90 STUDIES OF AMERICAN FUNGI. 



mealy from being covered with the numerous white spores. 



The pileus is thin, convex or later expanded, of a watery appear- 

 ance, nearly smooth or scurfy or slightly squamulose. The spores are 

 rounded, and possess spine-like processes, or are prominently rough- 

 ened. In the warty character of the spores this species differs from 

 most of the species of the genus Clitocybe, and some writers place it in a 

 different genus erected to accommodate the species of Clitocybe which 

 have warty or spiny spores. The species with spiny spores are few. 

 The genus in which this plant is placed by some is Laccaria, and 

 then the plant is called Laccaria laccata. There are several other 

 species of Clitocybe which are common and which one is apt to run 

 across often, especially in the woods. These are of the funnel form 

 type, the cap being more or less funnel-shaped. Clitocybe infumlibuli 

 formis Schaeffer is one of these. The cap, when mature, is pale red 

 or tan color, fading out in age. It is 5-7 cm. high, and the cap 2-4 

 cm. broad. It is considered delicious. Clitocybe cyathiformis, as its 

 name indicates, is similar in form, and occurs in woods. The pileus 

 is of a darker color, dark brown or smoky in color. 



Clitocybe illudens Schw. Not Edible. This species is distributed 

 through the Eastern United States and sometimes is very abundant. 

 It occurs from July to October about the bases of old stumps, dead 

 trees, or from underground roots. It is one of the large species, the 

 cap being 15-20 cm. broad, the stem 12-20 cm. long, and 8-12 mm. 

 in thickness. It occurs in large clusters, several or many joined at 

 their bases. From the rich saffron yellow color of all parts of the 

 plant, and especially by its strong phosphorescence, so evident in the 

 dark, it is an easy plant to recognize. Because of its phosphorescence 

 it is sometimes called "Jack-my-lantern." 



The pileus is convex, then expanded, and depressed, sometimes 

 with a small umbo, smooth, often irregular or eccentric from its 

 crowded habit, and in age the margin of the pileus is wavy. The 

 flesh is thick at the center and thin toward the margin. In old plants 

 the color becomes sordid or brownish. The gills are broad, not 

 crowded, decurrent, some extending for a considerable distance down 

 on the stem while others for a less distance. The stem is solid, firm, 

 smooth, and tapers toward the base. 



While the plant is not a dangerously poisonous one, it has 

 occasioned serious cases of illness, acting as a violent emetic, and of 

 course should be avoided. Its phosphorescence has often been 

 observed. Another and much smaller plant, widely distributed in 

 this country as well as Europe, and belonging to another genus, is 

 also phosphorescent. It is Panus stipticus, a small white plant with 



