26 



MINNESOTA MUSHROOMS 



Clitocybe laccata Rose Cap 

 Plate I : 4 



Cap small, 1-5 cm. wide, flesh-colored, pink, reddish, or even bluish, Avatery, 

 and translucent, smooth or very finely hairy, often striate or scalloped at the margin, 

 convex, more rarely ex- 

 panded or depressed, but 

 usually sunken in the 

 middle : s t e m slender. 

 2-8 cm. by 4-6 mm., col- 

 ored like the cap, smooth, 

 waxy, elastic, stuffed or 

 hollow ; gills sinuate 

 or with a small decur- 

 rent tooth, pinkish or 

 reddish, broad, distant; 

 spores subglobose, 8- 

 10/;.. The name refers 

 to the waxy texture. 



Common in wet 

 places, meadows, also 

 swamps and thickets, 

 throughout summer and 



autumn ; edible. 



Figure 14. Clitocybe laccata 



COLLYBIA 



This genus is distinguished from T r i c h o 1 o m a and Clitocybe by the 

 horny or cartilaginous nature of its stem, which is thus more or less distinct from 

 the fleshy cap. The stem is consequently more slender and graceful. From 

 M y c e n a. C o 1 1 y b i a is distinguished by the inturned margin of the cap. a 

 feature often to be recognized only in the young plants. It differs from M a r a s m i u s 

 only in being more fleshy, and there are certain species which may be placed with 

 equal warrant in either genus. All of our species are edible. The name refers to 

 the form of the cap. 



Key to the Species 



.-^tem tall, with a long root ; gills broad and distant 



a. Cap and stem velvety 



b. Cap and stem not velvety 



( 1 ) Cap sticky when moist 



(2) Cap not sticky when moist; gills very broad 

 Stem shorter, rarely rooting ; gills usually narrower and 



closer ; mostly in dense clusters 

 a. Cap very sticky when moist ; stem velvety 



C. longipcs 



C. radicata 

 C . platyphylla 



C. veliitipcs 



