MICHIGAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 71 



where handled, 5-7 cm. long, 1.5-2.5 cm. thick, firm, subventricose or ec^ual, 

 spongy-stuffed, even or obscurely wrinkled, changing where bruised to dirty 

 ochraceous-hrown. Spores creamy-yellowish, globose, echinulate, 9-10 micr. 

 Taste mild. Odor disagreeable with age or when drying. 



Scattered. Hemlock and coniferous or mixed woods of the northern 

 peninsula. July and August. 



This has usually been referred to R. olivacea Fr. in this country. In Europe, 

 R. olivacea is a very much del^ated species. Fries' description requires truly 

 yellow gills (luteis), and with this character it has seldom been found. Romell 

 has never seen such a plant in Sweden and unites R. olivacea and R. xeram- 

 pelina under the name R. graveolens* The series of color forms included 

 under the last name is cjuite common about Stockholm, and as far as I could 

 see it is the same as our northern Michigan species. I assume, then, that we 

 can drop the name R. olivacea from our list of American Russulas, in which 

 ■case our olive form goes into the present species. 



Our plant is near R. squcdida Pk. as the latter is diagnosed in this paper. 

 It differs, however, from that species in the more firm consistency, in the stem 

 being often reddish, and its habitat in coniferous regions. R. squalida is 

 soft and flexible in age. A variety occurs in northern Michigan, whose flesh 

 does not change when bruised, and which has forked, subdistant gills; the. 

 ^ills and spores are cream-color. 



16. RussuLA SQUALIDA Pk. syn. R. atropurpurea Pk.) 



(The sciualid Russula.) 



Pileus 7-11 cm. broad, convex then piano-depressed, firm, margin even 

 when young, becoming slightly tubercular-striate in age, the pellicle continuous 

 but rather adnate, not easily separable, subviscid in wet weather, soon dry 

 and then pruniose-velvety , even, color varying from reddish-purple to pallid 

 and mixed with olivaceous, tan or ochraceous, often shades of all these colors 

 are seen in one cap, opacjue and dull, not shining. Flesh white, thick on 

 disk, rather thin elsewhere, grayish or grayish-purple under the cuticle. 

 Gills white when young, later crearny-yelloiv to ochraceous, subdistant, be- 

 coming fragile, moderately broad, broadest toward the front, more or less 

 forked toward base, few shorter ones, interspaces venose. Stem white, 

 changing to ochraceous when bruised if fresh and young, when older becoming 

 dirty-brown or ochraceous-brown where handled, ec}ual and subcylindrical, 

 rather long, 5-9 cm. by 1.5 cm. thick, glabrous, spongy-stuffed, obscurely 

 rivulose. Spores ochraceous to buff, globose, 7.5-10 micr. Taste mild. 

 Odor U7ipleasant, very characteristic when plants are old or drying. 



Solitary or gregarious. Hemlock and maple woods in the north, oak and 

 ma])le woods in southern Michigan. Juty, August and September. 



This is our early, abundant Russula about Ann Arbor. It occurs in great 

 C[uantities during July if the weather is favorable and only sparingly later. 

 Once recognized by its odor and changeable flesh, its many color disguises 

 are not as deceptive as they at first seem. The colors run into each other 

 in a rather definite way, so that the general effect to the observer, after he 

 has compared many individuals, is quite characteristic for the species. 

 Hundreds of individuals were examined about Ann Arbor and all had white 

 stems, never red. When old the effect of the whole plant is that of dinginess 

 Altho the above description extends Ijeyond the limits allowed by Peck's 

 ■description, it is doubtless his species. Originally it included only the purple 



*Lindblad's Svampbok; 1. c. 



