206 MUSHROOMS, EDIBLE AND OTHERWISE 



Pleurotus, the gills of some of the species are rounded or notched at the end next 

 to the stem, but of others they are decurrent on it ; hence, in some species they 

 are like the gills of Tricholoma in their attachment, in others they run down on 

 the stem as in the Clitocybe. In many of them both cap and stem are very viscid, 

 a characteristic not found in the Clitocybes ; and the gills are generally thicker and 

 much farther apart than in that genus. A number of the species are beautifully 

 colored. 



Hygrophorus pratensis. Fr. 

 The Pasture Hygrophorus. Edible. 



Pratensis, from pratum, a meadow. The pileus is one to two inches broad ; 

 when young almost hemispherical, then convex, turbinate or nearly flat, the center 

 more or less convex, as if urmbonate ; margin often cracked, frequently contracted 

 or lobed; white or various shades of yellow, buffish-reddish, or brownish. Flesh 

 white, thick in the center, thin at the margin. The stem is stuffed, attenuated 

 downwards. The gills are thick, distant, white or yellowish, bow-shaped, de- 

 current, and connected by vein-like folds. Spores are white, broadly elliptical, 

 .00024 to .00028 inch long. 



The pasture hygrophorus is a small but rather stout-appearing mushroom. 

 It grows on the ground in pastures, waste places, clearings, and thin woods, from 

 July to September. Sometimes all white or gray. 



Var. cinereus, Fr. Pileus and gills gray. The stem whitish and slender. 



Var. pallidus, B. & Br. Pileus depressed, edge wavy, entirely pale ochre. 



This species differs mainly from H. leporinus in that the latter is quite floccose 

 on the pileus. 



Hygrophorus cburneus. Bull. 

 Shining White Hygrophorus. Edible. 



Eburneus is from cbur. ivory. The pileus is two to four inches broad, some- 

 times thin, sometimes somewhat compact, white; very viscid or glutinous in wet 

 weather, and slippery to the touch: margin uneven, sometimes wavy; smooth, and 

 shining. When young, the margin is incurved. 



The gills are firm, distant, straight, strongly decurrent, with vein-like eleva- 

 tions near the stem. The spores are white, rather long. 



