EEPOKT OF THK STATE BOTANIST. 



117 



when they are soft, short and collected in little floes or tufts ; 

 tow^ntose when crisped and interwoven so as to form a woolly- 

 surface; squamose or scaly when coarse and collected in tufts, 

 also when the cuticle breaks or cracks into small flakes or spot- 

 like patches. These same terms are also applicable under the 

 same conditions to the surface of the stem. The cai* is also said 

 to be umbonate when it has a small projection or boss on its 

 center; ^<s»^J^7«wfc if it has a small central cavity or umbilicus, 

 and hi/gropJianous when it has a soaked or watery appearance, 

 the loss of which by drying is accompanied by some change ia 

 color. The margin of the cap is striate when marked by nearly 

 parallel radiating lines. If these lines are very slight or are 

 visible only in the moist or hygrophanous state the fact is indi- 

 cated by the term striatulate. 



The stem is eqital or cijUn<h'kal when it is of uniform diameter 

 in all its length ; hulhous when more or less abruptly enlarged at 

 its base ; stuffed when its interior or central part is of a softer or 

 looser texture than the exterior. In some mushrooms a thin 

 membrane, in others a mass of webby filaments, stretches from the 

 stem to the margin of the cap and conceals the gills in the young 

 plant, but as the cap expands, this membrane, called the veil, 

 usually separates from the margin of the cap and adheres to the 

 stem, forming around it a ring or collar, botanically known as an 



annulus. 



In a few species the young plant is wholly enveloped in a 

 membranous or somewhat tomentose volva or wrapper, but this 

 is soon ruptured by the growing plant and its remains are in 

 some cases entirely left at the base of the stem, in others they 

 partly adhere to the upper surface of the cap in the form of vxirts, 

 or more rarely and exceptionally in a few small irregular patches. 

 The dangerously po'sonous species occur in a geuus in which 

 the volva is a prominent character. 



The spores are the seeds or reproductive bodies ( f mushrooms. 

 They are as fine as dust and are invisible to the naked eye except 

 when collected together in great numbers or in masses. The 

 hymenium is the surface or part of the plant immediately con- 

 cerned in the production of the spores, and the hynienophore or 

 hym<7U>phorum is the part that supports the hymenium. In the 

 Common mushroom and many others as well, the spores develop 



