RErORT ON EDIBLE FUNGI 1 895-99 (43 



The plants grow in thin woods or open places, about stumps and old 

 prostrate trunks or on much decayed wood, and may be found in wet seasons 

 from spring to fall. The caps are 3 to 5 inches broad ; the stems 3 to 5 

 inches long and a half-inch or more thick. In very wet weather or after 

 heavy rains the caps are apt to have a moist appearance, but they are not 

 truly hygrophanous. Distorted and irregular forms are sometimes found. 

 If the plants are left to dry without pressure, the margin becomes strongly 

 involute. 



Collybia radicata {Relh.) Fr. 



Rooted Collybia 



PLATE 48, fig. I-14 



Pileus thin, convex or nearly plane, glabrous, viscid when moist, gray- 

 ish brown or smoky brown, flesh white ; lamellae broad, subdistant, 

 adnexed ; stem long, slender, firm, generally slightly tapering upward, 

 stuffed, whitish or colored like or a little paler than the pileus, ending below 

 in a long root-like prolongation, which penetrates the earth deeply; spores 

 elliptic, with a slight oblique apiculus at one end, .0006 to .0007 of an inch 

 long, .0004 to .0005 broad. 



The rooted collybia is a common species and one easily recognized if 

 notice is taken of the lower part of the stem. This is like a long, slender 

 tap-root, tapering downward and generally penetrating the earth to a depth 

 about equal to the length of the stem above the surface. 



The cap is broadly convex or nearly flat, and sometimes is slightly 

 raised or umbonate in the center. In well developed specimens the central 

 part is generally rugose or radiately wrinkled. In wet weather it is viscid 

 or even glutinous, but in dry weather the viscidity is scarcely noticeable. 

 Notwithstanding this tendency to viscidity, the cap is usually clean and 

 attractive. 



The gills are broad, thick, well separated from each other and excava- 

 ted or notched at the end next the stem. The point of attachment is there- 

 fore much more narrow than the middle part of the gill. The gills are white 

 or slightly tinged with yellow. 



The stem is generally thickest at the surface of the ground and tapers 

 slightly from this point in both directions. In the typical form it is smooth, 



