I have several times found this plant in the Adirondack mountains, N. Y., and Ithaca, and also at Blowing Rock, N. C. The volva is often yellowish, so that the warts on the pileus are also yellow, and sometimes the only remnants of the volva on the base of the stem are yellow or orange particles. The annulus is also frequently yellow. In our plants, which seem to be typical, the spores are nearly globose, varying to oval, and with the minute point where the spore was attached to the sterigma at the smaller end, the spores usually being finely granular, 6—9 mu in diameter, and rarely varying towards short elliptical, showing a tendency to approach the shape of the spores of A. muscaria. The species as I have seen it is a very variable one, large forms being difficult to separate from A. muscaria, on the one hand, and others difficult to separate from the depauperate forms of A. caesarea. In the latter, however, the striae are coarser, though the yellow color may be present only on portions of the pileus. The spores of A. caesarea are from globose to oval, ovate or short elliptical, the globose ones often agreeing in size with the spores of A. frostiana, but they usually contain a prominent oil drop or "nucleus," often nearly filling the spore. In some specimens of A. frostiana the spores are quite variable, being nearly globose, ovate to elliptical, approaching the spores of A. muscaria. These intermediate forms should not in themselves lead one to regard all these three species as representing variations in a single variable species. With observations in the field I should think it possible to separate them.

Amanita phalloides Fr. Deadly Poisonous.—The Amanita phalloides and its various forms, or closely related species, are the most dangerous of the poisonous mushrooms. For this reason the A. phalloides is known as the deadly agaric, or deadly amanita. The plant is very variable in color, the forms being pure white, or yellowish, green, or olive to umber. Variations also occur in the way in which the volva ruptures, as well as in the surface characters of the stem, and thus it is often a difficult matter to determine whether all these forms represent a single variable species or whether there are several species, and if so, what are the limits of these species. Whether these are recognized as different forms of one species or as different species, they are all very poisonous. The plant usually occurs in woods or along the borders of woods. It does, however, sometimes occur in lawns. It varies from 6—20 cm. high, the cap from 3—10 cm. broad, and the stem 6—10 mm. in thickness.



The pileus is fleshy, viscid or slimy when moist, smooth, that is, not striate, orbicular to bell-shaped, convex and finally expanded, and in old specimens more or less depressed by the elevation of the margin. The cap is often free from any remnants of the volva, while in other cases portions of the volva or outer veil appear on the surface of the cap in rather broad patches, or it may be broken up into a number of smaller ones quite evenly distributed over the surface of the cap. The presence or absence of these scales on the cap depends entirely on the way in which the volva ruptures. When there is a clean rupture at the apex the pileus is free from scales, but if portions of the apex of the volva are torn away they are apt to remain on the cap.



The white form is common in this country, and so is the olive or umber form. The yellow form is rarer. Sometimes there is only a tinge of yellow at the center of the white pileus, while in other cases a large part of the pileus may be yellow, a deeper shade usually on the center. The green form is probably more common in Europe than in this country. The olive form varies considerably also in the depth of the color, usually darker on the center and fading out to light olive or gray, or whitish, on the margin. In other cases the entire pileus may be dark olive or umber color. The gills in all the forms are white, and free from the stem or only joined by a narrow line. The stem is stuffed when young, but in age is nearly or quite hollow. It is cylindrical, 6—20 cm. long x 6—12 mm. in thickness. In the larger specimens the bulb is quite prominent and abrupt, while in the smaller specimens it is not always proportionally so large. The stem is usually smooth and the color is white, except in the dark forms, when it is dingy or partakes more or less of the color of the pileus, though much lighter in shade. There is a tendency in these forms to a discoloration of the stem where handled or bruised, and this should caution one in comparing such forms with the edible A. rubescens.



Perhaps no part of the plant is more variable than the outer veil or volva. Where the volva is quite thick and stout it usually splits at the apex, and there is a prominent free limb, as shown in Fig. 55. Sometimes thin portions of the volva are caught, and remain on the surface of the pileus. But when the volva is thinner and of a looser texture, it splits transversely about the middle, circumscissile, and all or a large part of the upper half of the volva then clings to the cap, and is separated into patches. Between this and the former condition there seem to be all gradations. Some of these are shown in Fig. 56, which is from a photograph of dark olive and umber forms, from plants collected in the Blue Ridge mountains, at Blowing Rock, N. C., during September, 1899. In the very young plant the volva split transversely (in a circumscissile fashion) quite clearly, and the free limb is quite short and distant from the stem on the margin of the saucer-like bulb. In the large and fully expanded plant at the center, the volva ruptured irregularly at the apex, and portions of the thin upper half remain as patches on the cap while the larger part remains as the free limb, attached at the margin of the broad saucer-shaped bulb, and collapsed up against the base of the stem.



Figure 58 and the small plant in Fig. 56, both from photographs of the sooty form of Amanita phalloides, show in a striking manner the typical condition of the circumscissile volva margining the broad saucer-like bulb as described for Amanita mappa. The color of A. mappa is usually said to be straw color, but Fries even says that the color is as in A. phalloides, "now white, now green, now yellow, now dark brown" (Epicrisis, page 6). According to this, Fig. 58 would represent A. mappa.

The variable condition in this one species A. phalloides, now splitting at the apex, now tearing up irregularly, now splitting in a definitely circumscissile manner, seems to bid defiance to any attempt to separate the species of Amanita into groups based on the manner in which the volva ruptures. While it seems to be quite fixed and characteristic in certain species, it is so extremely variable in others as to lead to the suspicion that it is responsible in some cases for the multiplication and confusion of species. At the same time, the occurrence of some of these forms at certain seasons of the year suggests the desirability of prolonged and careful study of fresh material, and the search for additional evidence of the unity of these forms, or of their definite segregation.



Since the Amanita phalloides occurs usually in woods, or along borders of woods, there is little danger of confounding it with edible mushrooms collected in lawns distant from the woods, and in open fields. However, it does occur in lawns bordering on woods, and in the summer of 1899 I found several of the white forms of this species in a lawn distant from the woods. This should cause beginners and those not thoroughly familiar with the appearance of the plant to be extremely cautious against eating mushrooms simply because they were not collected in or near the woods. Furthermore, sometimes the white form of the deadly amanita possesses a faint tinge of pink in the gills, which might lead the novice to mistake it for the common mushroom. The bulb of the deadly amanita is usually inserted quite deep in the soil or leaf mold, and specimens are often picked leaving the very important character of the volva in the ground, and then the plant might easily be taken for the common mushroom, or more likely for the smooth lepiota, Lepiota naucina, which is entirely white, the gills only in age showing a faint pink tinge. It is very important, therefore, that, until one has such familiarity with these plants that they are easily recognized in the absence of some of these characters, the stem should be carefully dug from the soil. In the case of the specimens of the deadly amanita growing in the lawn on the campus of Cornell University, the stems were sunk to three to four inches in the quite hard ground.

Amanita verna Bull. Deadly Poisonous.—The Amanita verna is by some considered as only a white form of the Amanita phalloides. It is of a pure white color, and this in addition to its very poisonous property has led to its designation as the "destroying angel."



The pileus is smooth and viscid when moist; the gills free; the stem stuffed or hollow in age; the annulus forms a broad collar, and the volva is split at the apex, and being quite stout, the free limb is prominent, and it hugs more or less closely to the base of the stem. Figure 59 represents the form of the plant which Gillet recognizes as A. verna; the pileus convex, the annulus broad and entire, and the stem scaly. These floccose scales are formed as a result of the separation of the annulus from the outer layer of the stem.

The characters presented in the formation of the veil and annulus in this species are very interesting, and sometimes present two of the types in the formation of the veil and annulus found in the genus Amanita. In the very young plant, in the button stage, as the young gills lie with their edges close against the side of the stem, loose threads extend from the edges of the gills to the outer layer of the stem. This outer layer of the stem forms the veil, and is more or less loosely connected with the firmer portion of the stem by loose threads. As the pileus expands, the threads connecting the edges of the gills with the veil are stronger than those which unite the veil with the surface of the stem. The veil is separated from the stem then, simultaneously, or nearly so, throughout its entire extent, and is not ripped up from below as in Amanita velatipes.

As the pileus expands, then, the veil lies closely over the edges of the gills until finally it is freed from them and from the margin of the pileus. As the veil is split off from the surface of the stem, the latter is torn into numerous floccose scales, as shown in Fig. 59.

In other cases, in addition to the primary veil which is separated from the stem in the manner described above, there is a secondary veil formed in exactly the same way as that described for Amanita velatipes.



In such cases there are two veils, or a double veil, each attached to the margin of the pileus, the upper one ascending over the edges of the gills and attached above on the stem, while the lower one descends and is attached below as it is being ripped up from a second layer of the stem. Figures 59—61 are from plants collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., in September, 1899.

Amanita virosa Fr. Deadly Poisonous.—This plant also by some is regarded as only a form of Amanita phalloides. It is a pure white plant and the pileus is viscid as in the A. verna and A. phalloides. The volva splits at the apex as in A. verna, but the veil is very fragile and torn into shreds as the pileus expands, portions of it clinging to the margin of the cap as well as to the stem, as shown in Fig. 62. The stem is also adorned with soft floccose scales. Gillet further states that the pileus is conic to campanulate, not becoming convex as in A. verna and A. phalloides.

The variability presented in the character of the veil and in the shape of the pileus suggests, as some believe, that all these are but forms of a single variable species. On the other hand, we need a more careful and extended field study of these variations. Doubtless different interpretations of the specific limits by different students will lead some to recognize several species where others would recognize but one. Since species are not distinct creations there may be tolerably good grounds for both of these views.



Amanita floccocephala Atkinson. Probably Poisonous.—This species occurs in woods and groves at Ithaca during the autumn. The plants are medium sized, 6—8 cm. high, the cap 3—6 cm. broad, and the stems 4—6 mm. in thickness.

The pileus is hemispherical to convex, and expanded, smooth, whitish, with a tinge of straw color, and covered with torn, thin floccose patches of the upper half of the circumscissile volva. The gills are white and adnexed. The spores are globose, 7—10 mu. The stem is cylindrical or slightly tapering above, hollow or stuffed, floccose scaly and abruptly bulbous below. The annulus is superior, that is, near the upper end of the stem, membranaceous, thin, sometimes tearing, as in A. virosa. The volva is circumscissile, the margin of the bulb not being clear cut and prominent, because there is much refuse matter and soil interwoven with the lower portion of the volva. The bulb closely resembles those in Cooke's figure (Illustrations, 4) of A. mappa. Figure 63 shows these characters well.



Amanita velatipes Atkinson. Properties Unknown.—This plant is very interesting since it shows in a striking manner the peculiar way in which the veil is formed in some of the species of Amanita. Though not possessing brilliant colors, it is handsome in its form and in the peculiar setting of the volva fragments on the rich brown or faint yellow of the pileus. It has been found on several occasions during the month of July in a beech woods on one of the old flood plains of Six-mile creek, one of the gorges in the vicinity of Ithaca, N. Y. The mature plant is from 15—20 cm. high, the cap from 8—10 cm. broad, and the stem 1—1.5 cm. in thickness.

The pileus is viscid when moist, rounded, then broadly oval and convex to expanded, striate on the margin, sometimes in old plants the margin is elevated. It is smooth throughout, and of a soft, rich hair brown, or umber brown color, darker in the center. Sometimes there is a decided but dull maize yellow tinge over the larger part of the pileus, but even then the center is often brown in color, shading into the yellow color toward the margin; the light yellow forms in age, often thinning out to a cream color. The flesh of the pileus is rather thin, even in the center, and becomes very thin toward the margin, as shown in Fig. 67. The scales on the pileus are more or less flattened, rather thin, clearly separated from the pileus, and easily removed. They are more or less angular, and while elongated transversely at first, become nearly isodiametric as the pileus becomes fully expanded, passing from an elongated form to rectangular, or sinuous in outline, the margin more or less upturned, especially in age, when they begin to loosen and "peel" from the surface of the cap. They are lighter in color than the pileus and I have never observed the yellow tint in them. The gills are white, broad at the middle, about 1 cm., and taper gradually toward each end. The spores are usually inequilaterally oval, 8—10 x 6—7 mu, granular when young, when mature with a large oil drop.



The stem is cylindrical, somewhat bulbous, the bulb often tapering abruptly, as shown in Figs. 64, 66. The stem is white, smooth, or floccose scaly where the veil has been ripped off from it. It is hollow and stuffed with loose cottony threads, as shown in Fig. 67. The veil is formed by the ripping up of the outer layer of the stem as the latter elongates and as the pileus expands. When it is freed from the margin of the cap it collapses and hangs downward as a broad collar (Fig. 64). The annulus is inferior, its position on the stem being due to the peculiar way in which it is formed.



Some of the stages of development are illustrated in Figs. 64—67. The buttons are queer looking objects, the bulb being the most prominent part. It tapers abruptly below, and on the upper side is the small rounded young cap seated in the center. The volva is present as a rough floccose layer, covering the upper part of the bulb and the young cap. As the stem elongates and the pileus enlarges and expands, the volva is torn into areolate patches. The lower patches, those adjoining the margin of the cap and the upper part of the bulb, are separated in a more or less concentric manner. One or more of them lie on the upper part of the bulb, forming the "limb" of the "ocreate" volva. Others lie around the margin of the pileus. Sometimes an annular one bordering the pileus and bulb is left clinging part way up on the stem, as shown in Fig. 66. The concentric arrangement on the pileus is sometimes shown for a considerable time, as in Fig. 67, the elongated areas being present in greater number at this age of the pileus. However, as the pileus expands more, these are separated into smaller areas and their connection with the surface of the pileus becomes less firm.

The formation of the veil and annulus can be easily followed in these figures. The margin of the cap in the button stage is firmly connected with the outer layer of the stem at its lower end. This probably occurs by the intermingling growth of the threads from the lower end of the stem and the margin of the cap, while the edges of the gills are quite free from the stem. Now as the stem elongates and the cap expands the veil is "ripped" up from the outer part of the stem. This is very clearly shown in Fig. 66, especially where two strips on the stem have become disconnected from the margin of the cap and are therefore left in position on the outside of the stem.

This species is related to A. excelsa Fr., which is said to have a superior ring.



Amanita cothurnata Atkinson. Probably Poisonous.—The booted amanita, Amanita cothurnata, I have found in two different years in the Blue Ridge mountains at Blowing Rock, N. C., once in 1888, during the first week of September, and again during the three first weeks in September, 1899. It occurs sparingly during the first week or so of September, and during the middle of the month is very abundant. The species seems to be clearly distinct from other species of Amanita, and there are certain characters so persistent as to make it easily recognizable. It ranges in height from 7—12 cm. and the caps are 3—7 cm. or more broad, while the stems are 4—10 mm. in thickness. The entire plant is usually white, but in some specimens the cap has a tinge of citron yellow, or in others tawny olive, in the center.



The pileus is fleshy, and passes, in its development, from nearly globose to hemispherical, convex, expanded, and when specimens are very old sometimes the margin is elevated. It is usually white, though specimens are found with a tinge of citron yellow in the center, or of tawny olive in the center of other specimens. The pileus is viscid, strongly so when moist. It is finely striate on the margin, and covered with numerous, white, floccose scales from the upper half of the volva, forming more or less dense patches, which may wash off in heavy rains. The gills are rounded next the stem, and quite remote from it. The edge of the gills is often eroded or frazzly from the torn out threads with which they were loosely connected to the upper side of the veil in the young or button stage. The spores are globose or nearly so, with a large "nucleus" nearly filling the spore.



The stem is cylindrical, even, and expanded below into quite a large oval bulb, the stem just above the bulb being margined by a close fitting roll of the volva, and the upper edge of this presenting the appearance of having been sewed at the top like the rolled edge of a garment or buskin. The surface of the stem is minutely floccose scaly or strongly so, and decidedly hollow even from a very young stage, or sometimes when young with loose threads in the cavity.

Figures 68—70, from plants (No. 3715, C. U. herbarium) collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., during September, 1899, illustrate certain of the features in the form and development of this plant.



In Amanita frostiana the remains of the volva sometimes form a similar collar, but not so stout, on the base of the stem. The variations in A. frostiana where the stem, annulus and gills are white might suggest that there is a close relationship between A. frostiana and A. cothurnata, and that the latter is only a form of the former. From a careful study of the two plants growing side by side the evidence is convincing that the two are distinct. Amanita frostiana occurs also at Blowing Rock, appearing earlier in the season than A. cothurnata, and also being contemporary with it. A. frostiana is more variable, not nearly so viscid, nor nearly so abundant, the stem is solid or stuffed, the annulus is more frail and evolved from the stem in a different manner. The volva does not leave such a constant and well defined roll where it separated on the stem transversely, and the pileus is yellow or orange. When A. cothurnata is yellowish at all it is a different tint of yellow and then only a tinge of yellow at the center. Albino or faded forms of A. frostiana might occur, but we would not expect them to appear at a definite season of the year in great abundance while the normal form, showing no intergrading specimens in the same locality, continued to appear in the same abundance and with the same characters as before. The dried plants of A. cothurnata are apt to become tinged with yellow on the gills, the upper part of the stem and upper part of the annulus during the processes of drying, but the pileus does not change in like manner, nor do these plants show traces of yellow on these parts when fresh. The spores are also decidedly different, though the shape and size do not differ to any great extent. In A. frostiana and the pale forms of the species the spores are nearly globose or oval, rarely with a tendency to become elliptical, but the content is quite constantly finely granular, while the spores of A. cothurnata are perhaps more constantly globose or nearly so, but the spore is nearly filled with a highly refractive oil globule or "nucleus." The pileus of A. frostiana is also thinner than that of A. cothurnata. It is nearer, in some respects, to specimens of Amanita pantherina received from Bresadola, of Austria-Hungary.



Amanita spreta Pk. Said to be Poisonous.—According to Peck this species grows in open or bushy places. The specimens illustrated in Fig. 71 grew in sandy ground by the roadside near trees in the edge of an open field at Blowing Rock, N. C., and others were found in a grove. The plants are 10—15 cm. high, the caps 6—12 cm. broad, and the stems 8—12 mm. in thickness. The pileus is convex to expanded, gray or light drab, and darker on the center, or according to Dr. Peck it may be white. It is smooth, or with only a few remnants of the volva, striate on the margin, and 1—.5 cm. thick at the center. The gills are white, adnexed, that is they reach the stem by their upper angle. The stem is of the same color as the pileus, but somewhat lighter, white to light gray or light drab, cylindrical, not bulbous, hollow or stuffed. The annulus is thin and attached above the middle of the stem. The volva is sordid white, and sheathes the stem with a long free limb of 3—5 lobes. It splits at the apex, but portions sometimes cling to the surface of the pileus.

Figure 71 is from plants (No. 3707, C. U.) collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., September, 1899.

Amanita caesarea Scop. Edible, but use great caution.—This plant is known as the orange amanita, royal agaric, Caesar's agaric, etc. It is one of the most beautiful of all the agarics, and is well distributed over the earth. With us it is more common in the Southern States. It occurs in the summer and early autumn in the woods. It is easily recognized by its usually large size, yellow or orange color of the cap, gills, stem and ring, and the prominent, white, sac-like volva at the base of the stem. It is usually 12—20 cm. high, the cap 5—10 cm. broad, and the stems 6—10 mm. in thickness, though it may exceed this size, and depauperate forms are met with which are much smaller.

The pileus is ovate to bell-shaped, convex, and finally more or less expanded, when the surface may be nearly flat or the center may be somewhat elevated or umbonate and the margin curved downward. The surface is smooth except at the margin, where it is prominently striate. The color varies from orange to reddish or yellow, usually the well developed and larger specimens have the deeper and richer colors, while the smaller specimens have the lighter colors, and the color is usually deeper on the center of the pileus. The gills are yellow, and free from the stem. The stem is hollow, even in young plants, when it may be stuffed with loose threads. It is often very floccose scaly below the annulus. It is cylindrical, only slightly enlarged below, where it is covered by the large, fleshy, sac-like white volva. The annulus is membranaceous, large, and hangs like a broad collar from the upper part of the stem. The stem and ring are orange or yellow, the depth of the color varying more with the size of the plant than is the case with the color of the cap. In small specimens the stem is often white, especially in depauperate specimens are the stem and annulus white, and even the gills are white when the volva may be so reduced as to make it difficult to distinguish the specimens from similar specimens of the poisonous fly agaric.



In the button stage the plant is ovate and the white color of the volva, which at this time entirely surrounds the plants, presents an appearance not unlike that of an egg. The volva splits open at the apex as the stem elongates. The veil is often connected by loose threads with the outer portion of the stem and as the pileus expands this is torn away, leaving coarse floccose scales on the stem. Some of the different stages in the opening of the plant are shown in Fig. 72. This illustration is taken from a photograph of plants (No. 3726, C. U. herbarium) collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., September, 1899. The plant is said to be one of the best esculents, and has been prized as an article of food from ancient times. Great caution should be used in distinguishing it from the fly agaric and from other amanitas.



Amanita rubescens Fr. Edible, but use great caution.—The reddish amanita, Amanita rubescens, is so called because of the sordid reddish color diffused over the entire plant, and especially because bruised portions quickly change to a reddish color. The plant is often quite large, from 12—20 cm. high, the cap 8—12 cm. broad and the stem 8—12 mm. in thickness, but it is sometimes much smaller. It occurs during the latter part of the summer and in early autumn, in woods and open places.



The pileus is oval to convex, and becoming expanded when old. It is smooth or faintly striate on the margin, and covered with numerous scattered, thin, floccose, grayish scales, forming remnants of the larger part of the volva or outer veil. The color of the cap varies correspondingly, but is always tinged more or less distinctly with pink, red, or brownish red hues. The gills are white or whitish and free from the stem. The stem is nearly cylindrical, tapering some above, and with a prominent bulb which often tapers abruptly below. In addition to the suffused dull reddish color the stem is often stained with red, especially where handled or touched by some object. There are very few evidences of the volva on the stem since the volva is so floccose and torn into loose fragments, most of which remain on the surface of the cap. Sometimes a few of these loose fragments are seen on the upper portion of the bulb, but they are easily removed by handling or by rains. The annulus is membranous, broad, and fragile.

Since the plant has become well known it is regarded as excellent and wholesome for food and pleasant to the taste. In case of the larger specimens there should be no difficulty in distinguishing it from others by those who care to compare the descriptions closely with the fresh specimens. But as in all cases beginners should use extreme caution in eating plants they have not become thoroughly familiar with. Small specimens of this species sometimes show but little of the reddish color, and are therefore difficult to determine.

Figures 73 and 74 are from plants (No. 3727 C. U. herbarium) collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., during September, 1899.

Amanita solitaria Bull. Edible, but use caution.—The solitary amanita, like many other plants, is not always true to its name. While it often occurs solitary, it does occur sometimes in groups. It is one of the largest of the amanitas. Its large size, together with its chalky white or grayish white color, and ragged or shaggy appearance, makes it a striking object in the woods, or along roadsides in woods where it grows. Frequently parts of the cap, the entire stem and the gills are covered with a white, crumbly, floccose substance of a mealy consistency which often sticks to the hands or other objects. The plant ranges from 15—20 cm. or more high, the cap from 8—15 cm. broad, and the stems are 1—2 cm. or more in thickness.

In form the pileus ranges from nearly globose in the button stage, to hemispherical, convex and expanded, when quite old the margin becoming more or less elevated. It is covered either with flaky or floccose portions of the volva, or with more or less distinct conic white scales, especially toward the center. The conic scales are easily rubbed off in handling or are easily washed off by rains. Many of them are loosened and fall because of the tension produced by the expanding pileus on the surface of which they rest. These scales vary in size from quite small ones, appearing like granules, to those fewer in number and larger, 3 mm. high and nearly as broad at the base. In other cases the scales are harder and stouter and dark colored. These forms will be discussed after the description of the other parts of the plant.



The gills are free, or are only attached by the upper inner angle; the edges are often floccose where they are torn from the slight union with the upper surface of the veil. The stem is cylindrical, solid or stuffed when old, enlarged usually below into a prominent bulb which then tapers into a more or less elongated root-like process, sometimes extending 5—10 cm. in the ground below the bulb. In rare cases the bulb is not present, but the cylindrical stem extends for a considerable distance into the ground. The veil is a very interesting part of the plant and the manner in which it forms and disappears as the cap expands is worth a careful study. This is well shown in Figs. 75, 76, from photographs of plants (No. 3731 C. U. herbarium) made at Blowing Rock, N. C., during September, 1899.

During the latter part of August and the first three weeks of September the plants were quite common in the mountain woods at Blowing Rock. In certain features there was close agreement in the case of all the specimens examined, especially in the long rooting character of the base of the stem. The veil and annulus were also quite constant in their characters, though sometimes a tendency was manifested to split up more irregularly than at other times. In the character of the warts of the pileus there was great variation, showing typical forms of Amanita solitaria and grading into forms which might be taken for typical Amanita strobiliformis. Especially is this so in the case of some of my specimens (No. 3733), where the scales are pyramidal, dark brown, surrounded by a sordid buff or grayish area, and these latter areas separated by narrow chinks whitish in color. The scales in this specimen are fixed quite firmly to the surface of the pileus. In other specimens (No. 3732) these hard scales remove quite easily, while in still another the pileus is almost smooth, even the floccose scales having been obliterated, while a very few of the hard angular warts are still present. In another half expanded plant (of No. 3732) the warts are pyramidal, 4—6 mm. long at the center of the pileus and rather closely imbricated, hard, and firmly joined to the surface of the cap. In Nos. 3733 and 3731 the spores measure 7—9 x 4—6 mu. In 3732 they are longer, varying from 7—11 mu.

The specimens with the long hard scales suggest Amanita strobiliformis Vittad., but the long rooting base of the stem does not agree with the description of that plant, but does clearly agree with Amanita solitaria Bull. A study of the variations in these plants suggests that Amanita solitaria and strobiliformis Vittad., represent only variations in a single species as Bulliard interpreted the species more than a century ago. Forms of the plant are also found which suggest that A. polypyramis B. & C., collected in North Carolina, is but one of the variations of A. solitaria.

Figures 75, 76 show well certain stages in the development of this plant. The conical or pyramidal warts are formed in a very young stage of the plant by the primary separation of the outer part of the volva, and as the pileus expands more, and the cessation of growth of the outer veil proceeds inward, the scales become more widely separated at the apex and broader at the base. In some cases the volva is probably thinner than in others, and with the rapid expansion of the pileus in wet weather the scales would be smaller, or more floccose. But with different conditions, when it is not so wet, the plant expands less rapidly, the surface of the pileus becomes drier, the volva layer does not separate so readily and the fissures between the scales proceed deeper, and sometimes probably enter the surface of the pileus, so that the size of the warts is augmented. A similar state of things sometimes takes place on the base of the stem at the upper margin of the bulb, where the concentric fissures may extend to some distance in the stem, making the scales here more prominent in some specimens than in others. A similar variation in the character of the scales on the bulb of Amanita muscaria is sometimes presented.

The veil is often loosely attached to the edges of the gills, and so is stripped off from the stem quite early. Sometimes it is more strongly adherent to the stem, or portions of it may be, when it is very irregularly ruptured as it is peeled off from the stem, as shown in the plant near the left side in Fig. 75. The veil is very fragile and often tears a little distance from the margin of the cap, while the portion attached to the stem forms the annulus. This condition is shown in the case of three plants in Fig. 75. The plant is said to be edible.

AMANITOPSIS Roze.

This genus has white spores, and a volva, but the annulus and inner veil are wanting. In other respects it agrees with Amanita. It is considered as a sub-genus of Amanita by some.



Amanitopsis vaginata (Bull.) Roz. Edible.—The sheathed amanitopsis, A. vaginata, is a quite common and widely distributed plant in woods. It is well named since the prominent volva forms a large sheath to the cylindrical base of the stem. The plant occurs in several forms, a gray or mouse colored form, and a brownish or fulvous form, and sometimes nearly white. These forms are recognized by some as varieties, and by others as species. The plants are 8—15 cm. high, the caps 3—7 cm. broad, and the stems 5—8 mm. in thickness.



The pileus is from ovate to bell-shaped, then convex and expanded, smooth, rarely with fragments of the volva on the surface. The margin is thin and marked by deep furrows and ridges, so that it is deeply striate, or the terms sulcate or pectinate sulcate are used to express the character of the margin. The term pectinate sulcate is employed on account of a series of small elevations on the ridges, giving them a pectinate, or comb-like, appearance. The color varies from gray to mouse color, brown, or ochraceous brown. The flesh is white. The gills are white or nearly so, and free. The spores are globose, 7—10 mu in diameter. The stem is cylindrical, even, or slightly tapering upward, hollow or stuffed, not bulbous, smooth, or with mealy particles or prominent floccose scales. These scales are formed by the separation of the edges of the gills from the surface of the stem, to which they are closely applied before the pileus begins to expand. Threads of mycelium growing from the edge of the lamellae and from the stem intermingle. When the pileus expands these are torn asunder, or by their pull tear up the outer surface of the stem. The volva forms a prominent sheath which is usually quite soft and easily collapses (Fig. 77).

The entire plant is very brittle and fragile. It is considered an excellent one for food. I often eat it raw when collecting.

Authors differ as to the number of species recognized in the plant as described above. Secretan recognized as many as ten species. The two prominent color forms are quite often recognized as two species, or by others as varieties; the gray or mouse colored form as A. livida Pers., and the tawny form as A. spadicea Pers. According to Fries and others the livida appears earlier in the season than spadicea, and this fact is recognized by some as entitling the two to specific rank. Plowright (Trans. Brit. Mycol. Soc., p. 40, 1897—98) points out that in European forms of spadicea there is a second volva inside the outer, and in livida there are "folds or wrinkles of considerable size on the inner surface of the volva." He thinks the two entitled to specific rank. At Ithaca and in the mountains of North Carolina I have found both forms appearing at the same season, and thus far have been unable to detect the differences noted by Plowright in the volva. But I have never found intergrading color forms, and have not yet satisfied myself as to whether or not the two should be entitled to specific rank.

Some of the other species of Amanitopsis found in this country are A. nivalis Grev., an entirely white plant regarded by some as only a white form of A. vaginata. Another white plant is A. volvata Pk., which has elliptical spores, and is striate on the margin instead of sulcate.



Amanitopsis farinosa Schw.—The mealy agaric, or powdery amanita, is a pretty little species. It was first collected and described from North Carolina by de Schweinitz (Synop. fung. Car. No. 552, 1822), and the specimens illustrated in Fig. 78 were collected by me at Blowing Rock, N. C., during September, 1899. Peck has given in the 33rd Report N. Y. State Mus., p. 49, an excellent description of the plant, though it often exceeds somewhat the height given by him. It ranges from 5—8 or 10 cm. high, the cap from 2—3 cm. broad, and the stem 3—6 mm. in thickness.

The pileus is from subglobose to convex and expanded, becoming nearly plane or even depressed by the elevation of the margin in old specimens. The color is gray or grayish brown, or mouse colored. The pileus is thin, and deeply striate on the margin, covered with a grayish floccose, powdery or mealy substance, the remnant of the evanescent volva. This substance is denser at the center and is easily rubbed off. The gills are white and free from the stem. The spores are subglobose and ovate to elliptical, 6—7 mu long. The stem is cylindrical, even, hollow or stuffed, whitish or gray and very slightly enlarged at the base into a small rounded bulb which is quite constant and characteristic, and at first is covered on its upper margin by the floccose matter from the volva.



At Blowing Rock the plants occurred in sandy soil by roadsides or in open woods. In habit it resembles strikingly forms of Amanitopsis vaginata, but the volva is entirely different (Fig. 78). Although A. vaginata was common in the same locality, I searched in vain for intermediate forms which I thought might be found. Sometimes the floccose matter would cling together more or less, and portions of it remained as patches on the lower part of the stem, while depauperate forms of A. vaginata would have a somewhat reduced volva, but in no case did I find intermediate stages between the two kinds of volva.

LEPIOTA Fr.

The genus Lepiota lacks a volva, but the veil is present forming a ring on the stem. The genus is closely related to Amanita, from which it differs in the absence of the volva, or perhaps more properly speaking in the fact that the universal veil is firmly connected (concrete with) with the pileus, and with the base of the stem, so that a volva is not formed. The gills are usually free from the stem, some being simply adnexed, but in some species connected with a collar near the stem. The stem is fleshy and is easily separable from the cap. A number of the species are edible. Peck, 35th Report N. Y. State Mus., p. 150—164, describes 18 species. Lloyd, Mycol. Notes, November, 1898, describes 9 species.

Lepiota naucina Fr. (Lepiota naucinoides Pk., Annularia laevis Krombh.) Edible.—The smooth lepiota, L. naucina, grows in lawns, in pastures and by roadsides, etc. It occurs during the latter part of summer and during autumn, being more abundant in September and early October. It is entirely white, or the cap is sometimes buff, and in age the gills become dirty pink in color. It is from 8—12 cm. high, the cap 5—10 cm. broad, and the stem 8—15 mm. in thickness.

The pileus is very fleshy, nearly globose, then convex to nearly expanded, smooth, or rarely the surface is broken into minute scales. The gills are first white, free from the stem, and in age assume a dull pink tinge. The spores are usually white in mass, but rarely when caught on white paper they show a faint pink tinge. The spores are elliptical to oval. The stem is nearly cylindrical, gradually enlarging below so that it is clavate, nearly hollow or stuffed with loose threads.



Since the plant occurs in the same situations as the Agaricus campestris it might be mistaken for it, especially for white forms. But of course no harm could come by eating it by mistake for the common mushroom, for it is valued just as highly for food by some who have eaten it. If one should look at the gills, however, they would not likely mistake it for the common mushroom because the gills become pink only when the plant is well expanded and quite old. There is much more danger in mistaking it for the white amanitas, A. phalloides, A. verna, or A. virosa, since the gills of these deadly plants are white, and they do sometimes grow in lawns and other grassy places where the smooth lepiota and the common mushroom grow. For this reason one should study the descriptions and illustrations of these amanitas given on preceding pages, and especially should the suggestions given there about care in collecting plants be followed, until one is so certainly familiar with the characters that the plants would be known "on sight."



The pink color of the gills of this lepiota has led certain students of the fungi into mistakes of another kind. This pink color of the gills has led some to place the plant among the rosy spored agarics in the genus Annularia, where it was named Annularia laevis by Krombholtz (vide Bresadola Funghi Mangerecci e velenosi, p. 29, 1899). It fits the description of that plant exactly. The pink color of the gills, as well as the fact that the gills turn brownish when dry, has led to a confusion in some cases of the Lepiota naucina with the chalky agaric, Agaricus cretaceus. The external resemblance of the plants, as shown in various illustrations, is very striking, and in the chalky agaric the gills remain pink very late, only becoming brown when very old.

Lepiota procera Scop. Edible.—The parasol mushroom, Lepiota procera, grows in pastures, lawns, gardens, along roadsides, or in thin woods, or in gardens. It is a large and handsome plant and when expanded seems not inappropriately named. It is from 12—20 cm. or more high, the cap expands from 5—12 cm., while the stem is 4—7 mm. in thickness. It occurs during summer and in early autumn.

The pileus is oval, then bell-shaped, convex and nearly expanded, with usually a more or less prominent elevation (umbo) at the center. Sometimes it is depressed at the center. It is grayish brown or reddish brown in color on the surface and the flesh is whitish. As the cap expands the surface layer ceases to grow and is therefore cracked, first narrow chinks appearing, showing white or grayish threads underneath. As the cap becomes more expanded the brown surface is torn into scales, which give the cap a more or less shaggy appearance except on the umbo, where the color is more uniform. The torn surface of the pileus shows numerous radiating fibres, and it is soft and yielding to the touch. The gills are remote from the stem, broad and crowded. The spores are long, elliptical, 12—17 mu long. The stem is cylindrical, hollow, or stuffed, even, enlarged below into a prominent bulb, of the same color as the pileus, though paler, especially above the annulus. The surface is usually cracked into numerous small scales, the chinks between showing the white inner portion of the stem. The ring is stout, narrow, usually quite free from the stem, so that it can be moved up and down on the stem, and is called a movable ring.

Figure 81 is from plants (No. 3842, C. U. herbarium) collected in a garden at Blowing Rock, N. C., during September, 1899.

A closely related plant, Lepiota rachodes Vitt., has smaller spores, 9—12 x 7—9 mu. It is also edible, and by some considered only a variety of L. procera. It is rare in this country, but appears about Boston in considerable quantities "in or near greenhouses or in enriched soil out of doors," where it has the appearance of an introduced plant (Webster, Rhodora, 1: 226, 1899). It is a much stouter plant than L. procera, the pileus usually depressed, much more coarsely scaly, and usually grows in dense clusters, while L. procera usually occurs singly or scattered, is more slender, often umbonate. L. rachodes has a veil with a double edge, the edges more or less fringed. The veil is fixed to the stem until the plant is quite mature, when it becomes movable. The flesh of the plant on exposure to the air becomes a brownish orange tint.



Lepiota morgani Pk.—This plant occurs from Ohio, southward and west. It grows in grassy places, especially in wet pastures. It is one of the largest of the lepiotas, ranging from 20—40 cm. high, the cap 20—30 cm. broad, and the stem about 2 cm. in thickness. The pileus, when fully expanded, is whitish, with large dark scales, especially toward the center. The ring is large, sometimes movable, and the gills and spores are greenish. Some report the plant as edible, while others say illness results from eating it.

Lepiota americana Pk. Edible.—This plant is widely distributed in the United States. The plants occur singly or are clustered, 6—12 cm. high, the cap 4—10 cm. broad, and the stem 4—10 mm. in thickness. The cap is adorned with reddish or reddish brown scales except on the center, where the color is uniform because the surface is not broken up into scales. The flesh is white, but changes to reddish when cut or bruised, and the whole plant becomes reddish on drying.

Figure 82 is from plants (No. 2718, C. U. herbarium) collected at Ithaca.

The European plant, L. badhami, also reported in this country, changes to a brownish red. It is believed by some to be identical with L. americana.



Lepiota acutesquamosa Weinm.—This is a medium or small sized plant with a floccose pileus adorned with small, acute, erect scales, and has a loose, hairy or wooly veil which is often torn irregularly. The erect scales fall away from the pileus and leave little scars where they were attached.

Lepiota cristata A. & S. Edible.—The crested lepiota, Lepiota cristata, occurs in grassy places and borders of woods, in groves, etc., from May to September, and is widely distributed. The plant is small, 3—5 cm. high, the cap 1—4 cm. broad, and the stem 2—5 mm. in thickness. It grows in clusters or is scattered.

The pileus is ovate, bell-shaped, then convex and expanded, and thin. The surface is at first entirely dull reddish or reddish brown, but soon cracks into numerous scales of the same color arranged in a crested manner, more numerous between the margin and the center, and often arranged in a concentric manner. The center of the cap often preserves the uniform reddish brown color because the pileus at this point does not expand so much and therefore the surface does not crack, while the margin often becomes white because of the disappearance of the brown covering here. The gills are free from the stem, narrow, crowded, and close to the stem. The spores are more or less angular, elongated, more narrowed at one end, and measure 5—8 x 3—4 mu. The stem is slender, cylindrical, hollow, whitish, smooth. The ring is small, white, and easily breaks up and disappears.

The characters of the plant are well shown in Fig. 83 from plants collected at Ithaca. Lepiota angustana Britz. is identical, and according to Morgan L. miamensis Morgan is a white form of L. angustana.

Lepiota asperula Atkinson.—This lepiota resembles A. asper in some respects, but it is smaller and the spores are much smaller, being very minute. The plant is 5—8 cm. high, the pileus 2—4 cm. broad, and the stem 4—6 mm. in thickness. It grows in leaf mould in the woods and has been found at Ithaca, N. Y., twice during July and September, 1897.

The pileus is convex and bell-shaped, becoming nearly or quite expanded. It is hair brown to olive brown in color. The surface is dry, made up of interwoven threads, and is adorned with numerous small, erect, pointed scales resembling in this respect A. asper Fr. The gills are white or yellowish, free, but rather close to the stem, narrow, often eroded on the edge, sometimes forked near the stem, and some of them arranged in pairs. The spores are oblong, smooth, and very minute, measuring 5 x 2 mu. The stem is the same color as the pileus, cylindrical, hollow, with loose threads in the cavity, enlarged into a rounded bulb below, minutely downy to pubescent. The outer portion of the bulb is formed of intricately interwoven threads, among which are entangled soil and humus particles. The veil is white, silky, hairy, separating from the stem like a dense cortina, the threads stretched both above and below as shown in Fig. 84 from plants (No. 3157 C. U. herbarium), collected at Ithaca.

In some specimens, as the pileus expands, the spaces between the pointed scales are torn, thus forming quite coarse scales which are often arranged in more or less concentric rows, showing the yellow-tinged flesh in the cracks, and the coarse scales bearing the fine point at the center. A layer connecting the margin of the pileus with the base of the stem and covered with fine brown points, sometimes separates from the edge of the cap and the base of the stem, and clings partly to the cortina and partly to the stem in much the same way that portions of the volva cling to the stem of certain species of Amanita, as seen in A. velatipes (Fig. 66). Sometimes this is left on the base of the stem and then resembles a short, free limb of a volva, and suggests a species of Amanita. The scales, however, are concrete with the pileus, and the species appears to show a closer relationship with Lepiota.



ARMILLARIA Fr.

In the genus Armillaria the inner veil which forms a ring on the stem is present. The stem is fibrous, or the outer portion cartilaginous in some species, and not easily separable from the substance of the pileus (continuous with the hymenophore), and the gills are attached to the stem, sinuate, or decurrent, spores white. Peck, 43rd Report N. Y. State Mus., p. 40—45, describes 6 species.

Some of the species resemble very closely certain species of Amanita or Lepiota, but can be distinguished by the firm continuity of the substance of the stem and cap.

Armillaria mellea Vahl. Edible.—This is one of the most common of the late summer and autumn fungi, and is widely distributed over the world. It grows about the bases of old stumps or dead trees, or from buried roots. Sometimes it is found attached to the living roots of trees. The plant occurs in tufts or clusters, several to many individuals growing together, the bases of their stems connected with a black rope-like strand from which they arise. The entire plant is often more or less honey colored, from which the plant gets its specific name. Its clustered habit, the usually prominent ring on the stems, and the sharp, blackish, erect scales which usually adorn the center of the cap, mark it as an easy plant to determine in most cases. The colors and markings, however, vary greatly, so that some of the forms are very puzzling. The plant varies in height from 10—15 cm., the cap from 5—10 cm. broad, and the stem 4—10 mm. in thickness.

The pileus is oval to convex and expanded, sometimes with a slight umbo or elevation at the center. The color varies from honey color to nearly white, or yellowish brown to dull reddish brown, usually darker on the center. In typical forms the pileus is adorned with pointed dark brown, or blackish, erect, scales especially abundant over the center, while the margin is often free from them, but may be marked with looser floccose, brownish, or yellowish scales. Sometimes there are no blackish pointed scales anywhere on the cap, only loose floccose colored scales, or in some forms the cap is entirely smooth. The margin in old specimens is often striate. The pileus is usually dry, but Webster cites an instance in which it was viscid in wet weather.

The gills are attached to the stem squarely (adnate) or they are decurrent (extend downward on the stem), are white, or whitish, becoming in age more or less dingy or stained. The spores are rounded or elliptical, 6—9 mu. The stem is elastic, spongy within and sometimes hollow. It is smooth or often floccose scaly below the ring, sometimes with prominent transverse bands of a hairy substance. It is usually whitish near the upper end, but dull brown or reddish brown below the annulus, sometimes distinctly yellowish. The veil varies greatly also. It may be membranaceous and thin, or quite thick, or in other cases may be absent entirely. The ring of course varies in a corresponding manner. As shown in Fig. 85 it is quite thick, so that it appears double on the edge, where it broke away from the inner and outer surfaces of the margin of the cap. It is frequently fixed to the stem, that is, not movable, but when very thin and frail it often disappears.

The honey colored agaric is said by nearly all writers to be edible, though some condemn it. It is not one of the best since it is of rather tough consistency. It is a species of considerable economic importance and interest, since it is a parasite on certain coniferous trees, and perhaps also on certain of the broad-leaved trees. It attacks the roots of these trees, the mycelium making its way through the outer layer, and then it grows beneath the bark. Here it forms fan-like sheets of mycelium which advance along both away from the tree and towards the trunk. It disorganizes and breaks down the tissues of the root here, providing a space for a thicker growth of the mycelium as it becomes older. In places the mycelium forms rope-like strands, at first white in color, but later becoming dark brown and shining. These cords or strands, known as rhizomorphs, extend for long distances underneath the bark of the root. They are also found growing in the hollow trunks of trees sometimes. In time enough of the roots are injured to kill the tree, or the roots are so weakened that heavy winds will blow the trees over.

The fruiting plants always arise from these rhizomorphs, and by digging carefully around the bases of the stems one can find these cords with the stems attached, though the attachment is frail and the stems are easily separated from the cords. Often these cords grow for years without forming any fruit bodies. In this condition they are often found by stripping off the bark from dead and rotting logs in the woods. These cords were once supposed to be separate fungi, and they were known under the name Rhizomorpha subcorticalis.



Armillaria aurantia Schaeff. (Tricholoma peckii Howe) Suspected.—This is a very pretty species and rare in the United States. The plants are 6—8 cm. high, the cap 4—7 cm. broad, and the stem 6—8 mm. in thickness. It occurs in woods. It is known by its viscid pileus, the orange brown or ochraceous rufus color of the pileus and stem, and the color of the stem being confined to the superficial layer, which becomes torn into concentric floccose scales, forming numerous minute floccose irregular rings of color around the stem.



The pileus is convex to expanded, with an umbo, and the edge inrolled, fleshy, thin, viscid, ochraceous rufus (in specimens collected by myself), darker on the umbo, and minutely scaly from tufts of hairs, and the viscid cuticle easily peeling off. The gills are narrow, crowded, slightly adnexed, or many free, white, becoming brown discolored where bruised, and in drying brownish or rufus. The spores are minute, globose to ovoid, or rarely sub-elliptical when a little longer, with a prominent oil globule usually, 3—3.5 x 3—5 mu, sometimes a little longer when the elliptical forms are presented. The stem is straight or ascending, even, very floccose scaly as the pileus is unrolled from it, scales same color as the pileus, the scales running transversely, being separated perhaps by the elongation of the stem so that numerous floccose rings are formed, showing the white flesh of the stem between. The upper part of the stem, that above the annulus, is white, but the upper part floccose.



This plant has been long known in Europe. There is a rather poor figure of it in Schaeffer Table 37, and a better one in Gillet Champignons de France, Hymenomycetes, 1, opposite page 76, but a very good one in Bresadola Funghi Mangerecci e Velenosi, Tavel 18, 1899. A good figure is also given by Barla, Les Champignons des Alpes—Maritimes, Pl. 19, Figs. 1—6. The plant was first reported from America in the 41st Report, State Museum, N. Y., p. 82, 1888, under the name Tricholoma peckii Howe, from the Catskill Mountains, N. Y. Figure 86 is from plants (No. 3991, C. U. herbarium) collected in the Blue Ridge mountains, at Blowing Rock, N. C., during September, 1899. The European and American description both ascribe a bitter taste to the flesh of the pileus, and it is regarded as suspicious.

There does not seem to be a well formed annulus, the veil only being present in a rather young stage, as the inrolled margin of the pileus is unrolling from the surface of the stem. It seems to be more in the form of a universal veil resembling the veil of some of the lepiotas. It shows a relationship with Tricholoma which possesses in typical forms a delicate veil present only in the young stage. Perhaps for this reason it was referred by Howe to Tricholoma as an undescribed species when it was named T. peckii. If its affinities should prove to be with Tricholoma rather than with Armillaria, it would then be known as Tricholoma aurantium.

TRICHOLOMA Fr.

In the genus Tricholoma the volva and annulus are both wanting, the spores are white, and the gills are attached to the stem, but are more or less strongly notched or sinuate at the stem. Sometimes the notch is very slight. The stem is fleshy-fibrous, attached to the center of the pileus, and is usually short and stout. In some specimens when young there is a slight cobwebby veil which very soon disappears. The genus is a very large one. Some species are said to be poisonous and a few are known to be edible. Peck, 44th Report, N. Y. State Mus., pp. 38—64, describes 46 species.



Tricholoma personatum Fr. Edible.—This plant occurs during the autumn and persists up to the winter months. It grows on the ground in open places and in woods. The stem is short, usually 3—7 cm. long x 1—2 cm. in thickness, and the cap is from 5—10 cm. or more broad. The entire plant often has a lilac or purple tint.

The pileus is convex, expanded, moist, smooth, grayish to brownish tinged with lilac or purple, especially when young, fading out in age. When young the pileus is sometimes adorned with white mealy particles, and when old the margin may be more or less upturned and wavy. The gills are crowded, rounded next the stem, and nearly free but close to the stem, violet or lilac when young, changing to dull reddish brown when old. The spores when caught in mass are dull pink or salmon color. They measure 7—9 mu long. The stem is solid, fibrous, smooth, deep lilac when young and retaining the lilac color longer than the pileus. Sometimes the base is bulbous as in Fig. 87.

This plant is regarded by all writers as one of the best of the edible fungi. Sometimes the pileus is water soaked and then the flavor is not so fine. The position of the plant is regarded as doubtful by some because of the more or less russety pink color of the spores when seen in mass, and the ease with which the gills separate from the pileus, characters which show its relationship to the genus Paxillus.

Tricholoma sejunctum Sowerb. Edible.—This plant occurs on the ground in rather open woods during late summer and in the autumn. It is 8—12 cm. high, the cap 5—8 cm. broad, and the stem 10—15 mm. in thickness.



The pileus is convex to expanded, umbonate, viscid when moist, light yellow in color and streaked with dark threads in the surface. The flesh is white, and very fragile, differing in this respect from T. equestre, which it resembles in general form. The gills are broad, rather distant, broadly notched near the stem, and easily separating from the stem. The stem is solid, smooth and shining white. Figure 89 is from plants collected at Ithaca. It is said to be edible.



CLITOCYBE Fr.

The volva and annulus are wanting in this genus, and the spores are white. The stem is elastic, spongy within, the outside being elastic or fibrous, so that the fibres hold together well when the stem is twisted or broken, as in Tricholoma. The stem does not separate readily from the pileus, but the rather strong fibres are continuous with the substance of the pileus. The gills are narrowed toward the stem, joined squarely or decurrent (running down on the stem), very rarely some of them notched at the stem while others of the same plant are decurrent. In one species at least (C. laccata, by some placed in the genus Laccaria) the gills are often strongly notched or sinuate. The cap is usually plane, depressed, or funnel-shaped, many of the species having the latter form. The plants grow chiefly on the ground, though a number of species occur on dead wood. The genus contains a very large number of species. Peck describes ten species in the 23rd Report, N. Y. State Mus., p. 76, et. seq., also 48th Report, p. 172, several species. Morgan, Jour. Cinn. Soc. Nat. Hist. 6: 70—73, describes 12 species.

Clitocybe candida Bres. Edible.—This is one of the large species of the genus. It occurs in late autumn in Europe. It has been found on several occasions during late autumn at Ithaca, N. Y., on the ground in open woods, during wet weather. It occurs in clusters, though the specimens are usually not crowded. The stem is usually very short, 2—4 cm. long, and 2—3 cm. in thickness, while the cap is up to 10—18 cm. broad.

The pileus is sometimes regular, but often very irregular, and produced much more strongly on one side than on the other. It is convex, then expanded, the margin first incurved and finally wavy and often somewhat lobed. The color is white or light buff in age. The flesh is thick and white. The gills are white, stout, broad, somewhat decurrent, some adnate.

The taste is not unpleasant when raw, and when cooked it is agreeable. I have eaten it on several occasions. Figures 90, 91 are from plants (No. 4612 C. U. herbarium) collected at Ithaca.

Clitocybe laccata Scop. Edible.—This plant is a very common and widely distributed one, growing in woods, fields, roadsides and other waste places. It is usually quite easily recognized from the whitish scurfy cap, the pink or purplish gills, though the spores are white, from the gills being either decurrent, adnate, or more or less strongly notched, and the stem fibrous and whitish or of a pale pink color. When the plants are mature the pale red or pink gills appear mealy from being covered with the numerous white spores.

The pileus is thin, convex or later expanded, of a watery appearance, nearly smooth or scurfy or slightly squamulose. The spores are rounded, and possess spine-like processes, or are prominently roughened. In the warty character of the spores this species differs from most of the species of the genus Clitocybe, and some writers place it in a different genus erected to accommodate the species of Clitocybe which have warty or spiny spores. The species with spiny spores are few. The genus in which this plant is placed by some is Laccaria, and then the plant is called Laccaria laccata. There are several other species of Clitocybe which are common and which one is apt to run across often, especially in the woods. These are of the funnel form type, the cap being more or less funnel-shaped. Clitocybe infundibuliformis Schaeffer is one of these. The cap, when mature, is pale red or tan color, fading out in age. It is 5—7 cm. high, and the cap 2—4 cm. broad. It is considered delicious. Clitocybe cyathiformis, as its name indicates, is similar in form, and occurs in woods. The pileus is of a darker color, dark brown or smoky in color.

Clitocybe illudens Schw. Not Edible.—This species is distributed through the Eastern United States and sometimes is very abundant. It occurs from July to October about the bases of old stumps, dead trees, or from underground roots. It is one of the large species, the cap being 15—20 cm. broad, the stem 12—20 cm. long, and 8—12 mm. in thickness. It occurs in large clusters, several or many joined at their bases. From the rich saffron yellow color of all parts of the plant, and especially by its strong phosphorescence, so evident in the dark, it is an easy plant to recognize. Because of its phosphorescence it is sometimes called "Jack-my-lantern."

The pileus is convex, then expanded, and depressed, sometimes with a small umbo, smooth, often irregular or eccentric from its crowded habit, and in age the margin of the pileus is wavy. The flesh is thick at the center and thin toward the margin. In old plants the color becomes sordid or brownish. The gills are broad, not crowded, decurrent, some extending for a considerable distance down on the stem while others for a less distance. The stem is solid, firm, smooth, and tapers toward the base.

While the plant is not a dangerously poisonous one, it has occasioned serious cases of illness, acting as a violent emetic, and of course should be avoided. Its phosphorescence has often been observed. Another and much smaller plant, widely distributed in this country as well as Europe, and belonging to another genus, is also phosphorescent. It is Panus stipticus, a small white plant with a short lateral stem, growing on branches, stumps, trunks, etc. When freshly developed the phosphorescence is marked, but when the plants become old they often fail to show it.



Clitocybe multiceps Peck. Edible.—This plant is not uncommon during late summer and autumn. It usually grows in large tufts of 10 to 30 or more individuals. The caps in such large clusters are often irregular from pressure. The plants are 6—12 cm. high, the caps 5—10 cm. broad, and the stems 8—15 mm. in thickness. The pileus is white or gray, brownish gray or buff, smooth, dry, the flesh white. The gills are white, crowded, narrow at each end. The spores are smooth, globose, 5—7 mu in diameter. The stems are tough, fibrous, solid, tinged with the same color as cap. Fig. 93 is from plants (No. 5467, C. U. herbarium) collected at Ithaca, October 14, 1900.

COLLYBIA Fr.

In the genus Collybia the annulus and volva are both wanting, the spores are white, the gills are free or notched, or sinuate. The stem is either entirely cartilaginous or has a cartilaginous rind, while the central portion of the stem is fibrous, or fleshy, stuffed or fistulose. The pileus is fleshy and when the plants are young the margin of the pileus is incurved or inrolled, i. e., it does not lie straight against the stem as in Mycena.

Many of the species of Collybia are quite firm and will revive somewhat after drying when moistened, but they are not coriaceous as in Marasmius, nor do they revive so thoroughly. It is difficult, however, to draw the line between the two genera. Twenty-five of the New York species of Collybia are described by Peck in the 49th Report N. Y. State Mus., p. 32 et seq. Morgan describes twelve species in Jour. Cinn. Soc. Nat. Hist., 6: 70—73.

Collybia radicata Rehl. Edible.—This is one of the common and widely distributed species of the genus. It occurs on the ground in the woods or groves or borders of woods. It is quite easily recognized by the more or less flattened cap, the long striate stem somewhat enlarged below and then tapering off into a long, slender root-like process in the ground. It is from this "rooting" character that the plant gets its specific name. It is 10—20 cm. high, the cap 3—7 cm. broad, and the stem 4—8 mm. in thickness.

The pileus is fleshy, thin, convex to nearly plane, or even with the margin upturned in old plants, and the center sometimes umbonate. It is smooth, viscid when moist, and often with wrinkles on the surface which extend radially. The color varies from nearly white in some small specimens to grayish, grayish brown or umber. The flesh is white. The gills are white, broad, rather distant, adnexed, i. e., joined to the stem by the upper angle. The spores are elliptical and about 15 x 10 mu. The stem is the same color as the pileus though paler, and usually white above, tapers gradually above, is often striate or grooved, or sometimes only mealy. The long tapering "root" is often attached to some underground dead root. Fig. 94 is from plants (No. 5641, C. U. herbarium) collected at Ithaca, August, 1900.



Collybia velutipes Curt. Edible.—This is very common in woods or groves during the autumn, on dead limbs or trunks, or from dead places in living ones. The plants are very viscid, and the stem, except in young plants, is velvety hairy with dark hairs. Figure 95 is from plants (No. 5430, C. U. herbarium) collected at Ithaca, October, 1900.

Collybia longipes Bull., is a closely related plant. It is much larger, has a velvety, to hairy, stem, and a much longer root-like process to the stem. It has been sometimes considered to be merely a variety of C. radicata, and may be only a large form of that species. I have found a few specimens in the Adirondack mountains, and one in the Blue Ridge mountains, which seem to belong to this species.

Collybia platyphylla Fr. Edible.—This is a much larger and stouter plant than Collybia radicata, though it is not so tall as the larger specimens of that species. It occurs on rotten logs or on the ground about rotten logs and stumps in the woods from June to September. It is 8—12 cm. high, the cap 10—15 cm. broad, and the stem about 2 cm. in thickness.

The pileus is convex becoming expanded, plane, and even the margin upturned in age. It is whitish, varying to grayish brown or dark brown, the center sometimes darker than the margin, as is usual in many plants. The surface of the pileus is often marked in radiating streaks by fine dark hairs. The gills are white, very broad, adnexed, and usually deeply and broadly notched next the stem. In age they are more or less broken and cracked. The spores are white, elliptical, 7—10 x 6—7 mu.

The plant resembles somewhat certain species of Tricholoma and care should be used in selecting it in order to avoid the suspected species of Tricholoma.

MYCENA Fr.

The genus Mycena is closely related to Collybia. The plants are usually smaller, many of them being of small size, the cap is usually bell-shaped, rarely umbilicate, but what is a more important character the margin of the cap in the young stage is straight as it is applied against the stem, and not at first incurved as it is in Collybia, when the gills and margin of the pileus lie against the stem. The stem is cartilaginous as in Collybia, and is usually hollow or fistulose. The gills are not decurrent, or only slightly so by a tooth-like process. Some of the species are apt to be confused with certain species of Omphalia in which the gills are but slightly decurrent, but in Omphalia the pileus is umbilicate in such species, while in Mycena it is blunt or umbonate. The spores are white. A large number of the plants grow on leaves and wood, few on the ground. Some of those which grow on leaves might be mistaken for species of Marasmius, but in Marasmius the plants are of a tough consistency, and when dried will revive again if moistened with water.

Some of the plants have distinct odors, as alkaline, or the odor of radishes, and in collecting them notes should be made on all these characters which usually disappear in drying. A few of the plants exude a colored or watery juice when bruised, and should not be confounded with species of Lactarius.

Mycena galericulata Scop. Edible.—Mycena galericulata grows on dead logs, stumps, branches, etc., in woods. It is a very common and very widely distributed species. It occurs from late spring to autumn. The plants are clustered, many growing in a compact group, the hairy bases closely joined and the stems usually ascending. The plants are from 5—12 cm. high, the caps from 1—3 cm. broad, and the slender stems 2—3 mm. in thickness.

The pileus is conic to bell-shaped, sometimes umbonate, striate to near the center, and in color some shade of brown or gray, but variable. The gills are decurrent by a tooth, not crowded, connected by veins over the interspaces, white or flesh colored. The slender stems are firm, hollow, and hairy at the base.



Mycena polygramma Bull.—This plant is very closely related to M. galericulata, and has the same habit. It might be easily mistaken for it. It is easily distinguished by its peculiar bright, shining, longitudinally striate to sulcate stem. It usually grows on wood, but does occur on the ground, when it often has a very long stem. In this condition it was described by Peck in the 23rd Report, N. Y. State Mus., p. 81, as Mycena praelonga, from plants collected in a sphagnum moor during the month of June. This form was also collected at Ithaca several times during late autumn in a woods near Ithaca, in 1898. The plants are from 12—20 cm. high, the cap 1—2 cm. broad, and the stem 2—3 mm. in thickness.

The pileus is first nearly cylindrical, then conic, becoming bell-shaped and finally nearly expanded, when it is umbonate. It is smooth, striate on the margin, of a dark brown color with a leaden tint. The gills are narrow, white, adnate and slightly decurrent on the stem by a tooth. The very long stem is smooth, but marked with parallel grooves too fine to show in the photograph, firm, hollow, somewhat paler than the pileus, usually tinged with red, and hairy at the base. Figure 96 is from plants (No. 3113 C. U. herbarium), collected in a woods near Ithaca in damp places among leaves. A number of the specimens collected were attacked by a parasitic mucor of the genus Spinellus. Two species, S. fusiger (Link.) van Tiegh., and S. macrocarpus (Corda) Karst., were found, sometimes both on the same plant. The long-stalked sporangia bristle in all directions from the cap.



Mycena pura Pers.—This plant is quite common and very widely distributed, and occurs in woods and grassy open places, during late summer and in the autumn. The entire plant is nearly of a uniform color, and the color varies from rose, to rose purple, violet, or lilac. Plants from the Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina were chiefly rose purple, very young plants of a much deeper color (auricula purple of Ridgeway), while those collected at Ithaca were violet. The plants vary from 5—8 cm. high, the cap 2—3 cm. broad, and the stem 2—4 mm. stout. The plants are scattered or somewhat clustered, sometimes occurring singly, and again many covering a small area of ground.

The pileus is thin, conic, bell-shaped to convex and nearly expanded, sometimes with a small umbo, smooth, and finely striate on the margin, in age the striae sometimes rugulose from the upturning of the margin. Sometimes the pileus is rugose on the center. The gills vary from white to violet, rose, etc., they are adnate to sinuate, and in age sometimes become free by breaking away from the stem. They are broad in the middle, connected by vein-like elevations over the surface, and sometimes wavy and crenate on the edge, the edge of the gills sometimes white. The spores are white, oblong, 2.5—3.5 x 6—7 mu, smooth. The basidia are cylindrical, 20—25 x 3—4 mu, four-spored. There are a few cystidia in the hymenium, colorless, thin walled, clavate, the portion above the hymenium cylindrical, and 30—40 x 10—12 mu.

The stem is sometimes white when young, but later becomes of the same color as the pileus, often a lighter shade above. It is straight, or ascending, cylindrical, even, smooth, hollow, with a few white threads at the base.

Sometimes on drying the pileus becomes deeper in color than when fresh. The gills also become deeper in color in drying, though the edge remains white if white when fresh. Figure 97 is from plants (No. 3946, C. U. herbarium) collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., in August, 1899. The plants are often considerably larger than shown in the figure.



Mycena epipterygia Scop.—This pretty little species is quite readily distinguished by the gray, conic or bell-shaped cap, the long, hollow, slender stem, and the viscid pellicle or skin which is quite easily peeled off from the stem or cap when moist. It grows in woods or grassy places, or among moss, etc., on the ground or on very rotten wood. The plants are from 5—10 cm. high, the cap 1—2 cm. broad, and the stem about 2 mm. in thickness. It is widely distributed in Europe, America, and other North temperate countries.

The pileus is viscid when moist, ovate to conic or campanulate, and later more or less expanded, obtuse, the margin striate, and sometimes minutely toothed. The usual color is grayish, but in age it often becomes reddish. The gills are decurrent by a small tooth, and quite variable in color, whitish, then gray, or tinged with blue or red.

The stem is very slender, flexuous, or straight, fistulose, tough, with soft hairs at the base, usually yellowish, sometimes the same color as the cap, and viscid like the cap when moist. Figure 98 is from plants (No. 4547, C. U. herbarium) collected at Ithaca in August, 1899.

Mycena vulgaris Pers.—This common and pretty species is easily recognized by its smoky or grayish color, the umbilicate pileus and very slimy stem. It grows on decaying leaves, sticks, etc., in woods. It occurs in clusters. The plants are small, 3—5 cm. high, the cap 4—7 mm. broad, and the stem about 1.5 mm. in thickness.

The pileus is thin, bell-shaped, then convex, and depressed at the center, with a papilla usually in the center, finely striate on the margin, and slightly viscid. The gills are white, thin, and finally decurrent, so that from the form of the cap and the decurrent gills the plant has much the appearance of an Omphalia. The stem is very viscid, grayish in color, often rooting at the base, and with white fibrils at the base, becoming hollow.

Figure 99 is from plants collected in woods near Ithaca, during August, 1899.



Mycena acicula Schaeff.—This is one of the very small mycenas, and with the brilliant red pileus and yellow gills and stem it makes a very pretty object growing on leaves, twigs, or rotten wood in the forest. It occurs during summer and autumn. It is 2—5 cm. high, the cap 2—4 mm. broad, and the stem is thread-like.



The pileus is very thin, membranaceous, bell-shaped, then convex, when the pointed apex appears as a small umbo. It is smooth, striate on the margin, and of a rich vermilion or orange color. The gills are rounded at the stem and adnexed, rather broad in the middle, distant, yellow, the edge white, or sometimes the gills are entirely white. The stem is very slender, with a root-like process entering the rotten wood, smooth except the hairs on the root-like process, yellow.

Figure 100 is from plants (No. 2780, C. U. herbarium) collected in a woods near Ithaca. It has been found here several times.

Mycena cyanothrix Atkinson.—This is a very pretty plant growing on rotting wood in clusters, often two or three joined at the base, the base of the stem inserted in the rotten wood for 1—2 cm., and the base is clothed with blue, hair-like threads. The plants are 6—9 cm. high, the cap 1—2 cm. broad, and the stem not quite 2 mm. in diameter.

The pileus is ovate to convex, viscid when young. The color is bright blue when young, becoming pale and whitish in age, with a tendency to fuscous on the center. The cap is smooth and the margin finely striate. After the plants have dried the color is nearly uniform ochraceous or tawny. The gills are close, free, narrow, white, then grayish white, the edge finely toothed or fimbriate. The spores are globose, smooth, 6—9 mu. The stem is slender, hollow, faintly purple when young, becoming whitish or flesh color, flexuous, or nearly straight, even, often two united at the base into a root-like extension which enters the rotten wood. The base of the stem is covered with deep blue mycelium which retains its color in age, but disappears on drying after a time. Figure 101 is from plants (No. 2382, C. U. herbarium) collected at Ithaca, in woods, June 16, 1898.

Mycena haematopa Pers.—This is one of the species of Mycena with a red juice which exudes in drops where wounds occur on the plant. It is easily recognized by its dense cespitose habit, the deep blood red juice, the hollow stem, and the crenate or denticulate sterile margin of the cap. Numbers of the plant occur usually in a single cluster, and their bases are closely joined and hairy. The stems are more or less ascending according to the position of the plant on the wood. The plants are 5—10 cm. high, the cap is 1—2.5 cm. broad, and the stem 2—3 mm. in thickness.



The pileus is conic, then bell-shaped, and as the margin of the cap expands more appears umbonate, obtuse, smooth, even or somewhat striate on the margin. The color varies from whitish to flesh color, or dull red, and appears more or less saturated with a red juice. The thin margin extends a short distance beyond the ends of the gills, and the margin is then beautifully crenate. The gills are adnate, and often extend down on the stem a short distance by a little tooth. The stem is firm, sometimes smooth, sometimes with minute hairs, at the base with long hairs, hollow, in color the same as that of the pileus.



The color varies somewhat, being darker in some plants than in others. In some plants the juice is more abundant and they bleed profusely when wounded, while in other cases there is but little of the juice, sometimes wounds only showing a change in color to a deep red without any free drops exuding. Figure 102 is from plants collected at Ithaca, in August, 1899. It is widely distributed in Europe and North America.

Mycena succosa Pk., another species of Mycena with a juice, occurs on very rotten wood in the woods. It is a small plant, dull white at first, but soon spotted with black, and turning black in handling or where bruised, and when dried. Wounds exude a "serum-like juice," and the wounds soon become black. It was described by Peck under Collybia in the 25th Report, p. 74.

OMPHALIA Fr.

The genus Omphalia is closely related to Mycena and Collybia. It differs from these mainly in the decurrent gills. In the small species of Mycena where the gills are slightly decurrent, the pileus is not umbilicate as it is in corresponding species of Omphalia. In some of the species of Omphalia the pileus is not umbilicate, but here the gills are plainly decurrent. The stem is cartilaginous.



Omphalia campanella Batsch.—One of the most common and widely distributed species of the genus is the little bell-omphalia, Omphalia campanella. It occurs throughout the summer and autumn on dead or rotten logs, stumps, branches, etc., in woods. It is often clustered, large numbers covering a considerable surface of the decaying log. It is 1—3 cm. high, the cap 8—20 mm. broad, and the stem very slender.

The pileus is convex, umbilicate, faintly striate, dull reddish yellow, in damp weather with a watery appearance. The gills are narrow, yellow, connected by veins, strongly curved because of the form of the pileus, and then being decurrent on the stem. The stem is slender, often ascending, brownish hairy toward the base, and paler above.



Omphalia epichysium Pers.—This plant occurs during the autumn in woods, growing usually on much decayed wood, or sometimes apparently on the ground. The smoky, or dull gray color of the entire plant, the depressed or funnel-shaped pileus, and short, slender stem serve to distinguish it. The cap is 2—4 cm. broad, the plant is 3—5 cm. high, and the stem 2—4 mm. in thickness.

The pileus is convex, becoming expanded, umbilicate or depressed at the center or nearly funnel-shaped, smooth, smoky or gray with a saturated watery appearance, light gray or nearly white when dry. The gills are narrow, crowded, or a little decurrent. The slender stem is smooth, hollow, equal. Figure 104 is from plants (No. 3373, C. U. herbarium) collected in woods near Ithaca, N. Y., in the autumn of 1899.

PLEUROTUS Fr.



The genus Pleurotus is usually recognized without difficulty among the fleshy, white-spored agarics, because of the eccentric (not quite in the center of the pileus) or lateral stem, or by the pileus being attached at one side in a more or less shelving position, or in some species where the upper side of the pileus lies directly against the wood on which the plant is growing, and is then said to be resupinate. The gills are either decurrent (extending downward) on the stem, or in some species they are rounded or notched at the junction with the stem. There is no annulus, though sometimes a veil, and the genus resembles both Tricholoma and Clitocybe, except for the position of the stem on the pileus. In Tricholoma and Clitocybe the stem is usually attached at the center, and the majority of the species grow on the ground, while the species of Pleurotus are especially characterized by growing on wood. Some species, at least, appear to grow from the ground, as in Pleurotus petaloides, which is sometimes found growing on buried roots or portions of decayed stumps which no longer show above ground. On the other hand species of Clitocybe, as in C. candida (Fig. 91), often have an eccentric stem. This presents to us one of the many difficulties which students, especially beginners, of this group of fungi meet, and also suggests how unsatisfactory any arrangement of genera as yet proposed is.

Pleurotus ulmarius Bull. Edible.—The elm pleurotus is so called because it is often found growing on dead elm branches or trunks, or from wounds in living trees, but it is not confined to the elm. It is a large species, easily distinguished from the oyster agaric and the other related species by its long stem attached usually near the center of the cap, and by the gills being rounded or notched at their inner extremity. The cap is 5—12 cm. broad, the stem 5—10 cm. long, and 1—2 cm. in thickness.



The pileus is convex, the margin incurved, then nearly expanded, smooth, firm, white or whitish, or with shades of yellow or brown on the center, and the flesh is white. The gills are broad, rather distant, sinuate, white or nearly so. The spores are globose, 5—8 mu in diameter. The stem is firm, eccentric, usually curved because of its lateral attachment on the side of the tree, and the horizontal position of the pileus.

The elm pleurotus has been long known as an edible fungus, and is regarded as an excellent one for food on account of its flavor and because of its large size. It occurs abundantly during the late autumn, and at this season of the year is usually well protected from the attacks of insects. It occurs in the woods, or fields, more frequently on dead trees. On shade trees which have been severely pruned, and are nearly or quite dead, it sometimes appears at the wounds, where limbs have been removed, in great abundance. In the plants shown in Fig. 105 the stems are strongly curved because the weight of the cap bore the plant downward. Sometimes when the plant is growing directly on the upper side of a branch or log, the stem may be central.

Pleurotus ostreatus Jacq. Edible.—This plant is known as the oyster agaric, because the form of the plant sometimes suggests the outline of an oyster shell, as is seen in Fig. 107. It grows on dead trunks and branches, usually in crowded clusters, the caps often overlapping or imbricated. It is large, measuring 8—20 cm. or more broad.

The pileus is elongated and attached at one side by being sessile, or it is narrowed into a very short stem. It is broadest at the outer extremity, where it becomes quite thin toward the margin. It is more or less curved in outline as seen from the side, being depressed usually on the upper side near the point of attachment, and toward the margin convex and the margin incurved. The color is white, light gray, buff or dark gray, often becoming yellowish on drying. The gills are white, broad, not much crowded, and run down on the stem in long elevated lines resembling veins, which anastomose often in a reticulate fashion. The spores are white, oblong, 7—10 mu long. The stem when present is very short, and often hairy at the base.

The oyster agaric has long been known as an edible mushroom, but it is not ranked among the best, because, like most Pleuroti, it is rather tough, especially in age. It is well to select young plants. Figure 107 is from plants (No. 2097, C. U. herbarium) collected at Ithaca, N. Y.



Pleurotus sapidus Kalchb. Edible.—This plant usually grows in large clusters from dead trunks or branches or from dead portions of living trees. It grows on a number of different kinds of trees. The stems are often joined at the base, but sometimes the plants are scattered over a portion of the branch or trunk. The cap is from 5—10 cm. broad. The plants occur from June to November.



The pileus is convex, the margin incurved when young, and more or less depressed in age, smooth, broadened toward the margin and tapering into the short stem, which is very short in some cases and elongated in others. Often the caps are quite irregular and the margin wavy, especially when old. It is quite firm, but the margin splits quite readily on being handled. The color varies greatly, white, yellowish, gray, or brownish and lilac tints. The flesh is white. The stems are usually attached to the pileus, at or near one edge. The gills are white, broad, not at all crowded, and extend down on the stem as in the oyster agaric. They are white or whitish, and as in the other related species are sometimes cracked, due probably to the tension brought to bear because of the expanding pileus. The spores are tinged with lilac when seen in mass, as when caught on paper. The color seems to be intensified after the spores have lain on the paper for a day or two.

It is very difficult to distinguish this species from the oyster agaric. The color of the spores seems to be the only distinguishing character, and this may not be constant. Peck suggests that it may only be a variety of the oyster agaric. I have found the plant growing from a dead spot on the base of a living oak tree. There was for several years a drive near this tree, and the wheels of vehicles cut into the roots of the tree on this side, and probably so injured it as to kill a portion and give this fungus and another one (Polystictus pergamenus) a start, and later they have slowly encroached on the side of the tree.

Figure 108 represents the plant (No. 3307, C. U. herbarium) from a dead maple trunk in a woods near Ithaca, collected during the autumn of 1899. This plant compares favorably with the oyster agaric as an edible one. Neither of these plants preserve as well as the elm pleurotus.

Pleurotus dryinus Pers. Edible.—Pleurotus dryinus represents a section of the genus in which the species are provided with a veil when young, but which disappears as the pileus expands. This species has been long known in Europe on trunks of oak, ash, willow, etc., and occurs there from September to October. It was collected near Ithaca, N. Y., in a beech woods along Six-mile creek, on October 24th, 1898, growing from a decayed knothole in the trunk of a living hickory tree, and again in a few days from a decayed stump. The pileus varies from 5—10 cm. broad, and the lateral or eccentric stem is 2—12 cm. long by 1—2 cm. in thickness, the length of the stem depending on the depth of the insertion of the stem in a hollow portion of the trunk. The plant is white or whitish, and the substance is quite firm, drying quite hard.

The pileus is convex to expanded, more or less depressed in the center, the margin involute, and the surface at first floccose, becoming in age floccose scaly, since the surface breaks up into triangular scales more prominent in and near the center, smaller and inconspicuous toward the margin. The prevailing color is white, but in age the scales become cream color or buff (in European plants said to become fuscous). The pileus is either definitely lateral (Fig. 109) or eccentric when the stem is attached near the center as in Fig. 110. The gills are white, becoming tinged with yellow in age, decurrent (running down on the stem) in striae for short distances, 4—5 mm. broad, not crowded. The stem is nearly central (Fig. 110), or definitely lateral (Fig. 109), the length varying according to conditions as stated above. It is firm, tough, fibrous. The veil is prominent in young and medium plants, floccose, tearing irregularly as the pileus expands.

Figure 110 is from plants (No. 2478a C. U. herbarium) growing from knothole in living hickory tree, and Fig. 109 from plants (No. 2478b) growing on a dead stump, near Ithaca.

According to the descriptions of P. dryinus as given by Persoon, and as followed by Fries and most later writers, the pileus is definitely lateral, and more or less dimidiate, while in P. corticatus Fr., the pileus is entire and the stem rather long and eccentric. Stevenson suggests (p. 166) that corticatus is perhaps too closely allied to dryinus. The plants in our Fig. 110 agree in all respects with P. corticatus, except that possibly the lamellae do not anastomose on the stem as they are said to in corticatus. According to the usual descriptions corticatus is given as the larger species, while Fig. 109 of our plant, possessing the typical characters of dryinus, is the larger. The form of the pileus, the length and position of the stem, depends, as we know, to a large extent on the position of the plant on the tree. When growing from the upper side, so that there is room above for the expansion of the cap, the pileus is apt to be more regular, just as is the case in Pleurotus ulmarius, and the stem more nearly central. When the plant grows from a hollow place in the trunk as those shown in Fig. 110 did, then there is an opportunity for them to grow more or less erect, at least until they emerge from the hollow, and then the pileus is more nearly equal in its expansion and the stem is longer. Berkeley describes specimens of P. dryinus with long stems growing from a hollow in an ash, and Stevenson (p. 167) reports the same condition.



Pleurotus sulfureoides Pk.—This rare species, first collected in the Catskill Mountains 1869, and described by Peck in the 23rd Report, N. Y. State Mus., p. 86, 1870, was found by me on two different occasions at Ithaca, N. Y., during the autumn of 1898, on rotting logs, Ithaca Flats, and again in Enfield Gorge, six miles from Ithaca. The plants are from 5—8 cm. high, the cap 3—5 cm. broad, and the stem 5—7 mm. in thickness, and the entire plant is of a dull, or pale, yellow.



The pileus is nearly regular, fleshy, thin toward the margin, convex, umbonate, smooth or with a few small scales. The gills are rather crowded, broad, rounded or notched at the stem, pale yellow. The spores are elliptical, 7—9 x 5—6 mu. The stem is ascending and curved, nearly or quite central in some specimens in its attachment to the pileus, whitish or yellowish, mealy or slightly tomentose at the apex.