6o 



MINNESOTA MUSHROOMS 



(1) Stem with a ring 



(2) Stem without a ring 



(a) Gills persistent, not dissolving 

 X. Stem fleshy 



(x) Gills usually sinuate 

 m. Cap silky or scaly 

 n. Cap smooth, more or less sticky 



(y) Gills adnata or decurrent 

 y. Stem cartilage-like 



(x) Cap turned in at margin when young 

 (y) Cap not turned in at margin when 



Pholiota 



Page 

 60 



young 



m. 



n. 



(b) 



Stem and cap continuous; gills ad- 



nexed 

 Stem separating from cap ; gills free 



Gill dissolving into a watery liquid 

 b. Stem excentric or none ; on wood 

 2. Veil forming a cobwebby curtain at margin of cap. 

 often disappearing completely when old 

 II. Gills separating readily from the cap ; margin always 

 inrolled 



Figure 36. Claudopus variabilis 



Distinguished from the 

 other ocher-spored genera by 

 the presence of a ring, though 

 the latter is sometimes small, 

 or even inconspicuous in age. 

 It is most closely related to 

 Cortinarius in which, 

 however, the gill veil persists 

 as a curtain at the edge of the 

 cap. Among the white-spored 

 forms, it corresponds Avith 

 A r m i 1 1 a r i a. Some of 

 the most common species grow 

 in dense clusters on stumps or 

 the trunks of living trees. Mc- 

 Ilvaine praises them highly, 

 though they have usually been 

 regarded as undesirable. The 



name refers to the scaly cap and stem of many species. 



