REPORT OF THE STATE BOTANIST 1903 31 



other russulas but I have no hesitation in placing it among the 



edible species. 



Russula furcata (Pers.) Fr. 

 FORKED RUSSULA 

 PLATE 85, FIG. 9-14 



Pileus convex becoming nearly plane, centrally depressed or 

 funnel form, glabrous, even on the margin which is at first 

 incurved, then spreading and acute, the thin adnate pellicle sub- 

 separable on the margin, greenish or brownish green, flesh white, 

 taste mild; lamellae thickish, subdistant, often forked, with 

 shorter ones intermixed, adnate or slightly decurrent, white; 

 stem equal or nearly so, solid or spongy in the center, white; 

 spores white, subglobose, .0003-.00035 of an inch long, .00025- 

 .0003 broad. 



The forked russula grows in woods and is a variable species. 

 Two distinct European varieties have been described but our 

 specimens do not fully agree with either of them nor with the 

 typical form. The cap varies in color from a pale yellowish 

 green or olive green to a dark brownish green, the center often 

 being darker than the margin. Sometimes purplish hues are 

 intermingled with the green, but these are apt to disappear from 

 the dried specimens. The surface is slightly viscid when moist 

 and sometimes it is rugosely roughened or reticulate in places. 

 The margin, though thin, is not striate. The flesh is white and 

 its taste mild. I have detected no bitter flavor to our form but 

 the European form is said to have it. The gills are rather thick, 

 moderately wide apart, persistently white and attached to the 

 stem by their full width. Many of them are forked, the bifur- 

 cations occurring most frequently near the stem and the mar- 

 gin. There are also short gills which do not reach the stem. 

 The interspaces are marked by transverse veins or ridges, but 

 I do not find this character ascribed to the European form. The 

 stem is nearly or quite cylindric, solid or when old somewtiat 

 spongy in the center, smooth and white. 



The cap is 2-4 inches broad; the stem 1.5-3 inches long, 5-8 lines 

 thick. It may be found in July. In my trial of its edible quali- 

 ties it seemed more tough than some other russulas, but the 



