2*8 



MUSHROOMS, EDIBLE AND OTHERWISE 



the margin of the cap and forms a ring around the stem ; again, but little remains 

 on the stem and much on the rim of the cap. 



It appears every year on the Chillicothe high school lawn. The gills are 

 creamy-white when the cap first opens, but they soon turn to a rusty-brown. 

 It comes in May. I have never found it after June. I am always delighted to 

 find it for it is always appetizing at that season. Look for them on lawns and 

 pastures and in grain fields. 



Figure 209. Pholiota precox. Two-thirds natural size. Caps whitish, often tinged with yellow. 



Pholiota dura. Bolt. 

 The Hard Phouota. Edible. 



Dura, hard; so called because the surface of the cap becomes quite hard and 

 cracked. The pileus is from three to four inches or more broad, very compact, 

 convex, then plane, cuticle often very much cracked, margin even, tawny, tan-color, 

 sometimes quite brown. 



The gills are firmly attached to the stem, somewhat decurrent with a tooth, 

 ventricose, livid, then a brown rusty color. Spores elliptical, 8-9x5-6/1. 



The stem is stuffed, hard, externally fibrous, thickened toward the apex, 

 sometimes ventricose, often irregularly shaped. 



On June 6th, 1904, I found Mr. Dillman's garden on Hickory street, Chilli- 

 cothe, white with this plant. Some were very large and beautiful and I had an 

 excellent opportunity to observe the irregularity in the form of the stem. Some 



