!ss THE AGARICACEAE OF MICHIGAN 



514. Flammula carbonaria Fr. var. 



Syst. -M.vc. 1821. 



[llustration : Cooke, 111., PL 442. 



PILEUS 2-0 cm. broad, pliant, convex, then plane, usually de- 

 pressed in age, more or less viscid or subviscid, pellicle somewhat 

 separable, dull crustuline to fulvous-yellowish, dull dingy-rufous- 

 brown in age, disk rusty-yellow, glabrous, even, at first with rem- 

 nants of cortina on edge. FLESH pallid then tinged yellowish, 

 rather thin. GILLS adnate-subdecurrent, sinuate in age, 

 crowded, rather narrow, at first pallid, finally pule smoky- 

 brown or fuscous-brown, edge white-fimbriate. STEM 3-5 

 cm. long, 3-5 mm. thick at apex, tapering downwards, tough, rigid- 

 elastic, flexible, dilated and cavernous at apex, elsewhere soon 

 hollowed in form of tubule, fibrillose, at length dark sordid-brown 

 or smoky-fuscous, curved or bulbillose at attached base. SPORES 

 elliptic-oblong, smooth, 6-7.5x3.5-4 rnicr., pale ochraceous under 

 microscope, solid fuscous-broivn in mass. CYSTIDIA on sides 

 and edge of gills, scattered, flasknshaped to subcylindrical, variable, 

 30-55 x 10-15 micr. ODOR and TASTE slight or mild. 



Solitary, gregarious or caespitose, on roots, sticks, stumps, etc., 

 in low, swampy woods or wet places. New Richmond, Ann Arbor. 

 September < >ctober. [nfrequent. 



At least two forms have been referred here: a small plant, with 

 cap 2-3 cm. broad, growing on burnt-over ground, and a larger 

 plant not always on charcoal remains, to which I have referred my 

 collections. Cooke's figures illustrate our plants well except in 

 the slightly smaller size. The principal characteristic is the color 

 of gills and spores, in which it approaches F. fuscus. No critical 

 notes of such a plant other than the description of F. carbonarius 

 are at hand, and authors vary considerably in their conception of 

 ii excepl that they hold closely to the idea that it occurs always 

 on eh; i tied soil or wood. Hard illustrates what appears to be the 

 small form, and Ricken likewise emphasizes the small size in 

 which resped they follow the Friesian tradition. Under this name 

 Peck has described a still different form, whose spores measure 

 7-10 \ I "» micr., and which also grows on charcoal beds. The species 

 clearly needs further study in this country, as it is not likely that 

 either Peck's or my plants represent the Friesian species. F. high- 

 Iwndensis Pk. may represent the true species. 



