

AGAKICINI. 



Leucospori — (Spores White). 



Subgt'uus I'lexrotus Fries. The Pleuroti are similar in some respects 

 to the Tricholomas and Clitocybes, some of the species having notched 

 gills near the stem, and others, again, having the gills decurrent, or run- 

 ning down the stem. Most of the species grow upon dead wood or from 

 decaying portions of live trees. Very few grow upon the ground. The 

 stem is mostly eccentric, lateral, or wanting ; when present it is homo- 

 geneous or confluent with the substance of the cap ; the substance may 

 be compact, spongy, slightly fleshy, or membranaceous. Veil evanescent 

 or absent. The spores are white or slightly tinted. 



M. C. Cooke figures over thirty species of Pleurotus found in Great 

 Britain, and describes 45 species found in Australia. With few exceptions, 

 all of these grow upon wood. Very few have value as esculents. 



Plate CX 



Ag. (Pleurotus) ostreatus Jacq. '* Oi/.ster Mushroom.'' 



Edible. 



Cap soft, fleshy, smooth, shell-shaped, white or cinereous, turning 

 brownish or yellowish with age. Flesh white, somewhat fibrous. Gills 

 white, broad and decurrent, anastamosing at the base. Stem usually not 

 well defined, lateral, or absent. Spores elliptical, white. The caps are 

 sometimes thickly clustered and closely overlapping, and sometimes wide 

 apart. This mushroom has long been known as edible both raw and 

 cooked. It has a pleasant but not decided flavor and must be cooked 

 »^ slowly and carefully to be tender and easily digestible. Old specimens 

 are apt to be tough. It is found on decaying wood and often on fallen 

 logs in moist places or upon decaying tree-trunks. It is frequently re- 

 current on the same tree. I have gathered great quantities of the Oyster 

 mushroom during several seasons past from a fallen birch tree which 

 spanned a small stream. The lower end of the tree rested on the moist 

 ground at the edge of the stream. Specimens have been found on the 

 willow, ash and poplar trees, and upon the apple and the laburnum. 



Pleurotos sapidus Kalchb. Sapid Pleurotus. Edible. 



This species closely resembles the Oyster mushroom in form and habit 



of growth, and is by some considered only a variety of P. ostreatus. It 



*2[rows usually in tufts with the caps closely overlapping, varying in color 



'""white, ashy, grayish or brownish. Flesh white. The stems are white, 



STsmooth and short, mostly springing from a common base. The gills are 



Avhite and very broad, and decurrent. The spores assume a very pale 



lilac tint on exposure to the atmosphere. 



^ 



