=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 s.h.a.ggy 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 b.u.t.ton 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 20, FIGURE 74.--Amanita rubescens. Under and side view. Dull reddish brown, stains reddish where bruised (3/4 natural size). Copyright.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 21, FIGURE 75.--Amanita solitaria. Entirely white, or cap and scales sordid buff, dull brown, or grayish in some plants.

For details see text (1/2 natural size). Copyright.]

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 c.h.i.n.ks 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 4--6 . In 3732 they are longer, varying from 7--11 .

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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 22, FIGURE 76.--Amanita solitaria. Three plants, 3/4 natural size. Copyright.]

=Amanitopsis v.a.g.i.n.ata= (Bull.) Roz. =Edible.=--The sheathed amanitopsis, _A. v.a.g.i.n.ata_, 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 23, FIGURE 77.--Amanitopsis v.a.g.i.n.ata. Tawny form (natural size). Copyright.]

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 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 ent.i.tling 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 ent.i.tled 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 ent.i.tled 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. v.a.g.i.n.ata=. Another white plant is =A. volvata= Pk., which has elliptical spores, and is striate on the margin instead of sulcate.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 78.--Amanitopsis farinosa. Cap grayish (natural size). Copyright.]

=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 ill.u.s.trated 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 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 24, FIGURE 79.--Lepiota naucina. Entirely white (natural size).]

At Blowing Rock the plants occurred in sandy soil by roadsides or in open woods. In habit it resembles strikingly forms of _Amanitopsis v.a.g.i.n.ata_, but the volva is entirely different (Fig. 78). Although _A.

v.a.g.i.n.ata_ 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. v.a.g.i.n.ata_ 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 a.s.sume a dull pink tinge. The =spores= are usually white in ma.s.s, 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 80.--Lepiota naucina.--Section of three plants, different ages.]

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 gra.s.sy places where the smooth lepiota and the common mushroom grow. For this reason one should study the descriptions and ill.u.s.trations 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."

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE 25, FIGURE 81.--Lepiota procera. Grayish brown to reddish brown, gills and flesh white (3/4 natural size). Copyright.]

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 ill.u.s.trations, 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 c.h.i.n.ks 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 s.h.a.ggy 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 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 c.h.i.n.ks 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 7--9 . 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 quant.i.ties "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 coa.r.s.ely scaly, and usually grows in dense cl.u.s.ters, 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 82.--Lepiota americana. Scales and center of cap reddish or reddish brown. Entire plant turns reddish on drying (natural size). Copyright.]

=Lepiota morgani= Pk.--This plant occurs from Ohio, southward and west.

It grows in gra.s.sy 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 cl.u.s.tered, 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_.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 83.--Lepiota cristata. Entirely white, but scales grayish or pinkish brown, stem often flesh color (natural size).

Copyright.]