26 



THE PLANT WOKLD 



lavender color, with a curious, half-transparent api)earance, which sug- 

 gests that the plant might have been manufactured of dew and cool 

 shadows, with a glint of sunshine stirred into the mixture. The con- 

 trast between this chaste, gi-acefuUy-outlined plant, and the sombre 

 grays and rich browns of the decaying leaves which usually surround 

 it, makes a never to be forgotten picture. 



The Masked Tricholoma {Tricholoma personafum Fr. ) 



The reason this plant bears so peculiar a name, is not alwaj'^s at 

 once apparent. Several explanations have been offered by different 

 writers on fungi. One maintains that it is so called because of its vari- 

 able color ; another says that because the plant appears so like Corti- 

 narius violaceus, it may be said to be masquerading as a species of that 

 genus. While each of these might be good reasons for the plant hav- 

 ing such a name, Stevenson,* who is probably right, says that Fries 

 gave the plant this name in contrast to that of its nearest relative, 

 Tricholoma nudum, which it very closely resembles, in order to emi^ha- 

 size the most marked difference between the two species, viz. that per- 

 Honatum has a tomentose or masked margin, while in nudum the mar- 

 gin is naked. 



In addition to the interesting relationships and fair exterior of this 

 plant, it possesses also the added charm of being one of the most tooth- 

 some morsels to be found in the whole fungus tribe. It has long been 

 known and eaten in the Old World. Early writers on British fungi 



* Stevenson, i: 61-2. 



