170 ■EEPOET OF TEE STATE BOTANIST. 



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

 one-third to two-thirds of an inch thick. 



This species grows under or near coniferous trees, such as pine, 

 spruce, hemlock and balsam-fir. It appears in September and 

 October. Like the preceding species it sometimes grows in 

 clusters. It is often associated with Tricholoma vacoinum, a 

 species very similar to it in size and general appearance, but 

 which ditfers in three particulars. The margin in the young 

 plant is covered with a soft downy or cottony coat, the stem is 

 hollow and the taste is bitter or unpleasant. Nevertheless some 

 writers class it among the edible species. Gillet says it is edible, 

 but not of a very delicate flavor. So much do the two species 

 resemble each other that so good a mycologist as Persoon seems 

 to have confused them under the common nam.e Agaricus rufus. 

 A mistake of this kind by any one using the Imbrioted tricholoma 

 for food would not be serious, since this closely related plant has 

 no dangerous properties. 



Tricholoma tDersonatum Fr. 



Masked Tricholoma. 



Plate 22. 



Pileus moist, glabrous, variable in color; lamellte crowded, 

 rounded behind, free or nearly so, separable from the pileus, vio- 

 laceous becoming sordid- whitish or fuscous ; stem short, solid, 

 fibrillose, whitish, commonly tinged with lilac or pale violet; 

 spores elliptical, sordid- white, .0003 to .00035 inch long. 



The Masked tricholoma is worthy of a place among the escu- 

 lent species of the first class. When young the cap is very con- 

 vex and firm, but when mature it is nearly fiat and the flesh is 

 more soft. It is very smooth and usually quite regular in shape 

 when young, but in older plants the margin sometimes becomes 

 irregular or wavy. In young plants the margin is rolled inwards 

 and often whitened with downy or mealy particles or frosted 

 with a slight bloom, but in old ones it is naked, and in wet 

 weather it may even be curved upwards. The cap is apt to 

 become water-soaked in wet weather, in which condition it has 

 an uninviting appearance. It varies much in color, but generally 

 it has a pale lilac hue, which is apt to change with age to a 

 russety shade in the center. Occasionally the color of the cap is 



