153 EBPOET OF THE STATE BOTANIST. 



really a peculiar pinkish or rosy hue commonly described as 

 flesh color or salmon color. It is a combination of ochraceous 

 and pink. The mature gills usually have this color. Only a 

 few species of this section are known to be edible and some have 

 been thought to be unwholesome. There are several genera, but 

 the species here considered belong to one only. 



Clitopilus Fr. 

 The species of this genus are separable from all others of the 

 section by their fleshy stem and decurrent gills. Mushrooms of 

 similar structure occur in the genus Clitocybe which belongs to 

 the section characterized by white spores. Their gills also are 

 generally white in the mature plant. The pink-gilled species 

 need not be confused with the Common mushroom and those of 

 its relatives that have the gills of a pink color while young, for 

 in them the pink color is soon replaced by brown or blackish- 

 brown, but in these the gills retain their pinkish hue and never 

 assume darker colors. Besides, in the Common mushroom and its 

 allies the gills are not attached to the stem by their inner 

 extremity, but in the species of this genus they are. Many 

 species, not of this genus only but also of other genera in this 

 section, have the gills white or whitish in the young plant, but 

 with advancing age they assume the more permanent pinkish hue. 



Clitopilus prunulus «S'cqp. 

 Plum Clitopilus. 



Plate 14. Figs. 1 to 6. 



Pileus fleshy, compact, broadly convex or nearly plane, some- 

 times centrally depressed, dry, suffused with a bloom, whitish or 

 grayish, the margin sometimes wavy; lamelkc somewhat distant, 

 decurrent, at first whitish, becoming salmon colored ; stem glab- 

 rous, solid, white ; spores oblong elliptical, pointed at each end, 

 .0004 to .00045 in. long. 



The Plum clitopilus is not a common species with us, and when 

 it does occur it is not in abundance. Its cap is white or whitish 

 inclining to grayish with the center sometimes decidedly darker 

 than the margin. It is dry and firm and often seems to be 

 covered with a bloom. Its flesh is white and the plant has an 

 odor like that of meal. 



