WHITE-SPORED AGARICS. 



109 



pure white. The margin is sometimes marked with fine striations 

 when moist. The upper portion near the union with the stem is 

 sometimes tomentose, sometimes smooth. The gills are narrow, 

 white, or yellowish, crowded and strongly decurrent. While the 

 plant varies greatly in form and size, it is easily recognized by the 

 presence of numerous short whitish cystidia in the hymenium, which 

 bristle over the surface of the hymenium and under a pocket lens 

 present a ** fuzzy " appearance to the lamellae. They are 70-80 x 

 10-12 fi. The spores are white. 



Figures 112, 113 are from plants collected at Ithaca. 



Pleurotus serotinus Schrad. This is an interesting plant and occurs 

 during the autumn on dead trunks, branches, etc., in the woods. 

 The stem is want- 

 ing, and the cap is 

 shelving, dimidi- 

 ate, reniform or 

 suborbicular. The 

 plants occur singly 

 or are clustered 

 and overlapping, 

 about the same 

 size and position 

 as Claudopus nid- 

 ul ans , from 

 which it is readily 

 told by its white 

 gills and spores. 

 The color varies 

 from dull yellow to brownish, often with shades of olive or green. 



Pleurotus applicatus Batsch. This is a pretty little species and 

 usually occurs on much decayed wood, lying close to the ground so 

 that it is usually directly on the under side of the log or branch. It 

 does occur, however, on the side of the log when it is more or less 

 shelving, because of the tendency of the pileus always to be more 

 or less horizontal. 



The pileus is 4-6 mm. broad, its upper surface closely applied to 

 the wood or bark on which it is growing when it appears directly on 

 the under side. The margin is sometimes free and involute. Some- 

 times it is attached only by the center of the pileus. There is then 

 often a short process. When it grows on the side of the log it is 

 attached laterally, or on the upper side of one margin, while the greater 

 portion of the pileus is free and shelving. The surface is smooth or 



Figure i 14. Pleurotus applicatus. Color gray to dark bluish gray, 

 or black with a bluish tinge (natural size). Copyright. 



