Agaricacese 



Coiiybia. rather long in proportion to the width of the pileus. Occasionally it is 

 somewhat flattened either at the top or throughout its entire length. 

 Sometimes the stems become united at the base which union is sug- 

 gestive of the specific name. Peck, 49th Rep. 



West Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Mcllvaine. July to frost. 



The caps of C. confluens are of excellent substance and flavor. Their 

 quantity makes up for their small size. I have gathered them 2 in. 

 across, but their average size is about I in. They dry well. 



L/EVI'PEDES. 

 * Gills broad, more or less distant. 



C. esculen'ta Wulf. esculent. Pileus ^ in. and more broad, ochrace- 

 ous-clay, often becoming dusky, slightly flesJiy , convex then plane, 

 orbicular, obtuse, smooth, even or when old slightly striate. Flesh 

 tough, white, savory. Stem I in. and more long, scarcely i line 

 thick, or thread-like and wholly equal, obsoletely tubed, tough, stiff and 

 straight, even, smooth, slightly shining, clay-yellow, with a long perpen- 

 dicular, commonly smooth, tail-like root. Gills adnexed, even decur- 

 rent with a very thin small tooth, then separating, very broad, limber, 

 somewhat distant, whitish, sometimes clay-color. 



Gregarious but never cespitose. The tube of the stem is very narrow. 

 Stevenson. 



The smallest edible Coiiybia. Cooke. Edible. In dense woods. 

 Curtis. It is dried and preserved. Cordier. 



In pastures and grassy places. Spring and early summer. 



Edible, but rather bitter flavor. In Austria, where it is in great 

 plenty in April, large baskets are brought to market under the name of 

 Nagelschwamme nail mushrooms. 



Professor Peck describes C. esculentoides Pk., 49th Rep. N. Y. State 

 Bot., which he states: "Differs from the type in its paler and more 

 ochraceous color and in its farinaceous flavor, and is related to the 

 European C. esculenta from which it differs essentially in the umbilicate 

 pileus and in the absence of any radicating base to the stem." 



* Gills narrow, crowded. 



C.dryophil'aBull. Gr. oak-loving. (Plate XXVIII, fig. 3, p. 112.) 

 Pileus 1-3 in. across, bay-brown-rufous, etc., becoming pale, but not 



I2O 



