42 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



llic Stem may be hollow in the upper part and solid in the lower. 

 The cap is 6-12 lines broad, the stem 1-1.5 inches lon^j and 1-2 

 lines thick. It grows in thin woods and in open places and appears 

 in June and July. It is gregarious or subcespitose and is some- 

 times associated with the chantarelle craterellus, Craterellus 

 cantharellus (Schw.) Fr. Although of excellent flavor its 

 small size detracts from its importance as an edible mushroom, 

 but sometimes in wet showery weather it appears in sufficient 

 abundance to make it available for the table. 



NEW YORK SPECIES OF LENTINUS 

 Lentinus Fr. 



Pileus fleshy coriaceous, tough, hard in fleshy species when old, 

 persistent; hymenophorum continuous with the stem or with the 

 base of the sessile pileus ; lamellae thin, unequal, serrate or lacerate- 

 dentate on the edge ; stem when present, central, eccentric or 

 lateral. 



Wood-inhabiting fungi, variable in form, hard or tough in tex- 

 ture and easily recognizable by the uneven or serrate-dentate edge 

 of the lamellae. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES 



Pileus with a distinct stem I 



Pileus sessile or with a very short stem 6 



I Pileus squamosa or squamulose 2 



I Pileus glabrous 5 



2 Stem 3 lines thick or more 3 



2 Stem less than 3 lines thick 4 



3 Pileus squamose, lamellae sinuate lepideus 



3 Pileus squamulose, lamellae not sinuate spretus 



4 Margin of the pileus even tigrinus 



4 Margin of the pileus sulcate sulcatus 



5 Plant cespitosc, stem sulcate cochleatus 



5 Plant not cespitose, stem not sulcate umbilicatus 



6 Mature pileus hairy, sessile ursinus 



6 Mature pileus glabrous, very short stemmed 7 



7 Stem red or chestnut color haematopus 



7 Stem whitish, nearly obsolete suavissimus 



Lentinus lepideus Fr. 



SCALY LENTINUS 



Pileus fleshy, compact, tough, hard when dry, convex or nearly 

 plane, sometimes slightly depressed in the center, often irregular, 

 the cuticle cracking and forming brownish spotlike scales, white or 



