_Marasmius oreades_
[Sidenote: =Fairy-ring mushrooms true and false=]
I remember, as a boy, summer after summer observing upon a certain
spot upon our lawn this dense, and at length scattering, ring of tiny
yellowish mushrooms, and the aroma, as they simmered on the kitchen
stove, is an appetizing memory. This species is very common, and
inasmuch as it is likely to be confounded with two noxious varieties,
it is advisable to bring in prominent contrast the characters of the
true and the false.
The true Fairy-ring Champignon is pictured in Plate 8. It is common
on lawns and close-cropped pastures, where it is usually seen growing
in rings more or less broken, and often several feet in diameter, or
in disconnected arcs, the vegetation extending outward year by year.
This mushroom is held in great esteem, and frequently grows in such
profusion that bushels may be gathered in a small area.
[Sidenote: ="True" fairy-ring=]
The pileus is buff or cream colored, from one to two inches in
diameter, leathery and shrivelled when dry, but when moist, after rain
or dew, becoming brownish, soft, and pliable, the conditions perhaps
alternating for several days; the skin refuses to be peeled, and in
the older, fully opened specimens the centre of the cap is raised in a
distinct tiny _mound_; gills, _widely separated_, about ten or twelve
to the inch at circumference in average specimens, same color as cap,
or paler, unequal in length, curving upward on reaching stem, thus
"_free_" from apparent contact with it; stem, equal diameter, tough,
fibrous, and tenacious, paler than gills, smooth to the base (_no
spines nor down_); cup, none; spores, white; _taste nutty_, _somewhat
aromatic_, _appetizing_; habitat usually on lawns or pastures.
[Sidenote: =Traditions of the mystic "ring"=]
The "ring" was long involved in mystery, being attributed to moles,
lightning, witchcraft, etc.; and, clothed with popular superstition,
has found its way into many folk-legends, and has figured in the
lore of elfs and goblins, to whom, in the absence of scientific
knowledge, the strange, fungus-haunted circle was referred, the "ring"
being applied not merely to the circle of mushrooms themselves,
but especially to the clearly defined ring of clear, fresh grass
surrounding the central, more faded area. But the fairies no longer
dance their moonlight rigadoon upon the charmed circle of the
champignon, nor do the nimble elves "rear their midnight mushrooms"
upon the rings of lush grass as of old, for science has stepped in and
cleared up the mystery. The Rev. M. J. Berkeley, in his _Outlines to
British Fungology_, thus completely rescues the "fairy-ring" from the
domain of poetry and reduces it to prosaic fact:
[Illustration: _Marasmius oreades_]
_PLATE VIII_