4H MUSHROOMS, EDIBLE AND OTHERWISE 



Amanitopsis strangidata. Fr. 

 The Gray Amanitopsis. Edible. 



Strangulata means choked, from the stuffed stem. The pileus is two to four 

 inches broad, soon plane, livid-bay or gray, with patches of the volva, margin 

 striate or grooved. 



The gills are free, white, close. 



The stem is stuffed, silky above, scaly below, slightly tapering upwards. The 

 volva soon breaking up, forming several ring-like ridges on the stem. The spores 

 are globose, 10-13^. 



This is a synonym for A. ceciliae. B. and Br. and perhaps nothing more than 

 a vigorous growth of Amanitopsis vaginata. It has almost no odor and a sweet 

 taste and cooks deliciously. 



Found in the woods and in open places from August to October. 



Lepiota. Fr. 



Lepiota means a scale. In the Lepiota the gills are typically free from the 

 stem, as in Amanita and Amanitopsis, but they differ in having no superficial or 

 removable warts on the cap, and no sheathing or scaly remains of a volva at the 

 base of the stem. In some species the epidermis of the cap breaks into scales which 

 persistently adhere to the cap. and this feature, indeed, suggests the. name of the 

 genus, which is derived from the Latin word lepis, a scale. 



The stem is hollow or stuffed, its flesh being distinct from the pileus and easily 

 separable from it. There are a number of edible species. 



Lepiota procera. Scop. 

 The Parasol Mushroom. Edible. 



Procera means tall. 



The pileus is thin, strongly umbonate, adorned with brown spot-like scales. 



The gills are white, sometimes yellowish-white, free, remote from the stem, 

 broad and crowded, ventricose, edge sometimes brownish. 



The stem is very long, cylindrical, hollow or stuffed, even, very long in pro- 

 portion to its thickness and is, therefore, suggestive of the specific name, procera. 

 The ring is rather thick and firm, though in mature plants it becomes loosened and 

 movable on the stem. This and the form of the plant suggest the name, parasol. 

 The cap is from three to five inches broad and the stem from five to nine inches 

 high. I found one specimen among fallen timber that was eleven inches tall and 

 whose cap was six inches broad. 



