148 NEW YORK. STATE MUSEUM 



without crushing. It is yellow and smooth. The plants grow in damp or 

 mossy places in woods and may be found from July to September. The cap 

 is 10 to 20 lines broad ; the stem 1.5 to 3 inches long and about 2 lines 

 thick. The waxy hygrophorus, H. ceraceus, resembles this species but 

 may be separated from it by the character of its gills, which are not notched 

 at the stem end. 



Hygrophorus speciosus Pk. 



Showy Hygrophorus 



PLATE 51, fig. 21-28 



Pileus broadly convex, often with a small central umbo, glabrous, very 

 viscid or glutinous when moist, yellow, usually bright red or scarlet in the 

 center, flesh white, yellow under the thin, separable pellicle ; lamellae dis- 

 tant, decurrent, white or slightly tinged with yellow; stem rather long, 

 nearly equal, solid, viscid, slightly fibrillose, whitish or yellowish ; spores 

 elliptic, .0003 of an inch long, .0002 broad. 



The showy hygrophorus is a beautiful mushroom. It grows under or 

 near tamarack trees and may be found in September and October. The cap 

 is smooth, quite regular and very viscid when moist. It often has a slight 

 central and rather acute umbo or prominence. Sometimes this alone is red, 

 sometimes .all except the margin, but the red color is apt to disappear 

 entirely with age, and even the bright yellow sometimes fades in old speci- 

 mens. The flesh is white except under the thin, separable pellicle, where it 

 is yellow. The gills, as is usual in this genus, are wide apart. They are 

 decurrent on the stem and white or yellowish. The stem is rather long, 

 specially when the plants grow among mosses, solid and nearly equal in 

 diameter in all its parts. It is whitish or pale yellow. 



The cap is 1 to 2 inches broad ; the stem 2 to 4 inches long and 2 to 4 

 lines thick. 



This species closely resembles the European Hygrophorus 

 aureus, from which it differs in its place of growth, its solid stem, the 

 absence of any trace of an annulus and of any tawny hues. H. bresa- 

 d o 1 ae is another closely allied species, but it also is said to have a stuffed 

 or somewhat hollow stem and a distinct annulus or collar. 



