BKPOKT OF THE STATE BOTANIST 189 



Russula virescens Fr. 



Gbeknish Rusbula. 



Plate SI. 



Pileus at first nearly globose, then expanded and convex or 

 centrally depressed, firm, dry, adorned with small tiocculent 

 patches or warts, greenish, sometimes tinged with yellow ; lamel- 

 la} moderately close, free or nearly so, white ; stem short, firm, 

 white ; spores nearly globose, slightly roughened, white, .000:^4 

 to .0003 in. broad. 



The Greenish russula is quite distinct and easily recognized by 

 its .^reen or grayish-green and warty cap. In the young plant 

 this is rounded or almost globular, but it soon becomes convex 

 and sometimes when mature it may even be centrally depressed. 

 Its surface is dry, not viscid as in some other greenish species, 

 and it is broken up into small scales or wart like patches. The 

 margin in the typical form is even, but specimens often occur in 

 which it is marked with impressed lines or striations as in figures 

 3 and 4. The margin of the expanded cap often becomes split. 

 The flesh is white and has a mild taste. 



The gills are white or whitish. They are narrow at the inner 

 extremity and barely reach the stem. Generally some of them 

 are forked and often a few shorter ones intervene between the 

 long ones. 



The stem is commonly shorter than the diameter of the cap. 

 It :: smooth, white and solid or somewhat softer and spongy in 

 the center. 



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

 one-half to three-fourths of an inch thick. 



In grassy grounds, groves or thin woods. July and August. 



A green color in mushrooms is very rare, but in the genus 

 Russula there are several species that exhibit it or an approach 

 to it. But these all lacls the wart-like adornments that charac- 

 terize the Greenish russula, and therefore need not be mistaken 

 for it. The color in our plant is not a bris^ht green, but one 

 more or less mingled with grsy or yellowish. Sometimes the 

 central part of the cap is more highly colored than the margin 

 and sometimes it is paler, exhibiting here the yellowish tints. 



Vittadini places this among the most safe and delicate species 

 of Russula. Roques speaks highly of '.o,and says it can be eaten 



