1921] The Collybias of North Carolina 97 



"Small, gregarious, cap subpapillate, plane, whitish; disk sub 

 rufescent, gills crowded, white; stem rather long, slender, rufescent 

 covered with long fibrillose rootlets. 



"Habitat. Among dead leaves in autumn, truly a parasite, es- 

 pecially on dying Agarics. 



"Stems 1J4 inches long, 3^ line thick at base and sending out 

 sparingly from the sides fibrillose rootlets sometimes 13^2 inches long, 

 Gills narrow, even, subdecurrent. Cap about 2-3 lines broad, plane 

 to convex, subumbilicate, 3^ line thick." 



Murrill thinks this the same as C. tuberosa (N. Am. Flora 9: 374. 

 1916) and he may very well be right. This form, however, has no 

 tuber and the dense mat of hairs is not mentioned for C. tuberosa. 

 Agaricus (Collybia) tuber i genus B, & C. is probably this. There is a 

 collection from Hillsboro, N. C, in the Curtis Herbarium. It is hairy 

 at the base like our plants and also has small tubers. It seems to be 

 growing from earth rich in humus "under cedars. " 



Beardslee's notes on the Asheville plant are as follows: 



This species and its close relative C. tuberosa seem to need further 

 study. True C. cirrata was found at Asheville answering well to the 

 common description. The more common form, however, grew in 

 masses from old decaying fungi arising in almost every case from 

 yellowish sclerotia, but also having a dense mass of white fibrillose 

 roots. If the presence of a sclerotium is decisive our plant is C. 

 tuberosa. Bresadola considers this plant C. cirrata and writes that the 

 differences are "exactly as shown in Cooke." The main difference in 

 Cooke's figure is in the sclerotia which are deep brown or black in C. 

 tuberosa and yellow in C. cirrata. According to this view our Asheville 

 plants are the latter species. It seemed possible that the color of the 

 sclerotia might depend upon their age, the yellow color being charac- 

 teristic of the newly formed sclerotia and the dark brown or black 

 indicating older ones. Some attempts were made to test this theory 

 but no decisive results secured. 



3491. On a dead and black, but still firm and tough, Thelephora, on earth near 

 north branch of Meeting of the Waters, October 16, 1919. 



3743. On a dead agaric in pine woods north of Meeting of Waters, November 12, 

 1919. 

 Asheville. Beardslee. 



