. Gills adnate, rather close, broad, greenish or pallid. Stem about 1–1½ in. long, 2 lines thick, base incrassated, elastic, stuffed. Spores elliptical, 6–8×4–5µ. In woods. Massee.

Readily distinguished by the strong, aniseed smell, dingy bluish-green pileus, and the pallid or greenish gills.

Sometimes somewhat cespitose. Tough; size variable, color varies between pale green and greenish-gray, usually all colored alike, but the gills are sometimes white; smell pleasant, spicy, especially when dry. Fries.

Spores 6×5µ K.; 8×4µ B.

A rather delicate, even exquisite dish. Cooke.

Edible. Exceedingly spicy. The flavor is pleasant, but rather strong. A few specimens mixed with others of like texture but less flavor make a tasty dish.

C. rivulo´sa Pers.—rivus, a stream. (Named from rivulet-like streaks on pileus.) Pileus 1–3 in. across, flesh thin, convex then plane and depressed, obtuse, often undulately lobed, dingy flesh-color or reddish, becoming pale, glabrous, then covered with a whitish down. Gills slightly decurrent, broad, rather crowded, pinkish-white. Stem about 2 in. long, 3–4 lines thick, rather fibrillose, tough, elastic, whitish, stuffed. Spores elliptical, 6×3.5µ. Massee.

91Among grass by road-sides, etc.

Not common, but when found it is basket-filling. I have found it in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and West Virginia.

Edible. The caps are rather tough but become glutinous and tender when well cooked. Flavor fine.

C. cerussa´ta Fr.—cerussa, white lead. Pileus 1½-3 in. across, flesh thick at the disk, becoming thin toward the margin; convex then almost plane, obtuse, even, minutely floccose then almost glabrous, white. Gills adnate, then decurrent, very much crowded, thin, permanently white. Stem about 2 in. long, 3–5 lines thick, smooth, tough, elastic, naked, spongy and solid, white. Among dead leaves, etc.

Taste mild, smell almost obsolete. Stem rather thickened at the base and often tomentose. Pileus said to be gibbous, but not umbonate nor becoming rufescent. Gills not changing to yellowish. Fries.

Spores 3µ W.G.S.

Edible. Good.

C. phylloph´ila Fr. Gr.—leaf-loving. Whitish-tan. Pileus 1–3 in. across, rather fleshy, convex then plane, becoming umbilicate and depressed, sometimes wavy, smooth and even. Gills thin, subdistant, white then tinged with ocher, rather broad, very slightly decurrent. Stem 2–3 in. long, equal, stuffed then hollow, whitish, tough, silky-fibrillose. Spores 6×4µ.

Among leaves in woods, etc.

Spores 6×4µ Massee; 6×3µ W.G.S.; 5.5×2.8µ Morgan.

Found at Devon, Pa., 1888; Angora, West Philadelphia, 1897. It is equal to the Pleurotus ostreatus (oyster mushroom) in texture, but not so high in flavor. Well cooked it is an agreeable and valuable food.

C. pithyoph´ila Secr. Gr.—pine-loving. Pileus 2–3 in. broad, dead-white when moist, shining whitish when dry, fleshy but thin, rather plane, umbilicate, at length irregularly shaped, repand and undulato-lobed, even, smooth, flaccid, the margin slightly striate when old. Stem somewhat hollow, rounded then compressed, equal, even, smooth, obsoletely or scarcely pruinose at the apex, white tomentose at the (not 92bulbous) base. Gills adnate, somewhat decurrent, very crowded, plane, 2–3 lines broad, distinct, quite entire, white.

Odor not remarkable, but pleasant. Gregarious, somewhat cespitose; white indeed, but when moist watery and somewhat hygrophanous, in which it evidently differs from A. phyllophila. A. tuba, which appears in the same places, is very like it. Stevenson.

Spores 6–7×4µ B.

Massachusetts, Sprague; New York, Peck, Bull. 1887.

Albion, Orleans county, N.Y., October, 1898, Dr. Cushing.

Several specimens received were clearly referable to C. pithyophila, though varying in having caps deeply depressed but not umbilicate. The white tomentosity at base was present but indistinct.

Four specimens were eaten and found good. Eaten enjoyably by Dr. Cushing.

C. fus´cipes Pk.—fuscus, dirty; pes, a foot. Pileus thin, broadly convex or plane, umbilicate, glabrous, whitish and striatulate when moist, pure white when dry, odor and taste farinaceous. Gills nearly plane, subdistant, adnate or slightly decurrent, white. Stem equal, glabrous or slightly mealy at the top, hollow, dingy brown when moist, paler when dry. Spores globose, 5–6µ.

Pileus 4–8 lines broad. Stem about 1 in. long. Under pine trees. Carrollton. September. Peck, 44th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Edible. Its small size gives it minor importance, but a quantity of it makes an excellent meal.

C. can´dicans Pers.—candico, to be shining white. Entirely white. Pileus about 1 in. across, flesh thin, convex then plane or slightly depressed, umbilicate, regular or slightly excentric, even, with an adpressed silkiness, shining, shining white when dry. Gills adnate then slightly decurrent, crowded, very thin, narrow, straight. Stem 1–2 in. long, 1–2 lines thick, even, glabrous, cartilaginous, polished, equal, hollow, base incurved, rooting, downy. Spores broadly elliptical or subglobose, 5–6×4µ. Massee.

Among damp fallen leaves, etc.

Entirely white, small, rather tough; approaching Omphalia in the structure of the stem. The following form is described by Fries as occurring in pine woods: Stem thin, flexuous, base glabrous; pileus 93plane, not umbilicate, naked (without silky down). Gills scarcely decurrent.

A remarkable form but scarcely to be separated as a species. Fries.

Quite common in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey. The caps are excellent when well cooked.

C. dealba´ta Sow.—dealbo, to whitewash. Pileus about 1 in. or a little more broad, white, slightly fleshy, tough, convex then plane and at length revolute and undulated, always dry (not watery in rainy weather), even, smooth, somewhat shining, but as if innately pruinose under a lens. Flesh thin, arid, white. Stem 1 in. long, 2 lines thick, stuffed, wholly fibrous, at length also tubed, equal, but often ascending, whitish, mealy at the apex. Gills adnate, scarcely decurrent, thin, crowded, white.

Pileus sometimes orbicular, sometimes upturned and wavy. Odor weak, pleasant, but not very remarkable. Most distinct from A. candicans in the nature of the stem.

Edible. Its top is exceedingly like ivory. Its charming flavor is exceeded by very few other fungi. Stevenson.

Among leaves and grass. Woodland Cemetery, Philadelphia.

This charming fungus is common over the land. I have known it since 1881, and found it from North Carolina to West Virginia.

C. robus´ta Pk.—robustus, stout. Pileus thick, firm, at first convex, soon plane or slightly depressed in the center, glabrous, white, the margin at first involute or decurved, naked. Flesh white. Gills narrow, close, decurrent, whitish. Stem stout, rather short, solid, glabrous, equal or slightly tapering upward, often with a bulbous base, white. Spores elliptical, 8×4–5µ.

Pileus 3–4 in. broad. Stem 1–2 in. long, 8–12 lines thick.

Woods among fallen leaves. Catskill mountains. September to November.

This large and robust fungus is closely allied to C. candida Bres., from which it differs in the naked margin of the pileus, the absence of any marked odor and especially in the more elliptical shape of its spores. The same plant has been collected in Maryland by Mr. L.J. Atwater, who considers it edible, having eaten it with satisfaction and safety. Peck, 49th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

94This fungus is quite plentiful in Pennsylvania and in open oak woods in New Jersey. Its size and sometimes gregarious growth give it a permanent food value. Its texture is coarse, but when cooked it is highly satisfactory.

C. gallina´cea Scop.—gallina, a hen. Application not apparent. White; acrid. Pileus 1–1½ in. across, rather fleshy at the disk, margin thin; convex then depressed, but not funnel-shaped, even, dry, opaque. Gills slightly decurrent, narrow, crowded, thin. Stem about 1½ in. long, 2 lines thick, equal, even, solid. Among grass, moss, etc.

Resembling C. dealbata in form, but smaller, opaque, dingy-white, taste somewhat acrid. Stem solid, but not cartilaginous, about 2 in. long, equal, ascending or flexuous, excentric, at first floccosely mealy, always opaque, white. Pileus slightly fleshy, convex then plane, not depressed, obtuse, ½-1 in. broad, unequal, dry, pruinosely hoary; flesh white, compact, but thin. Gills adnato-decurrent, thin, crowded, plane. Fries.

It loses its acridity in cooking and is quite equal to C. dealbata.

C. trunci´cola Pk.—truncus, trunk of a tree. Pileus thin, firm, expanded or slightly depressed in the center, smooth, dry, white. Gills narrow, thin, crowded, adnate-decurrent. Stem equal, stuffed, smooth, often excentric and curved, whitish.

Plant 1 in. high. Pileus 1 in. broad. Stem 1 line thick.

Trunks of frondose trees, especially maples. Croghan. September. Peck, 26th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Spores 5×3.5µ Morgan.

Found on maple trees in West Philadelphia, Pa. Edible. Good quality.

Grouped by F.D. Briscoe—Studies by C. McIlvaine.                Plate XXVIIa.

Fig.	Page.	Fig.	Page.
1. Clitocybe multiceps,	95	2. Clitocybe multiceps, var.	95

C. decas´tes Fr. Gr.—a decade; a number of ten. From the stems being often joined in bundles of about ten. Densely cespitose. Pileus 5–12 in. across, soon almost plane, disk gibbous or obtuse; margin at first shortly incurved, then expanded, very much waved and often lobed, even, glabrous, dingy-brown or livid when moist, pale clay-color when dry. Flesh exceedingly thin except at the disk, whitish. Stem 4–7 in. long, ½-1½ in. thick, usually slightly thinner upward, rather soft, 95entirely fibrous, solid, white, usually curved and ascending, coalescent into a solid mass at the base. Gills adnato-decurrent, or often more or less adnexed, up to ½ in. broad, rather narrowed towards the margin, often wavy. Spores globose, smooth, 4µ diameter.

On the ground and on sawdust.

Albion, Orleans county, N.Y., Dr. Cushing. October, 1898.

On ground in grassy places (Woodland Cemetery, May 22, 1897). McIlvaine.

Particularly welcome to toadstool lovers are the early comers. The present species is among the first. It is rich in quantity, substance and flavor.

C. mul´ticeps Pk.—multus, many; caput, a head. (Plate XXVIIa, p. 94.) Pileus fleshy, thin except on the disk, firm, convex, slightly moist in wet weather, whitish, grayish or yellowish-gray. Flesh white, taste mild. Gills close, adnate and slightly decurrent, whitish. Stems densely cespitose, equal or slightly thickened at the base, solid or stuffed, firm, elastic, slightly pruinose at the apex, whitish. Spores globose, 5–8µ.

Pileus 1–3 in. broad. Stem 2–4 in. long, 3–6 lines thick.

Open places, grassy ground, etc. Albany and Sandlake. June and October. This species forms dense tufts, often composed of many individuals. In this respect it is related to such species as C. tumulosa, C. aggregata and C. illudens. From the crowding together of many individuals the pileus is often irregular. Sometimes the disk is brownish and occasionally slightly silky. The gills are sometimes slightly sinuate, thus indicating a relationship to the species of Tricholoma. The taste, though mild, is somewhat oily and unpleasant. The plants appear in wet, rainy weather, either early in the season or in autumn. Specimens have been sent to me from Massachusetts by R.K. Macadam and Professor Farlow, and from Pennsylvania by Dr. W. Herbst. Peck, 43d Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

West Virginia, New Jersey, Mt. Gretna, Pa. In May, and in autumn months. Very variable in size, color, shape of gills, texture and taste. McIlvaine.

The early spring clusters are remarkable for their tenderness and excellence. Clusters of hundreds of individuals grew abundantly at Mt. Gretna in May, 1899. When the fungus was young the gills were 96sometimes adnate, almost free, often decurrent. The varying color of oysters is well seen in C. multiceps.

Edible. They should be well cooked. The addition of a little lemon juice or sherry conceals a slight raw taste sometimes present.

Photographed by Dr. J.R. Weist—Painted by C. McIlvaine.              Plate XXIXa.

	Page.
Clitocybe illudens	96

C. illu´dens Schw.—mocking, deceiving. (Plate XXIXa, p. 96.) Pileus fleshy, convex or expanded, smooth, generally with a small umbo. Gills not crowded, unequally decurrent, some of them branched, narrowed toward each end, the edge, in dry specimens, discolored. Stem firm, solid, long, smooth, tapering at the base.

Height 5–8 in., breadth of pileus 4–6 in. Stem 6–8 lines thick.

Spores 4–5µ Peck.

Grows in clumps or large masses about stumps or decaying trees from August to October. Its bright, deep yellow is attractive from a distance. As many as fifty plants may form a cluster. Cap from 2–6 in., fleshy, convex or expanded, often with a raised center directly over the stem; flesh juicy and yellow; gills yellow, widely separated, running down stem unequally; stem long, firm, solid, smooth, tapering toward base. When cooked the taste is rather saponaceous. Strong stomachs can retain a meal of them, but the fungus generally sickens the eater. Many testings show it to contain a minor poison. It is not deadly, but should not be eaten. Bull. No. 2, Phila. Myc. Center.

New York, Peck, Rep. 23–49. Well known in southern states. Indiana, H.I. Miller.

The mysterious property of phosphorescence is possessed by this fungus. As heat is known to develop in masses of the fungus it is of interest to know whether it is from the phosphorescence or a ferment. Its radiance by night surpasses its splendor by day. Mr. H.I. Miller, of Terre Haute, Ind., first drew the writer’s attention to this quality. A large box of specimens sent by him retained their luminous quality after three days of travel to such an extent that the print of a newspaper could be read when held close to the mass.

Mr. Miller writes: “There is something about this fungus which generates heat. When I bring in a basketful of it, for the pleasure its phosphorescence affords my friends, I find that after having been in the basket for two or three hours, and while piled one bunch upon top of another, that to insert one’s hand among the different clusters is like putting it close to a hot stove.”

97This fungus is so inviting in quantity and beauty that one turns from it with a regret that lingers. Eaten in quantity it acts upon some persons as an emetic. I have several times eaten of it without other than pleasurable sensations, but persons partaking of the same cooking have been sickened.

C. fumo´sa Pers.—fumus, smoke. Pileus 1–3 in. across, fleshy, margin thin; convex, often gibbous when young, regular or wavy, even, pellicle not separable, glabrous, sooty-brown, soon livid or gray when dry. Gills adnate in regular forms, but often decurrent when the pileus is irregular, crowded, distinct, grayish-white from the first. Stem 2–3 in. long, 3–6 lines thick, almost equal, often twisted or curved, glabrous, dingy-white, apex mealy, solid, fibrous. Spores subglobose, 5–6µ diam.

In woods. Autumn.

Gregarious, somewhat cespitose, tough, rather cartilaginous. Pileus truly obtuse, never streaked, often regular. Smell none. Fries.

Var. po´lius. Densely and connately cespitose. Pileus convex, then plane, obtuse, smooth, gray. Stem flexuous, smooth. Gills crowded, whitish. Edible. Cooke, 1891.

Var. polius found growing in large quantities in Boston navy yard in stone barn. Determined by Professor Peck. A fair edible. R.K. Macadam.

This woods-growing Clitocybe has been many times found by me in a hot-house in Haddonfield, N.J. Professor Peck confirmed my identification. Either its spores or mycelium had evidently been carried thither in the wood-earth used by florists. The hot-house crops appeared in March, and continued until June.

Several of the plants showed an effort to comply with some condition unusual to them, by producing gills upon the upper side of the pileus. Those below were venose and crisped.

This wild species had thus been brought into cultivation. The cultivated plants were much more tender than the wild. Both are excellent.

C. connex´a Pk.—connexus, joined. From its relation to Tricholoma. Pileus thin, convex or expanded, subumbonate, clothed with a minute appressed silkiness, white, the margin sometimes faintly tinged with 98blue. Gills crowded, narrow, white inclining to yellowish. Stem equal or tapering downward, solid, whitish.

Plant 2–3 in. high. Pileus 2–3 in. broad. Stem 2 lines thick.

Ground in woods. Croghan. September.

The gills sometimes terminate rather abruptly and are not strongly decurrent, hence it might easily be mistaken for a Tricholoma. The margin of the pileus is sometimes marked with slight ridges as in Ag. laterarius. The odor is weak but aromatic and agreeable. Peck, 26th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Found in plenty in oak woods near Philadelphia, and in West Virginia; a few specimens in southern New Jersey. Autumn.

Edible, and quite equal to most of the Clitocybes.

C. tumulo´sa Kalchbr.—tumulus, a mound. Cespitose. Pileus 1–2 in. across, disk fleshy, margin thin; conico-convex then expanded, obtusely umbonate or obtuse, even, glabrous, brownish-umber, becoming pale, margin drooping. Gills more or less decurrent or slightly emarginate, crowded narrow, white, then grayish. Stem 3–5 in. long, unequal, usually thicker below, minutely downy, pallid, solid.

On the ground in woods. Spring and autumnal months. Readily distinguished by the densely clustered habit, and the umber pileus. The gills are very variable, sometimes distinctly decurrent, at others rounded behind, and almost resembling a Tricholoma. Spores subglobose, 5–6µ. Massee.

California, H. and M.; New York, Peck, Rep. 42.

Sent to me by Mrs. Mary Fuller, Washington, D.C. The specimens eaten were of good consistency and flavor.

C. gigante´a Sow.—giganteus, of gigantic size. Pileus 6–10 in. across. Flesh rather thin in proportion to the size of the fungus, white, or tinged with tan, glabrous when moist, slightly flocculose when dry; margin involute then spreading, glabrous, rather coarsely grooved. Gills slightly decurrent, broad, very much crowded, branched and connected 99by veins, whitish then pale tan-color, not separating spontaneously from the hymenophore. Stem 1–2 in. long and nearly the same in thickness, equal, pallid, solid. Spores white, 5×3µ.

In woods, etc.

A very distinct species, very showy, large, subcespitose, entirely whitish tan-color; without close affinities. Stem solid, compact, and firm inside and outside, 2½ in. long, ½ in. thick, equal, even, glabrous. Pileus depressed from the first, then broadly, i. e., plano-infundibuliform, thin but equally fleshy, soft, not flaccid, but easily splitting from the margin toward the center (almost papery and involute when old), upward of a foot broad, often excentric and generally sinuately lobed, moist and adpressedly downy when growing, slightly flocculose and cracked into scales when dry; margin at first very thin, involute, pubescent, soon spreading, glabrous, at length revolute, coarsely furrowed or radiately wrinkled. Gills slightly decurrent, closely crowded, almost 3 lines broad (2–3 times as broad as thickness of flesh of pileus), connected by veins, thin, fragile, straight, but sometimes varying to crisped and anastomosing, whitish then yellowish or tinged with rufous, smell weak. Fries.

This species was placed in Clitocybe in Syst. Myc. and Epicrisis, but in Hym. Europ. Fries removed it to Paxillus in which he is followed by Stevenson. Cooke and Massee continue it in Clitocybe. Dr. Somers found one measuring over 15 inches in diameter. R.K.M.

North Carolina, Schweinitz. Edible, Curtis; Wisconsin, Bundy; California, H. and M.; Nova Scotia, Dr. Somers.

Large quantities of Clitocybe gigantea grow in the West Virginia mountains, and in woods around Philadelphia. July to November.

Its substance is coarse, but of good flavor. It should be chopped fine.

C. max´ima Gärtn and Meyer. (Fl. Wett.)—greatest. (Plate XXIV, fig. 5, page 82.) Pileus as much as 1 foot broad, becoming pale-tan or whitish, fleshy, compact at the disk, otherwise thin, somewhat flaccid (not capable of being split), broadly funnel-shaped, gibbous with a central umbo, always very dry, the surface becoming silky-even or squamulose; margin involute, pubescent, always even. Flesh white, at length soft. Stem as much as 4 in. long, 1 in. thick, solid, compact, but internally spongy, elastic, attenuated upward, fibrillosestriate, 100whitish. Gills deeply decurrent, pointed at both ends, somewhat crowded, soft, simple, whitish, not changeable.

The pileus is always very dry because the surface absorbs moisture. Odor weak, pleasant, almost that of A. infundibuliformis. On account of its gigantic stature and color, it has often been interchanged with A. gigantea Sow.; it is in no wise, however, allied to that species, but is so closely allied to A. infundibuliformis that it might be taken for a very luxuriant form of it. Stevenson.

Spores 6×4µ Massee; 5×3µ, W.G.S.

New England, Frost; California, H. and M.

Common in the West Virginia mountains, mixed woods in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. June to November. McIlvaine.

It is coarse, dry, hard, but chopped fine and cooked in various ways, either by itself or with meats, it is a good food.

C. infundibulifor´mis Schaeff.—infundibulum, a funnel; forma, form. (Plate XXIV, fig. 11, p. 82.) The Funnel-form clitocybe, Clitocybe infundibuliformis, is a neat and pretty species easily recognized by the funnel shape of its mature cap and by its pale red color. When very young the cap is slightly convex and often adorned with a slight umbo in its center. As it matures the margin becomes elevated so that the cap assumes a shape somewhat resembling that of a wine glass. The margin is sometimes wavy. The flesh is thin and white. The gills are close, thin, white or whitish and decurrent. The stem is smooth, colored like or a little paler than the cap and mostly tapering from the base upward.

The cap is 2–3 in. broad, the stem 1½-3 in. long and ¼-½ in. thick.

The funnel-shaped mushroom grows in woods or copses in summer and autumn, especially in wet seasons. It is somewhat variable in color, but is usually a pale-red, tinged with buff, and sometimes becoming more pale with age. It delights to grow among fallen leaves, and often there is an abundant white cottony mycelium at the base of the stem. When it grows in clusters the caps are apt to be irregular because of mutual pressure. “Mushrooms and Their Use.” Peck.

Spores 5–6×3–4µ B.

Very common and in plenty after rains, when large patches of it may be found. I have usually found the light pinkish-buff color to abound, 101and the stem thinner than described by Prof. Peck. Size of cap from 1–3 in.

It is a good, reliable food species. The stem should be removed, and the caps well cooked.

C. subzonal´is Pk.—sub, under; zonalis, pertaining to a zone. Pileus thin, centrally depressed or subinfundibuliform, marked with two or three obscure zones, with a slight appressed silkiness, pale yellow. Gills close, narrow, equally decurrent, some of them forked, pallid or yellowish. Stem equal, slightly fibrillose, stuffed, pale yellow.

Plant 2 in. high. Pileus 2–3 in. broad. Stem 2–3 lines thick.

Ground in woods. Croghan. September. Peck, 26th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Found in oak woods, Angora, West Philadelphia, growing singly. Specimens few. Edible; pleasant.

C. gil´va Pers.—gilvus, pale brownish-yellow. Pileus 2–4 in. broad, pale yellowish, fleshy, compact, convex then depressed, very obtuse, even, smooth, dampish when fresh, polished and shining when dry, here and there spotted as with drops, the margin remaining long involute. Flesh compact, not laxly floccose, but at length fragile, somewhat of the same color as the pileus. Stem 1–2 in. and more long, ½ in. and more thick, solid, fleshy, stout, not elastic, somewhat equal, smooth, paler than the pileus, villous at the base. Gills decurrent, thin, very much crowded, often branched, arcuate, narrow, pallid then ochraceous.

Odor not remarkable. The stem has been noticed at length also hollow, perhaps eroded by larvæ. It corresponds with the Paxilli. The primary form, which is very different from all the rest, is curt, obese, robust, scarcely ever infundibuliform. Stevenson.

Spores 4–5×5µ K.; 4–5µ Massee.

North Carolina, Schweinitz, Curtis; Pennsylvania, Schweinitz; New York, Peck, R. 51, under pines. July to September.

Mt. Gretna, Pa. July, 1898, ground, mixed woods. McIlvaine.

Pileus 1–2½ in. across, depressed, almost infundibuliform, smooth. Color varied lemon to bright orange. Flesh lemon color throughout. Gills varying in color, usually same color as pileus. Stem all of one 102color, same as pileus, stuffed, sometimes short, and pointed, sometimes thickened at base. Taste and smell pleasant. Edible; good.

C. subinvolu´ta Batsch.—turned under at the margin. Pileus brick color, convex, depressed, smooth, margin closely involute. Flesh pallid. Stem paler, stout, straight, somewhat equal, veined on the lower part with oblique coalescing slightly elevated wrinkles, tomentose and inclining to flesh color above toward the gills, base obtuse. Gills decurrent, rather broad, of the same color as the pileus.

The stem is rough on the surface and destitute of luster. It resembles Paxillus involutus in size and habit, in the crenate and involute margin of the pileus, and in the stem being obsoletely veined at the base and tomentose toward the gills. Stevenson.

New England, Frost; New York, Peck, Rep. 22.

Edible, Cooke.

C. geo´tropa Bull. Gr.—the earth; Gr.—to turn. From the turned down margin. Pileus 2–5 in. across. Flesh thick, white convex, then plane and finally more or less depressed, obtusely umbonate, the prominence remaining after the pileus becomes depressed, very smooth, even, margin thin, incurved, downy, pale pinkish-tan or buff. Gills decurrent, crowded, narrow, simple, white, then colored like the pileus. Stem 3–5 in. long, 1 in. or more thick at the base, slightly attenuated upward, compact, fibrillose, colored like the pileus or paler, solid. Spores elliptical, 6–7×4–5µ. Massee.

In woods and on their borders. Often in rings or troops.

Differs from C. maxima in being firmer, glabrous, and color much more variable; from C. gilva in the thinner pileus, less crowded gills, and white flesh.

Spores 5–7µ W.G.S.

In England and on the continent it is considered excellent and superior to most edible fungi.

Found in West Virginia, 1881; Haddonfield, N J., 1891. Spring and autumn. McIlvaine.

Edible, coarse, dry. In stews and mixed to form croquettes or patties, it is a desirable species, owing to its plentifulness.

C. splen´dens Pers.—splendens, shining. Solitary. Pileus 2–3 in. across, flesh rather thick, white, plane then depressed or funnel-shaped, 103glabrous, shining, yellowish. Gills deeply decurrent, narrow, crowded, simple, white. Stem about 1 in. long, 3 lines thick, glabrous, colored like the pileus, solid, slightly thickened at the base or equal. Massee.

In woods, among pine leaves, etc.

Intermediate between C. gilva and C. flaccida. The typical form of C. gilva differs in the compact pileus, often with drop-like markings, the very much crowded, somewhat branched, pale ochraceous gills and flesh. Fries.

Sent to me from Trenton, N.J., by E.B. Sterling.

Edible; quality good, deficient in flavor.

C. inver´sus Scop.—inverto, inverted. Pileus 2–3 in. across. Flesh thin, fragile; convex, soon funnel-shaped, margin involute, glabrous, even, reddish or dull brownish-orange. Gills decurrent, simple, pallid then reddish. Stem about 1½ in. long, 2 lines thick, glabrous, rather rigid, paler than the pileus, stuffed, soon hollow. Spores subglobose, 4µ diameter. Massee.

Among leaves, etc.

Gregarious, subcespitose, forming very large tufts, especially late in the autumn, deformed. Smell peculiar, slightly acid. Stem sometimes stuffed, usually hollow, hence compressed, rather rigid and corticated outside, not elastic, without a bulb, glabrous, whitish; the somewhat rooting base with white down, and often growing together in tufts, variously deformed, curved, ascending, etc. Fries.

Spores subglobose, 4µ Massee; 3µ W.G.S.

Closely resembles C. infundibuliformis, but differs from it in the color of gills and flesh. The entire plant is dark in color. Solitary; in troops; cespitose.

Found in mixed woods. Haddonfield, N.J. Summer and autumn.

That part of the plant which readily breaks away from the stem is tender and of good flavor. The remainder is tough.

C. flac´cida Sow.—flaccidus, limp. Pileus 2–3 in. across, flaccid, orbicular, umbilicate, umbo persistently absent, margin spreading, arched, glabrous, even, rarely cracking into minute squamules, tawny-rust colored, shining, not becoming pale. Flesh thin, pallid, rather fragile when fresh, but quite flaccid when dry. Gills deeply decurrent, 104arcuate, crowded, narrow, about 1 line broad, white, then tinged yellowish. Stem imperfectly hollow, elastic, tough, 1–2 in. long, 2–3 lines thick somewhat equal, polished, naked, reddish-rust color, base thickened, downy. Spores subglobose, 4–5×3–4µ.

Among leaves, etc. Gregarious, stems often grown together at the base. Sometimes solitary and regular. Summer and autumn. Massee.

Spores subglobose, 4–5×3–4µ.

Found in 1886 in West Philadelphia—oak woods. Since in New Jersey, North Carolina, and interior of Pennsylvania.

Edible. Well cooked it compares favorably with C. infundibuliformis and others of like texture.

C. cati´na Fr.—catinus, a bowl. Pileus 2 in. broad, at first white, in no wise hygrophanous, then passing into pale flesh-color during rain, and into tan-color in dry weather, fleshy, moderately thin, plane then funnel-shaped, always obtuse, even, smooth. Flesh thin, flaccid, white. Stem 3 in. long, 1½ in. thick, stuffed, internally spongy, elastic, tough, thickened and tomentose at the base. Gills decurrent, straight, descending, not horizontal, broad, not much crowded, persistently white. Fries.

Ray Brook, Adirondack mountains. August. The pileus is at first white, but in wet weather it becomes pallid or discolored with age. The plants were found growing among pieces of bark of arbor vitæ lying on the ground. Peck, 43d Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Quite common in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey. Woods among dead leaves. August until frost.

Edible. Excellent in flavor and quality.

C. cyathifor´mis Bull.—cyathus, a cup; formis, form. Pileus 1½-3 in. across, flesh thin, plano-depressed when young, then infundibuliform, even, glabrous, hygrophanous, rather slimy and usually dark brown when moist, becoming pale and opaque when dry, undulate in 105large specimens, the margin remains involute for a long time. Flesh watery, similar in color to the pileus, splitting. Gills adnate, becoming decurrent with the depression of the pileus, joined behind, distant, grayish-brown, sometimes branched. Stem spongy and stuffed inside, elastic, at length often hollow, 2–4 in. long, 3–4 lines thick, attenuated upward, brownish-fibrillose, fibrils forming an imperfect reticulation, colored like the pileus or a little paler, apex naked (not mealy), base villous. Massee.

On the ground in pastures and woods, rarely on rotten wood.

Usually blackish-umber, but varies to paler grayish-brown, pinky-tan, pale cinnamon or brownish; then dingy-ochraceous or tan-color. Margin expanded when old, and also indistinctly striate. Fries.

Var. cineras´cens Fr. Pileus up to 1 in. across, thin, infundibuliform, pale smoky-brown. Gills decurrent, yellowish-white. Stem 1–2 in. long, 1½ line thick, grayish, reticulately fibrillose, hollow.

Spores 8×5µ W.G.S.; 10–12×5–6µ, B.; 9×6µ Morgan.

Mt. Gretna, Pa. Among leaves in woods. September to October. Gregarious. McIlvaine.

Fair in quality.

C. bruma´lis Fr.—bruma, winter. From its late appearance. Pileus about 1 in. across. Flesh thin, expanded, umbilicate then infundibuliform and usually variously waved and lobed, glabrous, flaccid, hygrophanous, livid, whitish or yellowish when dry, disk often darker. Gills decurrent, about 1 line broad, crowded, pallid. Stem up to 2 in. long and about 2 lines thick, nearly equal, slightly curved, glabrous, whitish, often compressed, imperfectly hollow. Spores 4–5×3–4µ.

In woods, etc.

Truly autumnal, being most abundant in November. There are two forms: (a) on pine leaves in pine woods; (b) among heather. (a) Stem rather firm, hollow, about 2 in. long, 2 lines thick, equal or slightly thickened at the apex, at length compressed, somewhat incurved, glabrous, naked, becoming livid, white when dry, base white and downy. Flesh of pileus membranaceous, at first convex, umbilicate, margin reflexed, about 1 in. across, then funnel-shaped, often irregular and undulate, up to 2 in. broad, glabrous, even, livid when moist, whitish then becoming yellowish when dry, disk at first usually darker. Gills decurrent, at first arcuate, then descending, 1 line broad, crowded, 106distinct, livid then yellowish-white, smell weak, not unpleasant. (b) Entirely watery white; stem hollow, somewhat striate, base glabrous; pileus infundibuliform, margin deflexed, milky-white when dry. Gills less crowded, but rather broader, whitish. Fries.

Spores 3µ W.G.S.; 4–5×3–4µ Massee.

Edible. Cooke.

C. morbi´fera Pk.—morbus, disease; fero, to bear. Pileus thin, fragile, glabrous, convex, becoming plane or centrally depressed, slightly hygrophanous, grayish-brown when moist, whitish or cinereous when dry, sometimes slightly umbonate. Gills narrow, close, adnate or slightly decurrent, whitish or pallid. Stem short, equal, hollow, colored like the pileus or a little paler. Spores minute, broadly elliptical, 4µ long, almost as broad.

Pileus .5–1.5 in. broad. Stem about 1 in. long, ⅙–¼ in. thick. Grassy ground and lawns. November. Washington, D.C. F.J. Braendle.

The species seems related to C. expallens, but the margin of the pileus is not striate as in that fungus. The taste is very disagreeable and remains in the mouth a long time. Two persons were made ill by eating it, but their sickness lasted only about three hours. Peck.

I have not seen this species. Its reputation is bad. Caution should be observed.

C. trullisa´ta Ellis. Pileus fleshy, plano-convex, at length depressed in the center, innate fibrous-scaly, becoming smoother on the disk, margin thin. Gills unequal, not crowded, coarse and thick, adnate with a decurrent tooth, at length white pulverulent, purple-violet at first, becoming dark brick-red. Stem stuffed, fibrillose, with a long club-shaped base penetrating deeply into the sand. Spores large, cylindric-oblong, 15–20µ.

In old sandy fields. September to October.

The interior of the stem in the young plant is like the gills, violet-purple, and the club-shaped base is covered with a tomentose coat, to which the sand adheres tenaciously.

107Related to A. laccatus and A. ochropurpureus B.

Resembles the larger forms of A. laccatus, but it has a stouter habit, the pileus is more squamulose, the stem is bulbous or thickened at the base, the mycelium is violet-colored and the spores are oblong. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club, November, 1874.

New Jersey, Ellis; New York, Peck, Rep. 33.

Haddonfield, Watertown, N.J. Sandy soil in pine woods. McIlvaine.

Densely cespitose. Caps and stems brown, glutinous and so incrusted with sand that it is almost impossible to clean them. Edible, but not desirable.

C. lacca´ta Scop.—made of lac. (Plate XXIV, fig. 10, p. 82.) Pileus thin, fleshy, convex, sometimes expanded, even or slightly umbilicate, smooth or minutely tomentose-scaly, hygrophanous when moist, dull reddish-yellow or reddish flesh-colored, sometimes striatulate when dry, pallid or pale dull ochraceous. Gills broad, rather thick and distant, attached, not decurrent, flesh-colored. Stem slender, firm, fibrous, stuffed, equal, concolorous.

Height 1–6 in., breadth of pileus 6 lines to 2 in. Common. June to October.

An extremely variable and abundant species occurring almost everywhere throughout the season. Peck, 23d Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Spores 8–9µ Massee; 8–10µ B.

Var. pallidifo´lia Pk.—pallidus, pale; foliumaf. Gills whitish or pallid, decurrent.

Var. stria´tula Pk.—stria, a furrow. Pileus moist, smooth, thin, showing shading radiating lines, extending from near the center to the margin. In wet or damp places.

A form occurs with a decidedly bulbous base. Gills appearing emarginate with a decurrent tooth.

Clitocybe laccata is made the type of a new genus by Berkeley and Broome. Massee accepts the genus but it is not generally accepted by the standard authors. It is a well defined genus, and a fitting place for C. laccata, C. amethystina, C. ochropurpurea, C. tortilis, which it puzzles anyone to identify as Clitocybe.

C. amethys´tina Bolt.—amethystinus, color of an amethyst. (Plate 108XXIV, fig. 8, p. 82.) Pileus 1–2½ in. across, dark-purple, umbilicate, smooth, minutely tomentose, involute. Gills dark-purple, decurrent, broad. Stem 2–3 in. high, fibrillose, purple, streaked with white fibrils, equal, densely covered with white tomentum at base.

Also written Clitocybe laccata amethystina Sacc.

“In my opinion it is a good species and should be kept distinct as Bolton gave it, and not be tacked on to C. laccata as a variety. I should write it Clitocybe amethystina Bolt.” Peck, letter September 17, 1897.

New York, Peck, Rep. 41; New Jersey, Sterling; Mt. Gretna, Pa., on wood soil, June to frost, 1897–1898, McIlvaine.

Generally included in C. laccata as a variety, and has therefore been reported under that name.

Great quantities of C. amethystina grew in troops on beds made up of wood earth about the cottages at Mt. Gretna, Pa. The woods over them is dense.

The caps are tough, but they cook readily and make a pleasing dish.

C. tor´tilis Bolt.—tortilis, twisted. Pileus membranaceous, convexo-plane then depressed, obscurely marked with radiating striæ. Stem hollow, twisted, fragile. Gills adnate, thick, distant, fleshy-rose, cespitose, small, irregular, pileus and stem rusty in color.

Hard ground in an old road. Sandlake. August. A species closely allied to C. laccata and appearing like an irregular dwarf form of that species. Sometimes cespitose. Peck, 41st Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Excepting that this fungus is frequently found with C. laccata, and might be taken for a new species if not here described, it would not be separated from C. laccata.

Its edible qualities are similar.

C. ochropurpu´rea Berk.—ochra, ocher; purpureus, purple. (Plate XXIV, figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, p. 82.) Pileus subhemispherical, at length depressed, fleshy, compact, tough, pale yellow, slightly changing to purplish, cuticle easily separable; margin inflexed, at first tomentose. Stem paler, here and there becoming purplish, solid, swollen in the middle, occasionally equal. Gills thick, purple, broader behind, decurrent. Spores white or pale yellow.

Pileus 2 in. broad. Stem 2½ in. high, ¾ in. thick in the center.

August. On clayey soil in woodlands.

109Its spores darken when shed in quantity, have a granulated and light-lilac appearance. It is a solitary grower, sometimes reaching the height of six inches. The upturned, wavy pileus, showing the purple gills in contrast with the pale Naples-yellow of the cap is markedly attractive. The stem is often rough with fibers, hard and tough. The caps are tough. It grows in grassy woods and open places. The novice, even the expert, will be puzzled to place it in its genus.

Specimens were sent to me by Miss Lydia M. Patchen, Westfield, N.Y., and E.B. Sterling, Trenton, N.J. I afterward found many at Mt. Gretna, Pa. I reported their edible qualities to Prof. Peck who wrote, September 3, 1897: “I have often wished it was edible, but it has such a disagreeable flavor when fresh that I have never ventured to eat it. I have known it to be mistaken for the common mushroom, but not eaten.”

Though tough it cooks tender and is excellent. Stew and put in patties or croquettes.

C. di´topa Fr. Gr.—twofold; Gr.—a foot. Probably from stems growing two together. Pileus thin, submembranaceous, convex, rarely with a small umbo, smooth, hygrophanous, brown when young and moist, grayish-white when dry. Gills grayish, close, thin, attached, not decurrent. Stem slender, equal, smooth, hollow.

Height 1–2 in., breadth of pileus 6–18 lines. Stem 1–2 lines thick.

Pine woods. West Albany. October.

The plant has the odor and taste of new meal. I have seen no specimens with the pileus depressed. Peck, 23d Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

C. meta´chroa Fr. Gr.—changing color. Separated from C. ditopa by its thicker, depressed pileus, its thicker, less close gills, and the absence of odor.

Pine woods. West Albany. October. Peck, 23d Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Moderately plentiful in New Jersey pines. September to October.

Edible, tough; when well stewed of good flavor.

C. compres´sipes Pk.—compressus, pressed together; pes, a foot. Pileus thin, convex or expanded, umbilicate, glabrous, hygrophanous, brownish when moist, whitish or pale yellow when dry, margin thin. Gills close, subarcuate or horizontal, adnate or subdecurrent, whitish. Stem firm, hollow, generally compressed, slightly pruinose. Spores elliptical, 5–6.5×4–4.5µ. Flesh white when dry, odor slight, farinaceous.

Plant gregarious, 1–1.5 in. high. Pileus 6–16 lines broad. Stem 1–2 lines thick.

Grassy places. Albany. July.

The moist pileus is sometimes obscurely zonate. The odor is not always perceptible unless the pileus is moist or broken. The stem is sometimes compressed at the top only, sometimes at the base only, and rarely it is wholly top-shaped. Peck, 33d Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Found on open lots in West Philadelphia. Though small it usually grows in troops which yield fair quantity. The caps are tender and of good flavor.

C. fra´grans Sow.—fragrans, fragrant. Smell strong, spicy. Pileus about 1 in. across. Flesh rather thick; convex, soon expanded and slightly depressed or umbilicate, even, glabrous, hygrophanous, uniform watery-white, disk not darker, whitish when dry. Gills slightly decurrent, rather crowded, 1 line broad, distinct, whitish. Stem about 2 in. long, equal, slightly curved, elastic, glabrous, whitish, stuffed then hollow.

In woods among moss, etc.

Distinguished from other species resembling it in color and size, by the fragrant smell resembling aniseed. Massee.

Spores 6×4µ. W.G.S.

Found in West Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania. July to severe frosts. McIlvaine.

Edible. The strong taste of anise is not lost in cooking.

C. pino´phila—pine loving. Pileus thin, convex, umbilicate or centrally depressed, glabrous, moist, pale tan-color, paler or alutaceous when dry. Gills moderately close, subarcuate, adnate or slightly decurrent, whitish. Stem equal, stuffed or hollow, glabrous or subpruinose, 111colored like the pileus. Spores nearly elliptical, 4–6µ long; odor and taste resembling that of fresh meal.

Plant 1–2 in. high. Pileus about 1 in. broad. Stem 1–2 lines thick.

Ground under pine trees. Albany and Ticonderoga. July and August. Peck, 31st Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Quite plentiful in pine woods of New Jersey. Edible; pleasant.

112COLLY´BIA Fr.

Pileus fleshy, usually thin, margin incurved at first, not corrugated. Stem different in substance from the pileus, but confluent with it; hollow, with a cartilaginous bark, internally cartilaginous or soft, often rooting. Gills free or obtusely adnexed, membranaceous, soft.

Growing on the ground, wood, leaves and decaying fungi.

In Clitocybe and Tricholoma the substance of the stem and pileus is alike; they differ in the character of the stem. Tricholoma has no distinct bark-like coat, and in Clitocybe the stem is covered with minute fibers. In Mycena as in Collybia the stem is different in substance from the pileus, but is distinguished by the margin of the pileus being straight. It is most closely allied to Marasmius, which is characterized by its tough coriaceous substance, which when dried fully revives and expands on being moistened. The line between them can not always be closely drawn, and there are numerous species which it is difficult to place with certainty in either genus. This does not apply to the fleshy edible species of this genus as they are quite distinct from Marasmius.

Peck’s 49th Report contains a monograph of the New York species of Collybia, supplemented by one of those found in other states.

Several common, prolific, long-season, delicious fungi occur in this genus. They vary in size from “a small coin” to five inches across. They grow in woods, on wood, on ground, on leaves, on lawns and among moss and grass in shaded places. The writer has tested many species raw, and eaten small quantities cooked, which are not herein described for the reason that not enough of a species was found to test to full extent. So far as is reported and as his experience goes, there is not a poisonous species in Collybia. Many of them are strong in odor.

Photographed by Dr. J.R. Weist.                 Plate XXIX.
COLLYBIA RADICATA.

Stem stout, hollow or imperfectly filled with a spongy pith; grooved or striate with fibers.

113* Gills broad, rather distant.

** Gills narrow, crowded.