CHAPTER IV.

THE RUSTY-SPORED AGARICS.

The spores are of various shades of ochre yellow, rusty, rusty-brown, brown, yellowish-brown. The hymenoph.o.r.e is never free from the stem in the rusty-spored series, nor is there a volva.

_Pholiota. Fr._

Pholiota, a scale. The members of this genus have rusty spores. These may be sepia-brown, bright yellowish-brown or light red. There is no volva, but there is a ring which is sometimes persistent, friable, and fugacious. In this respect it corresponds with the Armillaria among the white spored agarics. The pileus is fleshy. The gills are attached to the stem and sometimes notched with a decurrent tooth, tawny or rusty in color on account of the falling of the spores. Many species grow on wood, logs, stumps, and branches of trees, although others grow on the ground.

_Pholiota prec.o.x. Pers._

THE EARLY PHOLIOTA. EDIBLE.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 209.--Pholiota prec.o.x. Two-thirds natural size.

Caps whitish, often tinged with yellow.]

_Prec.o.x, early._ Pileus is fleshy, soft, convex, then expanded, at length smooth, even, margin at first incurved; moist but not sticky, whitish, often with slight tinge of yellow or tan-color; when the plant is fully matured it is often upturned and fluted.

The gills are attached to the stem and slightly decurrent by a tooth, moderately broad, crowded, unequal, creamy white, then rusty-brown.

Spores brownish, 8-136-7.

The stem is stuffed, then hollow, often striate above the ring, rather slender, sometimes mealy, skin peeling readily, whitish. The spores are rusty-brown and elliptical. The caps are from one to two inches broad, and the stem is from two to three inches long. The veil is stretched like a drumhead from the stem to the margin of the cap. It varies in manner of breaking; sometimes it separates from the margin of the cap and forms a ring around the stem; again, but little remains on the stem and much on the rim of the cap.

It appears every year on the Chillicothe high school lawn. The gills are creamy-white when the cap first opens, but they soon turn to a rusty-brown. It comes in May. I have never found it after June. I am always delighted to find it for it is always appetizing at that season.

Look for them on lawns and pastures and in grain fields.

_Pholiota dura. Bolt._

THE HARD PHOLIOTA. EDIBLE.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 210.--Pholiota dura. One-half natural size. Caps tawny tan-color.]

Dura, hard; so called because the surface of the cap becomes quite hard and cracked. The pileus is from three to four inches or more broad, very compact, convex, then plane, cuticle often very much cracked, margin even, tawny, tan-color, sometimes quite brown.

The gills are firmly attached to the stem, somewhat decurrent with a tooth, ventricose, livid, then a brown rusty color. Spores elliptical, 8-95-6.

The stem is stuffed, hard, externally fibrous, thickened toward the apex, sometimes ventricose, often irregularly shaped.

On June 6th, 1904, I found Mr. Dillman's garden on Hickory street, Chillicothe, white with this plant. Some were very large and beautiful and I had an excellent opportunity to observe the irregularity in the form of the stem. Some years previous I found a garden in Sidney, Ohio, equally filled. In the fall of 1905 I was asked to drive out about seven miles from Chillicothe to see a wheat-field, the last of October, that was white with mushrooms. I found them to be of this species.

Only the young plants should be used, as the older ones are a bit tough.

_Pholiota adiposa. Fr._

THE FAT OR PINEAPPLE PHOLIOTA. EDIBLE.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 211.--Pholiota adiposa. Two-thirds natural size.

Caps saffron-yellow.]

Adiposa is from _adeps_, fat. The pileus is showy, deep-yellow, compact, convex, obtuse, slightly umbonate, quite viscid when moist, shining when dry; cuticle plain or broken into scales which are dark-brown, the margin incurved; the flesh is saffron-yellow, thick at the center and thinning out toward the margin.

The gills are firmly attached to the stem, sometimes slightly notched, close, yellow, then rust-color with age. Spores elliptical, 73.

The stem is equal, stuffed, tough, thickening at the base, brown below and yellow above, quite scaly.

The beautiful appearance of the tufts or cl.u.s.ters in which the Pineapple Pholiotas grow will attract the attention of an ordinarily un.o.bservant beholder. The scales on the cap seem to contract and rise from the surface and sometimes disappear with age. The caps of mushrooms should not ordinarily be peeled before cooking, but it is better to peel this one.

The ring is slight and the specimens represented here were found on a stump in Miss Effie Mace's yard, on Paint Street, Chillicothe.

_Pholiota Caperata. Pers._

THE WRINKLED PHOLIOTA. EDIBLE.

Caperata means wrinkled.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate x.x.xI. Figure 212.--Pholiota caperata.]

The pileus is three to four inches broad, fleshy, varying from a clay to a yellowish color, at first somewhat egg-shaped, then expanded, obtuse, wrinkled at the sides, the entire cap and especially at the center is covered with a white superficial flocci.

The gills are adnate or attached to the stem, rather crowded, this, somewhat toothed on their edges, clay-cinnamon color. Spores elliptical, 124.5.

The stem is four to five inches long, solid, stout, round, somewhat bulbous at the base, white, scaly above the ring, which is often very slight, often only a trace, as will be seen on the left hand plant in Figure 212.

The spores are dark ferruginous when caught on white paper, but paler on dark paper.

The white superficial flocci will mark the plant. It has a wide distribution throughout the states. I found it in a number of places in Ohio and it is quite plentiful about Chillicothe. It is a favorite in Germany and it is called by the common people "Zigeuner," a Gypsy.

It is found in September and October.

_Pholiota unicolor. Fl. Dan._

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 213.--Pholiota unicolor. Natural size.]

Unicolor means of one color.

The pileus is campanulate to convex, sub.u.mbonate, hygrophanous, bay, then ochre, nearly even, never fully expanded.

The gills are subtriangular, adnate, seceding, broad, ochraceous-cinnamon. Spores 9-105.