si 



MUSHROOMS, EDIBLE AND OTHERWISE 



Tricholoma personafum. Fr, 



The Masked Tricholoma. Kninuc. 



Personatum means wearing a mask; so called because of the variety of colors 

 it undergoes. This is a beautiful mushroom, and is excellently flavored; it has 

 a wide range and is frequently found, in great abundance. I have often seen it 

 growing in almost a straight line for over twenty feet, the caps so thoroughly 

 crowded that they had lost their form. When young the cap is convex and quite 



Figure 6i. 



Tricholoma personatum. One-third natural size. Caps usually tinged with lilac 

 . iolet. Stem-- bulbous. 



firm, with the margin minutely downy or adorned with mealy particles, and in- 

 curved. In the mature plant it is softer, broadly convex, or nearly plane, with 

 the thin margin spreading and more or less turned upward and wavy. When 

 young it is pale lilac in color, but with advancing age it changes to a tawny or 

 rusty hue, especially in the center. Sometimes the cap is white, whitish or gray, 

 or of a pale violaceous color. 



The gills are crowded, rounded next to the stem, and nearly free but approach- 

 ing i the -tern, more- narrow toward the margin, with a faint tinge of lilac 

 or violet tint when young, but often white. 



The stem is short, solid, adorned with very minute fibers, downy or mealy 



