REPORT OF THE STATE BOTANIST 1903 29 



a white villosity at the base; spores globose, .00016-.0002 of an 

 inch in diameter. 



The family collybia is similar to the tufted collybia in its 

 mode of growth. It grows in similar localities but is limited in 

 its habitat to decaying wood of coniferous trees. It is smaller 

 and less frequent in occurrence but the tufts or clusters are 

 generally composed of many more individual mushrooms. The 

 caps are thin and fragile but are usually free from insect attack. 

 They are whitish, grayish or brownish sometimes tinged with 

 yellow but they have none of the reddish hues of the tufted 

 collybia. In drying they are apt to become darker than when 

 fresh. The gills are thin, narrow, crowded, white and free from 

 the stem or but slightly attached to it. The stem is smooth, hol- 

 low and white or whitish, but like the pileus it becomes darker in 

 drying. Sometimes it appears to be pruinosely pubescent in the 

 fresh plant when viewed with a lens. A wholly white variety 

 very rarely occurs. 



The cap is 6-12 lines broad ; the stem 2-4 inches long, 1-1.5 lines 

 thick. The time of its appearance is during July and August. 

 Its edible qualities are similar to those of the tufted collybia from 

 which it is easily separated by its smaller size and different color. 



Russula mariae Pk. / 



MARY'S RUSSULA 

 PLATE 85, FIG. 1-8 



Pileus at first nearly hemispheric, soon broadly convex, nearly 

 plane or centrally depressed, pruinose and minutely pulverulent, 

 dark crimson or purplish, sometimes darker in the center than 

 on the margin, rarely striate on the margin when old, flesh white, 

 pinkish under the cuticle, taste mild; lamellae moderately close, 

 adnate, white when young, pale yellow when old; stem equal, 

 solid or slightly spongy in the center, colored like or a little 

 paler than the pileus, usually white at the top and bottom, 

 rarely entirely white; spores pale yellow, globose, .0003 of an inch 

 broad. 



This russula is a beautiful and easily recognizable species, 

 though somewhat variable in its colors. The cap is at first 



