this fungus. The anatomical details of the fruit-body parallel those
of _Paxillus involutus_ (Fries) Fries (see p. 38) although the
spore-print is white. There is little doubt that future research will
answer this problem.
_Illustrations_: Hvass 183; LH 185; NB 103¹; WD 16³.
[Illustration: Plate 30. Fleshy fungi: Spores white and borne on gills]
(b) Agarics of chalk-grassland and rich uplands
~Agaricus campestris~ Fries
Field mushroom
_Cap_: width 40-100 mm. _Stem_: width 12-20 mm; length 40-80 mm.
_Description_:
Cap: rounded then expanding to become plano-convex, fleshy with the
margin incurved at first, initially pure white, but soon becoming
cream-colour and at maturity streaked brownish particularly at the
centre.
Stem: white with a simple, very thin, white ring which becomes
brownish on rubbing and is easily lost with age or by handling.
Gills: free, pink but finally umber-brown at maturity.
Flesh: white, flushed reddish when cut especially in the stem.
Spore-print: cigar-brown, with hint of purple.
Spores: medium sized, ellipsoid or egg-shaped, smooth, small, 7-8 ×
4-5 µm and dark brown under the microscope.
Marginal and facial cystidia: absent. Basidia 4-spored.
_Habitat_ & _Distribution_: The field-mushroom grows amongst grass in
pastures, etc., and also on old lawns where it may form fairy-rings.
_General Information_: This is the common wild, edible mushroom for
which many people have in the past unwisely substituted many quite
unrelated species. Deaths have often been caused by lack of careful
observation when selecting wild fungi for the table; this only
emphasises why white mushrooms found in fields should not be casually
eaten.
~A. arvensis~ Secretan the Horse-mushroom is also edible, but is much
bigger (up to 180 mm), creamy white and bruises slightly yellowish on
handling; it also has larger spores (7-10 × 5 µm), club-shaped cells
on the gill-edge, gills commencing white and not pink, and the
presence of a complex ring.
~A. xanthodermus~ Genevier the ‘Yellow-staining mushroom’ has even
smaller spores than the field mushroom, i.e. 5-6 × 4 µm and a rather
strong, unpleasant smell; if eaten many people subsequently suffer
from stomach-pains and this shows that even amongst those fungi which
the scientist would call true mushrooms, i.e. those fungi in the genus
_Agaricus_, there are some poisonous members. Thus it is always
necessary to have wide experience before one collects fungi for eating
and until this is achieved all specimens should be discarded.
_Illustrations_: Field mushroom--Hvass 163; LH 133; NB 31⁶; WD 71².
Horse mushroom--Hvass 160; LH 135; WD 72¹. Yellow-staining
mushroom--Hvass 159; WD 71³.
[Illustration: Plate 31. Fleshy fungi: Spores purple-brown and borne on
gills]
~Calocybe gambosum~ (Fries) Singer.
St George’s mushroom
_Cap_: width 70-100 mm. _Stem_: width 15-25 mm; length 50-70 mm.
_Description_:
Cap: creamy white, ivory or light buff, slightly darker at the centre
with age, fleshy, rounded and with wavy margin, finally expanding to
become plane-convex; the margin is incurved and slightly downy at
first.
Stem: firm, rather thick, white at the top, creamy or buff below and
slightly downy when fresh.
Gills: sinuate to adnexed with a slight decurrent tooth, white to pale
buff.
Flesh: with a very strong smell of meal, white and thick.
Spore-print: white.
Spores: small, ellipsoid, smooth, hyaline under the microscope, 5-6 ×
3-4 µm and not becoming blue-grey with solutions containing iodine.
Marginal and facial cystidia: absent.
_Habitat_ & _Distribution_: Found amongst grass in base rich pastures,
often in fairly large rings from April to June and on golf-courses
particularly those near the sea.
_General Information_: The common name refers to the early appearance
of this agaric; St George’s Day is April 23rd, and this mushroom is
found about this time in favourable years, its fruiting often
extending into early June, particularly if the fruiting is retarded by
a cold and wet spring. It is easily recognised by the pale colour of
the cap, strong mealy smell, but particularly by its appearance in
spring. In each new year it is probably the first of the larger
agarics to appear. This species will be found in most books under the
genus _Tricholoma_, but differs from typical members of this group in
the anatomy and chemistry of the gill-tissues.
The Latin name ‘gambosum’ is derived from ‘gamba’ meaning a hoof and
this reflects the shape of the fleshy cap as it pushes up through the
grass. Another much older name is _Tricholoma georgii_ (Fries) Quélet
which was used by Clusius and is derived from the legend of St George.
_Illustrations_: Hvass 28; LH 83; WD 9².
[Illustration: Plate 32. Fleshy fungi: Spores white and borne on gills]
~Lepiota procera~ (Fries) S. F. Gray
Parasol mushroom
_Cap_: width 70-200 mm. _Stem_: width 12-20 mm; length 100-250 mm.
_Description_:
Cap: dull brown or greyish brown, oval or rounded at first, but later
becoming bell-shaped, finally expanding but for the central umbo and
the surface breaking up into shaggy scales.
Stem: straight, tapering upwards from a slightly bulbous base, felty
at first but then the surface breaking up into small patches which
finally resemble the pattern of a snake-skin; there is also a large,
thick, white ring which is brown below and becomes loose on the stem.
Gills: remote, white, crowded and fairly broad.
Flesh: white, thin, soft.
Spore-print: white.
Spores: very long, ellipsoid with a germ-pore, hyaline under the
microscope about 16 × 10 µm (14-17 × 9-12 µm), and becoming reddish
brown in solutions containing iodine.
Marginal cystidia: variable, elongate balloon-shaped and hyaline.
Facial cystidia: absent.
_Habitat_ & _Distribution_: Found from summer until mid-autumn, on the
outskirts of copses, in fields, at edges of woodland or in woodland
clearings; it is sometimes found in very large rings.
_General Information_: When this fungus first appears through the soil
it resembles a drum-stick with the margin of the unexpanded cap
tightly hugging the stem. It is an easily recognised fungus because of
its straight and graceful stature with large cap and tall stem. It is
one of our best edible fungi and cannot be confused with any other
agaric. _L. rhacodes_ (Vittadini) Quélet is not as elegant and has
much smaller spores.
_Illustrations_: F 26a; Hvass 15; LH 125; NB 31¹; WD 5¹.
[Illustration: Plate 33. Fleshy fungi: Spores white and borne on gills]
(c) Agarics of meadows and valley-bottom grasslands
~Psilocybe semilanceata~ (Secretan) Kummer
Liberty caps
_Cap_: width 8-14 mm; height up to 18 mm. _Stem_: width 4-6 mm; length
50-70 mm.
_Description_:
Cap: sharply conical, in fact often with a very distinct apical point,
never or very rarely becoming expanded, often fluted and puckered at
the incurved margin, smooth, viscid, pale buff or clay colour, but
soon flushed with greyish green at maturity and becoming free of the
fibrils of veil which ornament the margin when young.
Stem: slender, tough and smooth, similarly coloured to the cap and
sometimes blueing at the base when picked.
Gills: adnate to adnexed, crowded, purplish black except for white
edge.
Flesh: white or pallid.
Spore-print: purple-brown.
Spores: long, ellipsoid, slightly lemon-shaped, smooth and with a
distinct germ-pore at one end and 12-14 × 7 µm in size.
Marginal cystidia: bottle-shaped with an elongate tapering neck, with
thin walls which at most become pale honey in solutions containing
ammonia, unlike the cystidia of _Hypholoma_ (p. 64).
_Habitat_ & _Distribution_: Commonly growing amongst grass in fields
near farm-yards, on heaths and by roadsides; often it occurs in small
troops.
_General Information_: _Psilocybe semilanceata_ is recognised by the
uniquely shaped cap; ‘semilanceata’ means half spear-shaped, from the
papilla at the top of the cap, giving it a pointed aspect. However,
the common name is more descriptive and comes from the fact that these
caps resemble the helmets worn by French soldiers in the early part of
the century.
This fungus was once very isolated amongst British agarics, but now it
has been united with a group of small purplish brown-spored fungi
formerly placed in the genus _Deconica_. What is of more interest is
the fact that unlike many British agarics the cap often does not
expand fully in order to release the spores. In this way it allows
mycologists to hypothesise on how certain of the enclosed, stalked
Gastromycetes evolved in some of the desert regions of the world.
_Illustrations_: LH 149; NB 33¹¹; WD 78⁷.
[Illustration: Plate 34. Fleshy fungi: Spores purple-brown and borne on
gills]
~Conocybe tenera~ (Fries) Fayod
Brown cone-cap
_Cap_: width 10-20 mm. _Stem_: width 3-6 mm; length 70-100 mm.
_Description_:
Cap: very hygrophanous, sand colour, orange-yellow or ochraceous brown
tinted cinnamon when fresh but drying uniformly yellow-ochre, thin,
fragile, striate when moist, but soon non-striate as water is lost
from the cap.
Stem: tall, slender and similarly coloured to the cap, straight,
fragile, minutely striate from the top to bottom with what appears to
be minute powdery granules.
Gills: adnate then becoming free, crowded, ochraceous and finally
cinnamon-rust in colour.
Flesh: russet when moist but rapidly becoming yellowish as the
fruit-body dries.
Spore-print: rust-brown.
Spores: long, ellipsoid, with thick, bright yellow-brown walls and
distinct germ-pores at their ends when seen under the microscope, and
over 10 µm in length (11-12 × 6 µm.)
Marginal cystidia: pinheaded or skittle-shaped.
Facial cystidia: absent.
_Habitat_ & _Distribution_: This fungus grows in ones and twos, more
rarely in troops amongst grass.
_General Information_: This is one member of a whole complex group of
ochraceous, brown, tawny or cinnamon-brown capped agarics which
superficially appear to be the same, but on closer examination the
expert can split them into several distinct species. The use of
microscopic characters is essential and outside the scope of this book
or the ordinary mushroom-picker’s manual. However, the closely related
_C. lactea_ (J. Lange) Métrod can be more easily distinguished for it
has a white or cream-coloured cap and stem. It also has larger broadly
ellipsoid spores, measuring 12-14 × 6-9 µm, but the same shaped cells
on the gill-edge.
_Illustrations_: LH 153; NB 35⁴; WD 68².
[Illustration: Plate 35. Fleshy fungi: Spores brown and borne on gills]
(d) Fairy-ring formers
Many agarics grow in circles, but not all of them produce zones in the
vegetation. It is the distinct zonation caused by the ‘fairy-ring
champignon’ _Marasmius oreades_ (Fries) Fries and related fungi which
have given rise to the name of Fairy-ring and which resulted in the
foundation of many folk tales.
A fairy-ring can be divided into four distinct zones, a central zone of
fairly normally developed vegetation on the outside of which is a green,
actively growing zone of grass; outside this is a zone composed of brown
or dead vegetation. The outermost zone again appears to be far more lush
than the normal grass in the vicinity and it is in this last zone that
the fruit-bodies of the fungus causing the pattern appear.
A generalised explanation of the zoning appears to be as follows:--
In the outermost zone the actively growing mycelium decomposes soil
constituents and liberates nitrogenous material which is in turn taken
up by the plant roots nearby and utilised for their growth. In the
penultimate zone the grass is dead, probably not caused by a direct
parasitic attack but by the mycelial threads filling the air-spaces in
the soil and so inhibiting water flow. This destruction of the delicate
balance of water and air found in any soil induces drying out and
gradual death of the plants whose roots permeate the soil. Behind the
dead-zone is vegetation which shows increased vigour apparently due to
plant-nutrients being released by the decaying mycelium and
plant-material, whose death has been caused by the presence of the
fungus. The innermost zone is not so stimulated.
With nothing more than graph and tracing paper, a tape-measure,
note-book and pencil, pieces of cane about four inches long, and
coloured dye or indian ink, it is exciting to assess the annual radial
growth of fairy-rings and to correlate these with environmental
conditions. This can be carried out on a school lawn or on a home lawn;
the method and further experiments are given in Appendix iii.
[Illustration: Plate 36. Fairy-ring fungus--~Marasmius oreades~]
~Marasmius oreades~ (Fries) Fries
Fairy-ring champignon
_Cap_: width 25-60 mm. _Stem_: width 5-9 mm; length 30-80 mm.
_Description_:
Cap: pinkish tan with slight flush of brown at centre, hygrophanous
and drying out buff-coloured or clay-coloured, convex at first then
expanding to become plane, but for an obtuse umbo which is retained at
the centre.
Stem: pale buff, tough, flexible and smooth.
Gills: adnexed, pale cream colour or pinkish buff and fairly distant.
Flesh: whitish or pinkish tan, smelling of cherry laurel (cyanic).
Spore-print: white.
Spores: medium sized, hyaline, pip-shaped, smooth, not staining bluish
grey when mounted in solutions containing iodine and about 10 × 6 µm
in size (9-11 × 5-6 µm).
Marginal and facial cystidia: absent.
_Habitat_ & _Distribution_: This agaric is very common from May to
October on lawns and grass-verges.
_General Information_: _M. oreades_ forms well developed fairy-rings,
and is easily recognised by its tough nature, pale colours and ability
to revive after having been dried. This ability to revive in moist
weather even after the fruit-body has been dried by the sun or wind is
a character which was used to distinguish members of the genus
_Marasmius_. However, this is a very subjective character and since
microscopic techniques were introduced and used widely in the study of
agarics the genus has been delimited rather more critically.
_Marasmius_ is close to _Collybia_ (p. 90), in fact many species
appear in one book in one genus and in another book in the second
genus; _M. oreades_ itself is not a typical member of the genus.
_Marasmius_ seems to be a much more important genus in the tropical
and subtropical regions of the world; we have already mentioned how
some of the small species of _Marasmius_ in Europe grow only on leaves
of a particular plant (see p. 92). _M. androsaceus_ (Fries) Fries (see
p. 231) is the horse-hair fungus.
_Illustrations_: F 19a; Hvass 81; LH 115; NB 35¹; WD 24¹⁰ (not very
good).
[Illustration: Plate 37. Fleshy fungi reviving when moistened even after
drying: Spores white and borne on gills]
(e) Agarics of urban areas--lawn and parkland agarics
~Nolanea staurospora~ Bresadola
_Cap_: width 20-40 mm. _Stem_: width 3-5 mm; length 45-70 mm.
_Description_:
Cap: bell-shaped at first then expanded, hygrophanous, date-brown,
striate when moist but pale fawn or tan and non-striate when dry, and
usually becoming quite silky-shiny.
Stem: slender, fragile, greyish brown, silky fibrillose-striate and
shiny.
Gills: almost free, crowded and pale greyish brown when young, but
finally flesh coloured.
Flesh: brownish and smelling very strongly of meal when cut or broken
between the fingers.
Spore-print: salmon-pink with flush of cinnamon.
Spores: medium sized, fawn under the microscope, star-shaped with 4-6
prominent angles, 9-10 × 7-9 µm, smooth and with no germ-pore.
Marginal and facial cystidia: absent.
~Nolanea sericea~ (Mérat) P. D. Orton
Silky nolanea
_Cap_: width 25-40 mm. _Stem_: width 5-9 mm; length 25-50 mm.
_Description_:
Cap: convex then flattened or with slight umbo, umber-brown with a
greyish cast which becomes accentuated as the cap dries out and
finally becoming silky-shiny; the margin is incurved and striate at
first but on expanding it becomes non-striate with time.
Stem: short, fibrillose, greyish brown, shining and white at the base,
very fragile and often snaps just above the soil-level when collected.
Gills: crowded, adnate and pale greyish brown then pinkish brown.
Flesh: with a strong smell of new meal, brownish becoming paler as it
dries out.
Spore-print: salmon-pink.
Spores: medium sized, smooth, pale fawn under the microscope, angular
almost cubic and 10-13 × 8-9 µm in size.
Marginal and facial cystidia: absent.
_General Information_: _Nolanea staurospora_ is very common amongst
grass, in many habitats such as on heaths, and in woodlands and
copses, but it is particularly common in pastures and on lawns. It is
difficult to separate from close relatives on field-characters,
except for the strong mealy smell; however, it is recognised
immediately by the spore-shape, in fact stauro--means a cross and
spora--spore!
[Illustration: Plate 38. Fleshy fungi: Spores pinkish and angular, and
borne on gills]
Because of the flattened cap and gill-shape _N. sericea_ (Mérat) P. D.
Orton was first placed in _Entoloma_, but for a long time it was one
of the smallest members of that genus. The European species of
_Nolanea_ have recently been critically analysed, and now that closely
related species to the silky _Nolanea_ have been found, it appears
better placed in _Nolanea_ although it is still found under _Entoloma_
in many books. The Latin word ‘sericeum’ means silky and refers to the
silky cap and stem of this fungus which is a very noticeable feature
when the fungus is collected in the dry state. The common name which
has been given to this fungus also refers to the silky nature of the
fruit-body.
_Illustrations_: _N. staurospora_--LH 181; ND 31²; WD 52². _N.
sericea_--LH 181; WD 52⁵.
~Panaeolus foenisecii~ (Fries) Schroeter
Brown hay-cap
_Cap_: width 12-28 mm. _Stem_: width 3-6 mm; length 40-60 mm.
_Description_:
Cap: semiglobate to convex and hardly expanding even with age, smooth,
expallent, dull cinnamon-brown or dark tan-colour, becoming
clay-colour or pale cinnamon-colour from centre outwards on drying and
so sometimes appearing as if it is zoned.
Stem: slender, fragile, smooth and pale cinnamon-brown, except at apex
where it is dotted with white; it is usually more brownish below.
Gills: adnate, crowded, pale brown and mottled, but becoming more
uniformly umber-brown except for whitish margin.
Flesh: whitish or pale cinnamon colour.
Spore-print: purple-brown.
Spores: long, lemon-shaped under the microscope, dull brown, warted
all over but for the distinct germ-pore; 12-15 × 7-8 µm in size.
Marginal cystidia: variable spindle-shaped with flexuous neck and
subcapitate apex, about 5-6 µm wide.
Facial cystidia: absent.
_Habitat_ & _Distribution_: Common amongst short grass on lawns, in
pastures, on grass-verges, etc., from May until October.
[Illustration: Plate 39. Fleshy fungi: Spores purple-brown and born on
gills]
_General Information_: _P. foenisecii_ is recognised under the
microscope by the ornamented spores; this character was used to
separate this fungus in the new genus _Panaeolina_. However, although
the spore-print is not exactly black the stature, mottled gills and
anatomy conform closely with _Panaeolus sphinctrinus_ (Fries) Quélet
and _P. rickenii_ Hora (see p. 210 and below respectively). The same
fungus has been placed in _Psilocybe_ (see p. 114), but it has little
in common with members of that genus. The word ‘foenisecii’ means
hay-harvest, reflecting the habitat of growing in fields. This fungus
is variable in colour depending on its state of turgidity; it can be
easily confused with other species of _Panaeolus_ when moist and with
certain species of _Conocybe_ when dry. _P. rickenii_ is an equally
common agaric growing on similar or slightly less base-rich
soil-types. It has a distinctly bell-shaped reddish brown cap with a
pale incurved margin which in wet weather is, like the entire stem,
beaded with droplets of liquid. This gives the fungus a glistening
appearance when seen fresh and as it dries these droplets are lost and
the cap becomes slightly zoned. The stem is pale reddish-brown with a
strong frosted appearance because of the minute hairs which cover it.
I have no doubt that the classification of these fungi will be
assisted by careful analysis of the shapes of the hairs found in the
different species.
_Illustrations_: _Panaeolina foenisecii_--LH 145; WD 78⁴. _Panaeolus
rickenii_--LH 145.
(f) Agarics of wasteland and hedgerows
~Coprinus comatus~ (Fries) S. F. Gray
Lawyer’s wig
_Cap_: width 30-60 mm; height 80-200 mm. _Stem_: width 10-20 mm;
length 80-250 mm.
_Description_: Plate 40.
Cap: at first cylindrical or oval then bell-shaped, fleshy, fragile,
white and covered with woolly, whitish, shaggy scales which have brown
tips; the centre of the cap is smooth and yellow to ochraceous whilst
the margin becomes striate and lilaceous and finally black as the
tissue liquefies (autodigests) and the margin rolls up to expose new
areas of spore-bearing tissue.
Stem: tall, white, smooth and tapered towards the apex, with a white
ring which can easily move up and down the stem with handling, and
which soon disappears with age.
[Illustration: Plate 40. Fleshy fungi becoming reduced to an inky mass:
Spores black and borne on gills]
Gills: free at first, white then pink and finally black, becoming
gradually dissolved into a black fluid from the base of the cap
upwards.
Flesh: white, thin, except immediately in the central area of the cap.
Spore-print: blackish-purple.
Spores: long, elongate-ellipsoid, large and about 13 × 5-8 µm in size,
(12-15 × 7-9 µm).
Marginal cystidia: elongate club-shaped to balloon-shaped, hyaline and
thin-walled.
Facial cystidia: absent.
_Habitat_ & _Distribution_: Grows in clusters on rich ground, in
gardens, on sides of newly prepared roads and central reservations of
motor-ways, on path-sides, in cultivated fields and on rubbish dumps;
it grows from spring to autumn and sometimes occurs in huge troops.
_General Information_: Easily recognised by its size, the shape of the
cap with its scaly surface and from its resemblance to a ‘judge’s
wig’; it is frequently called the ‘lawyer’s wig’ and whereas some
common names are not very descriptive and one has to use a lot of
imagination to conjure up what the common name implies, in this case
it is not so. It is also known as the ‘shaggy cap’ or ‘shaggy
ink-cap’. Ink or inky cap is, however, a common name for many species
of the genus _Coprinus_ (see p. 211-4).
The unrelated _Lyophyllum decastes_ (Fries) Singer and _L. connatum_
(Fries) Singer are also common fungi growing on roadsides, on soil and
compost-heaps. They too break through embankments, soil, paths, etc.,
producing large craters and mounds of debris.
_Illustrations_: _Coprinus comatus_--F 34^{b}; Hvass 172; LH 137; NB
35⁵; WD 82². _Lyophyllum decastes_--LH 81; WD 14².
~Lacrymaria velutina~ (Fries) Konrad & Maublanc
Weeping widow
_Cap_: width 45-90 mm. _Stem_: width 8-14 mm; length 50-125 mm.
_Description_: Plate 41.
Cap: convex then expanded with obtuse central umbo, dull clay-brown or
date-brown and at first covered with flattened, woolly fibrils which
are gradually lost with age; the margin is incurved and fringed with
remnants of the veil.
Stem: fragile, pale dingy-coloured or clay-coloured at apex, dull
brown below the ring-zone which consists of white fibrils; later in
development these fibrils catch the spores and the stem becomes black
and fibrillose-scaly, particularly below the ring-zone.
[Illustration: Plate 41. Fleshy fungi: Spores blackish and borne on
gills]
Gills: sinuate, crowded and very dark brown or almost black with
distinct white margin which is covered in tiny beads of liquid in
moist weather.
Flesh: pale buff.
Spore-print: almost black.
Spores: long, dark brown, lemon-shaped and warted with distinct and
prominent germ-pore and 10-12 × 6-7 µm in size.