70 STUDIES OF AA\ER1CAN FUNGI. 



the apex, but portions sometimes cling to the surface of the pileus. 



Figure 71 is from plants (No. 3707, C. U.) collected at Blowing 

 Rock, N. C, September, 1899. 



Amanita caesarea Scop. Edible, but use great caution. — This plant 

 is known as the orange amanita, royal agaric, Caesar's agaric, etc. 

 It is one of the most beautiful of all the agarics, and is well dis- 

 tributed over the earth. With us it is more common in the Southern 

 States. It occurs in the summer and early autumn in the woods. 

 It is easily recognized by its usually large size, yellow or orange 

 color of the cap, gills, stem and ring, and the prominent, white, 

 sac-like volva at the base of the stem. It is usually 12-20 cm. high, 

 the cap 5-10 cm. broad, and the stems 6-10 mm. in thickness, 

 though it may exceed this size, and depauperate forms are met with 

 which are much smaller. 



The pileus is ovate to bell-shaped, convex, and finally more or less 

 expanded, when the surface may be nearly flat or the center may be 

 somewhat elevated or umbonate and the margin curved downward. 

 The surface is smooth except at the margin, where it is prominently 

 striate. The color varies from orange to reddish or yellow, usually 

 the well developed and larger specimens have the deeper and richer 

 colors, while the smaller specimens have the lighter colors, and the 

 color is usually deeper on the center of the pileus. The gills are 

 yellow, and free from the stem. The stem is hollow, even in young 

 plants, when it may be stuffed with loose threads. It is often very 

 floccose scaly below the annulus. It is cylindrical, only slightly 

 enlarged below, where it is covered by the large, fleshy, sac-like 

 white volva. The annulus is membranaceous, large, and hangs like 

 a broad collar from the upper part of the stem. The stem and ring 

 are orange or yellow, the depth of the color varying more with the 

 size of the plant than is the case with the color of the cap. In small 

 specimens the stem is often white, especially in depauperate speci- 

 mens are the stem and annulus white, and even the gills are white 

 when the volva may be so reduced as to make it difficult to distinguish 

 the specimens from similar specimens of the poisonous fly agaric. 



In the button stage the plant is ovate and the white color of the 

 volva, which at this time entirely surrounds the plants, presents an 

 appearance not unlike that of an egg. The volva splits open at the 

 apex as the stem elongates. The veil is often connected by loose 

 threads with the outer portion of the stem and as the pileus expands this 

 is torn away, leaving coarse floccose scales on the stem. Some of the 

 different stages in the opening of the plant are shown in Fig. 72. 

 This illustration is taken from a photograph of plants (No. 3726, C. 



