MICHIGAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 83 



42. RUSSULA SUBDEPALLENS Pk. 



(The mild red Russula.) 



PiLEUs 5-14 cm. l)road, fragile, convex then phme and depressed, margin 

 elevated in age. bright rosy-red, shading into yellowish blotches as if the red 

 color were put over the yellow, disk paler in old specimens, disk dark-red in 

 very young plants, with a thin separable, viscid pellicle, inhere ular-striate 

 on margin, obscurely wrinkled elsewhere. Flesh white, rosy under the 

 cuticle, becoming slightly cinereous, very fragile. Gills white, broad in front, 

 narrowed behind, adnate, subdistant, few forked, interspaces venose. Stem 

 w^hite, spongy-stuffed, rather stout, 4-10 cm. long, 1-3 cm. thick, subeciual. 

 Spores white in mass, globose, echinulate, 7.5-8 micr. Taste mild. Odor 

 none. 



Gregarious. In woods of maple, yellow l)irch and hemlock of northern 

 ^lichigan. August. 



Found in a number of jilaces in considerable abundance. The fragile 

 character, especially of the gills, is very marked, and the mild taste, white 

 gills, and red cap help to distinguish it. The flesh does not turn so strongly 

 ashy as in Peck's plants, and this character did not seem to be always 

 noticeable. It is distinguished from R. purpurina, the brilliant-red Russula 

 by its gregarious habit, size and less viscid cap; also the gills are not crenulate. 

 Our specimens had the stature and appearance of R. rugulosa and R. emetica 

 var. gregaria. Peck's plants were found in Penna. by Dr. Herbst, and re- 

 ported but once; the species is not included in Peck's N. Y. monograph. 

 Our i)lant has so far been limited to the north. 



43. Russula purpurina Quel, and Schulz. 

 (The crenulate-gilled Russula.) 



Illustrations: Hard's Mushrooms, 1908. P. 196, fig. 176. Mcllvaine's 

 American Fungi. PI. 45a, p. 188. 



PiLEUs 3-7 cm. broad, fragile, viscid, usually very viscid, subglobose then 

 expanded and slightly depressed at the disk, brilliant rosy-red to ))lood-red 

 or even darker, i)ellicle somewhat separable, margin thin but not striate 

 except when fully expanded, surface when dry as if with a bloom. Flesh 

 white, red under the cuticle, thin, fragile, unchangeable. Gills uMte, later 

 dingy-white or "yellowish, " medium close to subdistant, adnexed, not broad, 

 broadest in front, mostly ecjual, few or none forked, interspaces sometimes 

 venose, edge floccose-erenulate. Stem rather long, 5-8 cm., 8-12 mm. thick, 

 sprinkled rosy-pink, equal or subeciual, spongy-stuffed, fragile but rather 

 soft. Spores white in mass, globose, 8-10 micr. Taste mild. Odor none. 



Solitary or scattered. In mixed or maple-birch woods of the northern 

 peninsvda. Infrecjuent. August and September. 



Distinguished by its brilliant-red, viscid cap, small to medium size, mild 

 taste and white crenulate gills and spores. Peck also notes the floccose- 

 erenulate edge of the gills, which is due to cystidia. It differs from R. 

 Mariae in the al)ove characters. R. uncialis. R. sericeonitens and R. sub- 

 depallens are the only others of the Fragiles group- with mild taste, red 

 cap and white spores. From R. unciales it differs by the deep color, 

 character of gills and habitat. R. striceonitens is hardly viscid and becomes 

 silky-shining; it has a different stature and color. 



