CLASSIFICATION OF A.GARII 

 702. Pleurotus sapidus Kalch. (Edible 

 Hymen. Bungariae, I s "".. 



[llustrations : Atkinson, Mushrooms, Plate 31, Fig, 105, 1900 

 Bard, Mushrooms, PI. 20, Fig. 123, 1908. 



N. Y. State Miis. Rep. is. n. 27, 1896, Bot. <-'l 

 Cooke, 111.. PL 954. 



PILE! S 5-10 fin. or more broad, Arm, ascending or shelvii 

 Bubdimidiate or elongated, convex to subexpanded, depressed !"• 



hind, glabrous, often irregular and with wavj margin, whil • 



whitish, often tinged tan, yellowish, gray or brownish, margin thin 

 and even. FLESB white, moderately thick. GILLS close to sub 

 distant, decurrent, rarely anastomosing, broad, white or whitish. 

 STEM short or almosl lacking, strongly eccentric or lateral, solid, 

 firm, glabrous or slightly tomentose al base, SPORES narrowly 

 oblong, 7-11 x 3-4.5 micr., smooth, tinged lilac in muss on white 

 paper. ODOR and TASTE agreeable. 



Caespitosely imbricated, habit variable, as in /'. ostreatus. <>n 

 dead tree-trunks ;in<l firm logs, <>f maple, elm, beech, oak, birch, 

 willow, etc. Throughout the State. May to November. Verj com 

 mon. 



Like /'. ostreatus in general appearance and in practically all of 

 its characters excepl the lilac tinged spores. The gills anastomose 

 only at times, and the flesh is on an average thinner in Michigan 

 plants. <>ni- plant is mostly shelving and lateral-stemmed 

 Shown in Atkinson's figure. Only occasionally does our find sub 

 erect, eccentric «>r almost central-stemmed plants like those figured 

 by Peck and Cooke. The lilac tinge of the Bpores is aberranl with 

 in the white-spored group, and yet the planl is bo close to P 

 dins in other respects that it would be a Btranger in the pink 

 spored group; this species illustrates again that no grouping 

 can be made perfect. Its edible qualities are jn- 1 like those of the 

 oyster mushroom, and the remarks made under thai species apply 

 equally here. Both of these Bpecies are much sought in Europe, and 

 the peasants there often water the trunks of the trees where thei 

 occur, and in this waj obtain a new crop of the mushrooms. Both 

 are apt to appear, after the spring or autumn rains, in the same 

 logs and trunks, vn that one maj risit the same placi 

 year and obtain m supply. 



