WHITE-SPORED AGARICS. 89 



CLITOCYBE Fr. 



The volva and annulus are wanting in this genus, and the spores 

 are white. The stem is elastic, spongy within, the outside being 

 elastic or fibrous, so that the fibres hold together well when the stem 

 is twisted or broken, as in Tricholoma. The stem does not separate 

 readily from the pileus, but the rather strong fibres are continuous 

 with the substance of the pileus. The gills are narrowed toward the 

 stem, joined squarely or decurrent (running down on the stem), very 

 rarely some of them notched at the stem while others of the same 

 plant are decurrent. In one species at least (C laccata, by some 

 placed in the genus Laccaria) the gills are often strongly notched or 

 sinuate. The cap is usually plane, depressed, or funnel-shaped, 

 many of the species having the latter form. The plants grow chiefly 

 on the ground, though a number of species occur on dead wood. The 

 genus contains a very large number of species. Peck describes ten 

 species in the 23rd Report, N. Y. State Mus., p. 76, et. seq., also 48th 

 Report, p. 172, several species. Morgan, Jour. Cinn. Soc. Nat. Hist. 

 6:70-73, describes 12 species. 



Clitocybe Candida Bres. Edible. This is one of the large species of 

 the genus. It occurs in late autumn in Europe. It has been found 

 on several occasions during late autumn at Ithaca, N. Y., on the 

 ground in open woods, during wet weather. It occurs in clusters, 

 though the specimens are usually not crowded. The stem is usually 

 very short, 2-4 cm. long, and 2-3 cm. in thickness, while the cap is 

 up to 10-18 cm. broad. 



The pileus is sometimes regular, but often very irregular, and 

 produced much more strongly on one side than on the other. It is 

 convex, then expanded, the margin first incurved and finally wavy 

 and often somewhat lobed. The color is white or light buff in age. 

 The flesh is thick and white. The gills are white, stout, broad, 

 somewhat decurrent, some adnate. 



The taste is not unpleasant when raw, and when cooked it is 

 agreeable. I have eaten it on several occasions. Figures 90, 91 are 

 from plants (No. 4612 C. U. herbarium) collected at Ithaca. 



Clitocybe laccata Scop. Edible. This plant is a very common and 

 widely distributed one, growing in woods, fields, roadsides and other 

 waste places. It is usually quite easily recognized from the whitish 

 scurfy cap, the pink or purplish gills, though the spores are white, 

 from the gills being either decurrent, adnate, or more or less strongly 

 notched, and the stem fibrous and whitish or of a pale pink color. 

 When the plants are mature the pale red or pink gills appear 



