=Spores= 14–15×8–9µ _Massee_.
In pastures or grassy lawns. May to September.
North Carolina, edible, _Curtis_; Massachusetts, _Frost_; California,
_H. and M._; Ohio, _Morgan_; Minnesota, _Johnson_.
Distinguished from the preceding by its smaller size and short stem
which is scarcely bulbous.
Esculent qualities good.
=L. mastoi´dea= Fr. _Gr._—breast-shaped. =Pileus= rather thin, ovate,
bell-shaped, then flattened, with a conspicuous acute umbo, cuticle
thin, brownish, breaking up in minute scattered scales; the pileus
appears whitish beneath. =Stem= hollow, smooth, tough, flexible,
attenuated from the bulbous base to the apex. =Ring= entire, movable.
=Gills= very remote, crowded, broad, tapering at both ends, white.
=Pileus= 1–2 in. broad. =Stem= 2–3 in. long, 3–4 lines thick at base,
1½-2 lines at apex.
North Carolina, edible, _Curtis_. It is generally eaten in Europe. In
woods, especially about old stumps. October.
The entire plant is whitish and is well marked by the prominent umbo,
which generally has a depression around it. It has the least substance
of any in this section, and consequently not much value as food.
=L. gracilen´ta= Krombh.—_gracilis_, slender. =Pileus= rather fleshy,
thickest at the disk, ovate then bell-shaped, finally flattened,
obscurely umbonate; at first brownish from the adnate cuticle, which,
breaking up into broad adpressed scales, allows the whitish pileus to be
seen beneath them. =Gills= remote, very broad, crowded, pallid. =Stem=
whitish, obscurely scaly, hollow or containing slight fibrils, slightly
bulbous. =Ring= thin, floccose, vanishing.
=Stem= 5–6 in. long, 3–5 lines thick. In pastures, also in woods.
=Spores= 11×8µ _W.G.S._
Almost as tall as L. procera, but slighter in stem and pileus; the ring,
instead of being firm and persistent, is thin and fugacious, and the
stem is hardly bulbous.
Edible, but not of the first quality.
[Illustration:
Photographed by Dr. J.R. Weist. PLATE XIV.
LEPIOTA MORGANI.
]
=L. Mor´gani= Pk.—in honor of Professor Morgan. (Plate XIV.) =Pileus=
fleshy, soft, at first subglobose, then expanded or even depressed,
white, the brownish or yellowish cuticle breaking up into scales except
on the disk. =Gills= close, lanceolate, remote, white, then green.
=Stem= firm, equal or tapering upward, subbulbous, smooth,
webby-stuffed, whitish, tinged with brown. =Ring= rather large, movable.
=Flesh= both of the pileus and stem white, changing to reddish and then
to yellowish when cut or bruised. =Spores= ovate or subelliptical,
mostly uninucleate, sordid green, 10–13×7–8µ.
=Plant= 6–8 in. high. =Pileus= 5–9 in. broad. =Stem= 6–12 lines thick.
_Peck_ in Bot. Gaz., March, 1879.
Open dry grassy places. Dayton, Ohio. _A.P. Morgan._
This species is remarkable because of the peculiar color of the spores.
No green-spored Agaric, so far as I am aware, has before been
discovered, and no one of the five series, in which the very numerous
species of the genus have been arranged, is characterized in such a way
as to receive this species.
It seems a little hasty to found a series (Viridispori) on the strength
of a single species. Until other species of such a supposed series shall
be discovered it seems best to regard this as an aberrant member of the
white-spored series. The same course has been taken with those Agarics
which have sordid or yellowish or lilac-tinted spores.
It gives me great pleasure to dedicate this fine species to its
discoverer Mr. Morgan. _Peck._
Commonly 6–8 in. high, 5–9 in. diameter, though larger specimens are
sometimes found. It is the most conspicuous Agaric in the meadows and
pastures of the Miami valley; it appears to flourish from spring to
autumn whenever there is abundance of rain.
It is heavier and stouter than L. procera and I am disposed to claim
that it is the largest Agaric in the world. =Spores= 10–12×7–8µ. In
immature specimens they are greenish-yellow. _Morgan._
Kansas, _Bartholomew_ (_Peck_, Rep. 50); Kansas, _Cragin_; Alabama, _U.
and E._; Georgia, _Benson_; Louisiana, _Rev. A.B. Langlois_; Michigan,
_C.F. Wheeler_ (_Lloyd_, Myc. Notes); Texas, _Prof. W.S. Carter_;
Indiana, _H.I. Miller_.
L. Morgani is one of the largest, handsomest of the genus. It is very
abundant in the western and southwestern states. Mr. H.I. Miller, Terre
Haute, Ind., writes August 18, 1898: “I have recently measured several
which were more than twelve inches across. At the present time this
mushroom is growing in more abundance throughout Indiana than any other.
It grows luxuriantly in the pastures, generally in grand fairy rings,
five, ten, fifteen feet in diameter. We find it also in the woods. It is
beautifully white and majestic, and these rings can be seen in meadows
where the grass has been eaten close, for half a mile or more. The gills
are white until the cap is almost opened, by which time the green spores
begin to cause the gills to change to green. The meat is fine and is
usually more free from worms than other mushrooms. Six families, here,
have eaten heartily of them. The experience is that one or two members
of each family are made sick, though in two families, who have several
times eaten them, no one was made sick. I enjoy them immensely, and
never feel any the worse for eating them. I doubt if we have a
finer-flavored fungus. The meat is simply delicious. One fairy ring
yields a bushel.”
Prof. W.S. Carter, University of Texas, Galveston, reported to me (and
sent specimens of L. Morganii) the poisoning of three laboring men from
eating this fungus. They were seriously sick, but recovered.
The conclusion is inevitable that this green-spored Lepiota contains a
poison which violently attacks some persons, yet is harmless upon
others.
I have not had opportunity to test it. It should be tested with great
caution.
CLYPEOLA´RII. _Clypeus_, a shield. Ring fixed; stem sheathed, etc.
=L. Frie´sii= Lasch.—in honor of Fries. =Pileus= fleshy, soft, lacerated
into appressed tomentose scales. =Stem= hollow, with a webby pith,
subbulbous, scaly. =Ring= superior, pendulous, equal. =Gills= subremote,
linear, crowded, branched. _Fries._
=Pileus= fleshy but rather thin, convex or nearly plane, clothed with a
soft, tawny or brownish-tawny down, which breaks up into appressed,
often subconfluent scales, the disk rough with small acute, erect
scales. =Flesh= soft, white. =Gills= narrow, crowded, free, white, some
of them forked. =Stem= equal or slightly tapering upward, subbulbous,
hollow, colored like the pileus below the ring, and there clothed with
tomentose fibrils which sometimes form floccose or tomentose scales,
white and powdered above. =Ring= well developed, flabby, white above,
tawny and floccose-scaly below. =Spores= 7–8×3–4µ.
=Plant= 2–5 in. high. =Pileus= 1–4 in. broad. =Stem= 2–5 lines thick.
Catskill mountains and East Worcester. July to September.
I have quoted the description of this species as it is found in
Epicrisis, because the American plant which I have referred to it does
not in all respects agree with this description, but comes so near it
that it can scarcely be specifically distinct. In the American plant, so
far as I have seen it, erect, acute scales are always present,
especially on the disk, and the down of the pileus does not always break
up into distinct areas or scales. Neither is the stem usually scaly, but
rather clothed with soft tomentose or almost silky fibrils. The gills
are crowded and some of them are forked. At the furcations there are
slight depressions which interrupt the general level of the edges, and
give them the appearance of having been eaten by insects. The plant has
a slight odor, especially when cut or bruised. _Peck_, 35th Rep. N.Y.
State Bot.
Remarks under L. acutesquamosa apply to L. Friesii, which Fries himself
doubts being distinct from the first. The plants vary greatly in size,
color and habitat. The name—acutesquamosa—carries a descriptive meaning
with it that L. Friesii does not.
It does not appear to have been reported except by Professor Peck, but
probably appears as L. acutesquamosa in other lists.
The edible qualities are excellent.
=L. acutesquamo´sa= Wein.—_acutus_, sharp; _squama_, a scale. =Pileus=
fleshy, obtuse, at first hairy-floccose, then bristly with erect, acute,
rough scales. =Stem= somewhat stuffed, stout, bulbous, powdered above
the moderate-sized ring. =Gills= approximate, lanceolate, simple.
_Fries._
=Pileus= convex or nearly plane, obtuse or broadly subumbonate, clothed
with a soft tawny or brownish-tawny tomentum, which usually breaks up
into imperfect areas or squamæ, rough with erect, acute scales, which
are generally larger and more numerous on the disk. =Gills= close, free,
white or yellowish. =Stem= equal, hollow or stuffed with webby
filaments, subbulbous. =Spores= about 7×3–4µ.
Woods and conservatories. Buffalo, _G.W. Clinton_; Albany, _A.F.
Chatfield_; Adirondack mountains and Brewertown, _Peck_.
The form found in the hot-houses seems to have the tomentum of the
pileus less dense and the erect scales more numerous than in the form
growing in woods. The annulus is frequently lacerated. In the specimens
of the woods the erect scales are sometimes blackish in color, and they
then contrast quite conspicuously with the tawny or brownish-tawny
tomentum beneath them. They vary in size and shape. Some resemble
pointed papillæ, others, being more elongated, are almost spine-like.
These are sometimes curved. They are generally larger and more numerous
on the disk than elsewhere, and often they are wholly wanting on the
margin. _Peck_, 35th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.
West Philadelphia, 1897, on lawn and growing from trunk of a maple tree;
Mt. Gretna, Pa., mixed woods. _McIlvaine._
I first saw specimens of L. acutesquamosa when sent to me by Miss Lydia
M. Patchen, President Westfield Toadstool Club. It was later found by
myself and tested. Specimens were sent to Professor Peck and identified
as L. acutesquamosa.
Caps and stems brownish-purple. The pointed squamules or tufts have
dark-brown points, shaded to a delicate purple at base. Gills light,
faint flesh-color. Veil is silky, transparent, beautiful, quite
tenacious—stretching until cap is well expanded, persistent, though at
times fugacious. Smell like stewed mushrooms. The caps are of excellent
substance and flavor.
=L. his´pida= Lasch.—rough. =Pileus= 2–3 in. across. =Flesh= thin,
white, unchangeable; hemispherical then expanded, umbonate, tomentose or
downy at first from the remains of the universal veil; during expansion
the down becomes broken up into small, spreading, scaly points, which
eventually disappear, umber-brown, sometimes with a tawny tinge. =Gills=
free but near to the stem, the collar of the pileus prominent and
sheathing the stem, crowded, ventricose, simple, white. =Stem= about 3–5
in. long, 3–5 lines thick, attenuated upward, densely squamosely-woolly
up to the superior, membranaceous, reflexed ring, dingy-brown, stem
tubular, but fibrillosely stuffed. =Spores= 6–7×4µ _Massee_.
In margins of and in open mixed woods, under pine trees, Haddonfield,
N.J., July to September, 1892. Quite plentiful year after year in the
same places. The American plant is taller than the English species, the
stem reaching five inches, and the color of the cap a delicate
tawny-brown. Smell slight, but pungent like radishes.
The whole fungus is tender and delicious. It is one of the few Lepiotæ
that stews well.
=L. feli´na= Pers.—belonging to a cat. =Pileus= thin, bell-shaped or
convex, subumbonate, adorned with numerous subtomentose or floccose
blackish-brown scales. =Gills= close, free, white. =Stem= slender,
rather long, equal or slightly tapering upward, hollow, clothed with
soft, loose, floccose filaments, brown. =Ring= slight, evanescent.
=Spores= elliptical, 6–8×4–5µ.
=Plant= 2–3.5 in. high. =Pileus= .5–1.5 in. broad. =Stem= 1–2 lines
thick.
Woods. Adirondack Mountains. August and September.
It is easily distinguished from A. rubrotincta by the darker color of
the scales of the pileus, by the loose floccose filaments that clothe
the brown stem, by the fugacious ring and the smaller spores. _Peck_,
35th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.
The caps compare favorably with other Lepiotæ in substance and flavor.
=L. crista´ta= A. and S.—_crista_, a tuft, crest. =Pileus= thin,
bell-shaped or convex, then nearly plane, obtuse, at first with an even
reddish or reddish-brown surface, then white adorned with reddish or
reddish-brown scales formed by the breaking up of the cuticle, the
central part or disk colored like the scales. =Gills= close, free,
white. =Stem= slender, hollow, equal, smooth or silky-fibrillose below
the ring, whitish. =Ring= small, white. =Spores= oblong or narrowly
subelliptical, 5–7×3–4µ.
=Plant= 1–2 in. high. =Pileus= .5–1.5 in. broad. =Stem= 1–2 lines thick.
Grassy places and borders of woods. June to September.
This species is easily known by its small size and the crested
appearance of the white pileus, an appearance produced by the orbicular
unruptured portion of the cuticle that remains like a colored spot on
the disk. The fragments or scales are more close near this central part
and more distant from each other toward the margin, where they are often
wholly wanting. The scales are sometimes very small and almost granular.
In very wet weather the margin of the pileus in this and some other
species becomes upturned or reflexed. _Peck_, 35th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.
Found in Woodland Cemetery, Philadelphia. June to September, 1897.
_McIlvaine._
Scales were appressed and slightly tinged with brown, often very small.
Caps of same, upturned and bare near margin. Taste sweet, slightly like
new meal. Odor strong.
Cooked it is of good consistency and pleasing to taste.
=L. alluvi´na= Pk.—_alluvies_, the over-flowing of a river. =Pileus=
thin, convex or plane, reflexed on the margin, white, adorned with
minute pale-yellow hairy or fibrillose scales. =Gills= thin, close,
free, white or yellowish. =Stem= slender, fibrillose, whitish or pallid,
slightly thickened at the base. =Ring= slight, subpersistent, often near
the middle of the stem. =Spores= elliptical, 6–7×4–5µ.
=Plant= 1–2 in. high. =Pileus= .5–1 in. broad. =Stem= 1–1.5 lines thick.
Alluvial soil, among weeds. Albany. July.
In the fresh plant the scales are of a pale yellow or lemon color, but
in drying they and the whole pileus take a deeper rich yellow hue. The
ring is generally remote from the pileus, sometimes even below the
middle of the stem. _Peck_, 35th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.
In 1897, I found it growing among weeds on lot near University of
Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. Seemingly it is a city resident.
The taste and smell are pleasant. Cooked it is tender and savory. Both
stems and caps are good.
=L. metulæ´spora= B. and Br.—_metula_, an obelisk. =Pileus= thin,
bell-shaped or convex, subumbonate, at first with a uniform pallid or
brownish surface, which soon breaks up into small brownish scales, the
margin more or less striate, often appendiculate with fragments of the
veil. =Gills= close, free, white. =Stem= slender, equal or slightly
tapering upward, hollow, adorned with soft floccose scales or filaments,
pallid. =Ring= slight, evanescent. =Spores= long, subfusiform.
=Plant= 2–3.5 in. high. =Pileus= .5–1.5 in. broad. =Stem= 1–2 lines
thick.
Woods. Adirondack mountains. August and September.
This species occurs with us in the same localities as L. felina, which
it very much resembles in size, shape and general characters, differing
only in color, the striate margin of the pileus and the character of the
spores.
The species has a wide range, having been found in Ceylon, England,
Alabama and Kentucky. _Peck_, 35th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.
This has not been elsewhere noted in the United States, probably from
neglect of the spore characters, being reported as L. clypeolaria.
New Jersey and Pennsylvania. _McIlvaine._
ANNULO´SI. Ring large, fixed; stem not sheathed.
=L. holoseri´cea= Fr. _Gr._—entire, silken. =Pileus= 3 in. and more
broad, whitish or clay-white, _fleshy_, soft, _convex then expanded_,
rather plane, obtuse, _floccoso-silky_, somewhat fibrillose, _becoming
even_, fragile, disk by no means gibbous; and wholly of the same color;
margin involute when young. =Flesh= soft, white. =Stem= 2½-4 in. long, ½
in. and more thick, _solid_, bulbous and not rooted at the base, soft,
fragile, silky-fibrillose, whitish. =Ring= superior, membranaceous,
large, soft, pendulous, the margin again ascending. =Gills= wholly free,
broad, ventricose, crowded, becoming pale-white. _Fries._
A species well marked from all others. Inodorous.
On soil in flower beds.
=Spores= elliptical, 7–8×5µ _Massee_; 6×9µ _W.G.S._
Wisconsin, _Bundy_; Minnesota, _Johnson_.
Considered esculent in Europe.
=L. Vittadi´ni= Fr.—in honor of the Italian mycologist. =Pileus= 3–4 in.
across. =Flesh= 4–6 lines thick at the disk, becoming very thin at the
margin, white; convex then plane, obtuse or gibbous, densely covered
with small, erect, wart-like scales, altogether whitish. =Gills= free
but rather close to the stem, 3–4 lines broad, rounded in front,
thickish, ventricose, with a greenish tinge. =Stem= 2½-3½ in. long, up
to ⅔ in. thick, cylindrical, with numerous concentric rings of squarrose
scales, up to the superior, large ring; whitish, or the edges of the
scales often tipped with red, solid. _Fries._
In pastures, etc.
Intermediate between Lepiota and Amanita.
Noted by Fries as poisonous. It may or may not be, but as a matter of
precaution it is described. A large species, pure white, extremely
beautiful.
Massachusetts, _Farlow_.
[Illustration:
Photographed by Dr. J.R. Weist. PLATE XV.
LEPIOTA NAUCINOIDES.
]
=L. nauci´na= Fr. No translation applicable. =Pileus= 1–1½ in. broad,
white, the disk of the same color, fleshy, soft, gibbous or obtusely
umbonate when flattened, even, _the thin cuticle splitting up into
granules_. =Stem= 1½-3 in. long, stuffed, at length _somewhat hollow_,
but without a definite tube, _attenuated upward_ from the thickened
base, fibrillose, unspotted, white. =Ring= _superior_, tender, but
persistent, _adhering to the stem_, at length reflexed. =Gills= free,
approximate, crowded, ventricose, soft, white.
There is a prominent collar, as in the Clypeolarii, embracing the stem.
Stature and appearance of L. excoriata, but commonly smaller, the
superior ring adfixed, etc. _Fries._
=Spores= subglobose, 6–7µ _Massee_.
_L. naucina_ Fr. is the European species which has its American
counterpart in L. naucinoides Pk. The variations in the American species
are noted under L. naucinoides.
As Amanita phalloides—in its white form—the poisonous white Amanita,
resembles L. naucina or L. naucinoides in some stages of its growth and
may be confounded with it, careful note should be taken of their
external differences. In L. naucinoides the bulb and stem are
continuous, each passing into the other imperceptibly; in A. phalloides
the junction of stem and bulb is abrupt and remains so, and the bulb is
more or less enwrapped in the volva. The ring is also larger than in L.
naucinoides and is pendulous, and the gills are permanently white. A
certain means of distinguishing between them is by the application of
heat as in cooking. On toasting both it will be found that the gills of
the Amanita _remain white_, but those of the Lepiota _turn quickly
brown_.
=L. naucinoi´des= Pk. No translation applicable. (Plates Plate XV, XII
fig. 2, p. 32.) =Pileus= soft, smooth, white or snowy-white. =Gills=
free, white, slowly changing with age to a dirty pinkish-brown or
smoky-brown color. =Stem= ringed, slightly thickened at the base,
colored like the pileus. =Spores= subelliptical, uninucleate, white,
8–10 long×5–8µ broad. _Peck_, 48th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.
Kansas, _Cragin_; Wisconsin, _Bundy_; New Jersey, _Ellis_; Iowa,
_Macbride_; New York, _Peck_, 23d, 29th, 35th Rep.; Indiana, _H.I.
Miller_, _Dr. J.R. Weist_.
L. naucinoides Pk. is the American counterpart of L. naucina Fr., a
European species, excepting that the spores of the latter are described
as globose. The caps are ovate when young and usually from 1½-3 in.
across when expanded, but occasionally reach 4 in., smooth, but
frequently rough or minutely cracked in the center, white or varying
shades of white deepening in color at the summit. In a rare form var.
squamo´sa, large, thick scales occur which are caused by the breaking up
of the cap surface. When young the gills are white or faintly yellow,
becoming pinkish or dull brown in age. The pinkish hue is not always
apparent. The outer edge of the veil or ring is thickest; usually it is
firmly attached to the stem, but movable rings are frequently noticed.
When the plant ages the ring is often missing, but traces of it are
always discernible. Stem rarely equal, often it is distinctly bulbous,
generally tapering upward from a more or less enlarged base, hollow when
fully grown, until then containing cottony fibers within the cavity or
appearing solid, 2–3 in. long, ¼-½ in. thick.
Its habitat is similar to that of the common mushroom—lawns, pastures,
grassy places—though unlike the latter it is found in woods. Until
thoroughly acquainted with it, specimens found in woods and supposed to
be L. naucinoides should not be eaten. An Amanita might be mistaken for
it. It is readily distinguishable from the common mushroom and its
allies by the color of the gills and spores which are white, and
differences in stem and veil.
It is found from July until after hard frosts. It was first reported
edible by Professor Peck in 1875, under the name of Agaricus naucinus.
The L. naucinoides is rewarding the favor with which it has been
received as an esculent, it being equal to the common mushroom and quite
free from insects. Large crops of it are reported from all over the
country, and from many sections it is told of as a stranger. During
1897–98 the author has found it in plenty upon ground familiar to him
for years, upon which it had not previously shown itself. The common
mushroom must look to its laurels.
Its cultivation as a marketable crop is possible and probable.
=L. cepæsti´pes= Sow.—_cepa_, an onion; _stipes_, stem. (Plate XII, fig.
3, p. 32.) =Pileus= thin, at first ovate, then bell-shaped or expanded,
umbonate, soon adorned with numerous _minute brownish scales_, which are
often _granular or mealy, folded into lines_ on the margin, white or
yellow, the umbo darker. =Gills= thin, close, free, white, becoming
dingy with age or in drying. =Stem= rather long, tapering toward the
apex, generally _enlarged in the middle or near the base_, hollow.
=Ring= thin, subpersistent. =Spores= subelliptical, with a single
nucleus, 8–10×5–8µ.
=Plant= often cespitose, 2–4 in. high. =Pileus= 1–2 in. broad. =Stem=
2–3 lines thick.
Rich ground and decomposing vegetable matter. Also in graperies and
conservatories. Buffalo, _G.W. Clinton_; Albany, _A.F. Chatfield_.
_Peck_, 35th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.
=Spores= elliptical, 7–8×4µ _Massee_; 8×4µ _W.G.S._; 8–10×5–8µ _Peck_.
Haddonfield, N.J., Pennsylvania, _McIlvaine_; New York, _Mrs. E. C.
Anthony_; Indiana, _H.I. Miller_. July to October.