REPORT OF THE STATE BOTANIST I908 39 



dark lilac or violaceous color before maturity, but wbcn oM it 

 changes color as the moisture escapes and becomes pallid, grayish 

 or reddish brown. 



The young gills are also violaceous but with age they assume 

 a pallid or smoky hue sometimes tinged with pink. 



The stem is nearly equal in diameter throughout its entire length 

 but sometimes it is a little thickened at the base. It may be 

 solid or stuffed with a pith or in large specimens it may be hollow. 

 It is similar in color to the pileus but may be a little paler. Often 

 several stems are united at the base, and then the caps are fre- 

 quently so crowded that they become irregular or wavy on the 

 margin and sometimes they may be eccentric. The stems are 

 slightly fibrillose striate and white within. The pinkish tint of 

 the spores and the slightly decurrent lamellae are characters sug- 

 gestive of the genus Clitopilus. 



On account of its slight toughness and the somewhat disagree- 

 able flavor of the flesh this species would not be considered a first- 

 class mushroom, but with proper preparation it makes a very goo<:l 

 dish and is harmless. The collector of the Poughkcepsie speci- 

 mens gives the following as his method of cooking this mushroom. 

 Put them in a covered dish with a little water, having previously 

 seasoned them with a little salt and pepper. Put in an oven and 

 after roasting them, not before, add a little butter. He adds, 

 " we roasted some this morning and pronounce them first-rate." 



Pholiota duroides Pk. 

 IIARDISH PHOLIOTA 



PLATE 116, FIG. 1-7 

 N. Y. State Mus. Bui. 122, p.148 



Pilous thin, convex becoming nearly plane, glabrous or slightly 

 rimosc squamose in the center, creamy white or sometimes ochra- 

 ccous buff cither wholly or in the center only, flesh white, taste 

 mild ; lamellae thin, close, narrow, adncxed, sometimes broadly 

 sinuate and having a decurrent tooth, whitish becoming brown or 

 rusty brown; stem equal or nearly so, stuffed or hollow, glabrous, 

 whitish, the annulus thick and cottony, often lacerated and evanes- 

 cent, white; spores broadly elliptic, .00024-.00028 of an inch long, 

 .00016-.0002 broad. 



The hardish pholiota is related to the hard pholiota, Pholiota 

 dura (Bolt.) Fr. but it may be separated from it by its different 



