BEPOKT OF THE STATE BOTANIST. 169 



The stem is about as long as the diameter of the cap. It is 

 generally paler than the cap, being whitish when young, but 

 assuming darker hues with age, especially toward the base. It 

 is often stuffed with a softer substance or pith when young, but 

 it soon becomes hollow. 



Cap two to four inches broad, stem two to four inches long, 

 about half an inch thick. 



It grows in thin woods or open places in wet weather. It may 

 be found from August to October. It is often found growing in 

 tufts or clusters, but it is usually gregarious. It seems to prefer 

 a sandy or light gravelly soil. It sometimes grows in company 

 with the next species in groves of young spruce, balsam-fir and 

 tamarack trees. Its edible qualities are very similar to those of 

 the next species, from which it is easily known when moist, by 

 reason of the viscidity of its cap. It was first recorded as edible 

 in the Forty-second Eeport. 



Tricholoma imbricatum Fr. 



Imbkioated Tkicholoma. 



Plate 31. Figs, 6 to 11. 



Pileus dry, innately squamulose, fibrillose toward the margin, 

 brown or reddish-brown; lamella; white, or yellowish white, becom- 

 ing reddish or spotted with reddish-brown; stem solid, white and 

 pulverulent at the top, colored like but generally paler than the 

 pileus toward the base; spores elliptical, white, .00025 in. long. 



The Imbricated tricholoma does not differ very greatly from 

 the Changing tricholoma in size and color, but it can easily be 

 distinguished from that species by the dry, not viscid, upper surface 

 of its cap and by its solid stem. The cap is generally a little 

 darker colored and its surface often presents a somewhat scaly 

 appearance as if the epidermis had been torn into minute, irregular, 

 scale like fragments. The color is a cinnamon-brown or dark 

 reddish-brown. The fiesh is firm, white or whitish, and has a 

 pleasant farinaceous odor and taste when fresh. 



The gills have very nearly the same color and character as 

 those of the Changing tricholoma. 



The stem also is similar to the stem of that species, but it has 

 no central cavity. Sometimes when old it becomes hollow by 

 the mining of insects. 



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