CLASSIFICATION OF AGARK 



H. CLITOC] B i/'. Gills attenuated behind, more or less decur- 

 ren1 ; Btem Bolid. 



693. Armillaria melleal i. Edu 



Syst. Myc, L821. 



Illustrations: Cooke, [11., PI. 32. 



Atkinson, Mushrooms, L900, PL 27, p. v i 



Bard, Mushr us. L908, Figs. :'.'.'. 10, p. •"■»'-. 57. 



Marshall, M ushrooni Book, p. 61 . 

 Murrill, Mycologia, Vol. I, PI. 1. Pig. '-'■ 

 C(»nii. Nat. llisi. Survey, Bull. No. 3, PL I \ 

 Plates CXXXVIII, CXXXIX, CXL of ilii> Report 



PILEUS 3-10 cm. and more broad, "\;>l '" Bubhemispherical .ii 

 first, then convex i" almosl plane, <»i»t n^«-. normally honey-colored, 

 varying t" vellowish-brown, rusty-brown, or quite pale, adorned 

 with dark-brown <>r blackish pointed tufts or scales, sometimes 

 glabrescent, striate on margin in age. FLE8B whitish. GILLS 

 adnate or decurrent, subdistant, whitish or dingj yellowish, becom 

 ing rasty-stained in age, no1 broad, al Length powdered bj the 

 white spores. STEM variable in length, 5-15 cm. long, 6-20 mm. 

 thick, <</»<>/. stuffed then hollow, often spongj within, fibrous with- 

 out, elastic, floccose-scaly, glabrescent, glabrous or Btriate and 

 mealv ;'t apex, whitish above, ding} yellowish, brownish or rust) 

 stained below. Tin' VEIL is usually well-developed, membranous, 

 and ;ii firsl conceals Hi'- gills, al length collapsing to form ;i su- 

 perior annulus; sometimes both veil and annulus are almosl or 

 entireh lacking; thej are white or whitish, sometimes Btained liUi> 

 cap and stem. SPORES elliptical-ovate, 8-9.5x5-6.5 micr., white, 

 smooth, nucleate; basidia l-spored; trama of u i 1 1 -> composed of 

 divergenl hyphae. TASTE somewhal disagreeable or acrid. 



Caespitose. At base of living tree-trunks, around stumps, de< 

 ins roots, '■!<-.. of .ill sorts of trees, i>"tli conifer and broad-leaved. 

 Throughoul the State. Jul) November (earliest record Jnlj 13, 

 latest November 2). Verj common. Parasitic and saprophytic. 



In .in abundant species like iin-. the variations are much more 

 easily observed than in a rare plant, so that abonl ten varie 

 have been named and described. Tin' most importanl of them 

 var. exannulata Pk. This is an ecological form, .l«>n!»tl.-v>. wl 

 dense, caespitose clusters, Btem attenuated below, undeveloped an- 



