162 KEPOET OF THE STATB BOTANIST. 



Cap three to five inches broad, stem five to ten inches long, 

 one-fourth to one-half an inch thick. 



This plant grows in thin woods, in fields and pastures and by- 

 roadsides. It usually grows singly or scattered, but sometimes 

 in clusters. It may be found from July to September, but, 

 unfortunately, it is not very common with us. 



The Parasol mushroom has been highly commended and is evi- 

 dently a first class edible species. " One of the most delicate 

 species, although the flesh is slightly tough," "almost the greatest, 

 if not the greatest, favorite with fungus eaters," " very delicate, 

 of easy digestion and in great demand," are some of the recorded 

 utterances in its favor. 



There is no poisonous species with which it can be confused or 

 for which it can be mistaken. The very tall slender stem with 

 its bulbous base, the peculiarly spotted cap with its very prominent 

 darker colored umbo, and the broad space or basin about the 

 insertion of the stem and between it and the inner extremity of 

 the gills, easily distinguish this mushroom. 



There is a form in which the umbo and spot-like scales are 

 paler than usual, and the whole plant, except these, is white. I 

 regard it as a mere variety of the species. A form without an 

 umbo and with a somewhat shaggy appearance to the cap has 

 been found in fie western part of the State. It closely resembles 

 the Ragged lepiota, Lepiota rhacodes, a species which is also 

 edible. Our plant, however, differs from the description of 

 L. rhacodes in having larger spores ; these being scarcely smaller 

 than those of tlie Parasol mushroom. It is the opinion of some 

 botanists that L. procera and L. rhacodes are forms of one species, 

 so closely are they related, and in Massee's Fungus Flora the 

 latter is considered a mere variety of the former. 



Lepiota naucinoides Pk. 

 SM.OGT1I Lkfiota. 



Plate 19. 



Pileus soft, smooth, white or smoky-white ; lamellaj free, white, 

 slowly changing with age to a dirty pinkisii-brown or smoky- 

 brown color; stem annulate, slightly thickened at the base, colored 

 like the pileus ; spores subelliptical, uninucleate, white, .0003 to 

 .0004 in. long. 



