1921] The Collybias of North Carolina 87 



Asheville, rather rare. Beardslee. 

 Middle district, rotten trunks. Curtis. 



3. Collybia dryophila Fr. 



Collybm siibdryophila Atk. 



Plates 7, S, and 23 



Plants solitary, gregarious or cespitose with the enlarged bases 

 densely crowded. 



Cap about 2.5-5.3 cm. broad, convex then expanded and uneven, 

 usually a little depressed' in or around the center, smooth, hygrophan- 

 ous; in damp weather translucent and greasy looking, in dry weather 

 opaque and dull or faintly shining, not greasy; color pinkish-tan or 

 dull yellowish-brown, the center darker or with a lighter *' eye. " Flesh 

 thin, 1.5-2 mm. thick near center, soft, color of cap or whitish, taste 

 and odor like rotten wood (fungoid), not farinaceous. 



Gills very thin, nearly or quite free, crowded, sinuate, the edges 

 uneven, pure white or in age faintly creamy or pinkish-creamy; when 

 bruised turning slowly to ochraceous. Looking at gills when fresh the 

 color of the pileus showing through in some forms gives the effect of 

 wine color. 



Stem 4-7.5 cm. long, 2-4 mm. thick, equal (typically) except for 

 a sudden enlargement at the very base, but often varying towards the 

 enlarged base of C. hutyracea, damp, smooth, white-tomentose near 

 base, and with several string-like rhizomorphs; color like that of cap 

 or lighter, pithy then hollow. If examined with a lens the stem may 

 be seen to be distinctly striate with inherent lines of color, especially 

 below. 



Spores (of No. 80) deep cream, elliptic, smooth, 3-3.7 x 4.8-7 [ji., 

 most about 3.3 x 5.5 \i. 



I can find no character that will sharply separate this from C. 

 hutyracea, and plants combining the characters of the two are often 

 found. I am satisfied that these supposed species are forms of only 

 one. 



This is the commonest and most variable of our Collybias. In 

 old plants the pileus is often pale, and it presents many variations in 

 size and habit. It is, however, soon learned and recognized in all its 



* There is a peculiar growth that has been often foimd on the cap and stem sm-face in America 

 (not in Em-ope) that was named by Peck Tremella mycetophila. It is in the form of rather 

 small pale globules or cusliions of various size, that are plicate and soft. They are not, how- 

 ever, a Tremella as the basidia are club-shaped as in an agaric. Burt now thuiks it an abnor- 

 mal growth of the Collybia itself, but Miss Hone thinks it a true parasite. See Alycological 

 Notes No. 47, p. 662. 1917. 



