REPORT OF THE STATE BOTANIST IQIG 43 



referred. The naked margin of the pileus and its close agreement 

 in general characters with C 1 i t o c y b e m u 1 1 i c e p s Pk. lead 

 me to refer it to this species. Like it, it is edible but scarcely 

 first quality. 



Pileus tenuior, sapor mitis ; lamellae adnexae, 



Clitocybe dealbata sudorifica n. var. 



Pileus whitish, not shining, sudorific when eaten freely. Other- 

 wise like the typical form. Grassy ground. Saratoga Springs. 

 November. F. G. Rowland. 



Pileus albidus, non nitens ; sudorificus. 



Mr F. G. Rowland recently reported to me that the white 

 washed mushroom, Clitocybe dealbata Sow. when eaten 

 freely caused profuse perspiration. I, with others, had eaten 

 sparingly of this mushroom several years ago without experiencing 

 any ill efifects. At my request he kindly sent me a good supply of 

 the fresh mushrooms that I might try them myself. Eight caps 

 of average size were fried slightly in butter with a little milk and 

 Hour added. These were eaten at supper time. In texture and 

 flavor no fault could be found with them. In about half an hour 

 perspiration began to appear on my forehead, and gradually spread 

 over the whole body. It lasted about five hours. It was unaccom- 

 panied by any pain or distress of any kind. There seemed to be 

 a slight acceleration of the pulse, an unusual catarrhal discharge 

 from the nostrils, a little stimulation of the salivary glands and 

 an occasional hiccup. At the end of five hours the perspiration 

 ceased, I fell asleep and slept till morning when I arose feeling 

 as well as usual. This peculiar action of the mushroom suggested 

 the thought that possibly I had erroneously referred our mushroom 

 to C. dealbata ; that it must be some other closely related species 

 for no record of such effects had been attributed to the white washed 

 mushroom by those writers who have published it as edible. A 

 careful comparison of our specimens with the published descrip- 

 tions of the white washed mushrooms revealed no well-marked 

 characters by which to separate them. In the color of the cap 

 alone does there appear to be any available mark of distinction. 

 This, in the white washed mushroom, is described as white and 

 rather shining, or as one writer expresses it, " exceedingly like 

 ivory," In our plant it is better described as whitish, or dull white, 

 not at all shining. So close is the morphologic relationship that 

 it appears to me to be better to separate the mushroom under con- 



