118 



STUDIES OF AMERICAN FUNGI. 



The pileus is convex, then plane, or somewhat depressed in the 

 center, dry, sometimes with a small umbo, dark brown or sooty 

 (chocolate to seal brown as given in Ridgeway's nomenclature of 

 colors), covered with a very fme tomentum which has the appear- 

 ance of a bloom. The margin of the cap, especially in old plants, is 

 somewhat wavy or plicate as in Lactarius fuliginosus . The gills are 

 moderately crowded when young, becoming distant in older plants, 

 white, then cream color or yellow, changing to reddish or salmon 

 color where bruised. The spores are yellowish in mass, faintly so 

 under the microscope, globose, strongly echinulate, 6-10 yu. The 

 taste is mild, or sometimes slowly and slightly acrid. The plants 

 from North Carolina showed distinctly the change to reddish or sal- 

 mon color when the gills were bruised, and the taste was noted as 

 mild. 



Figure 119 is from plants (No. 3864, C. U. herbarium) collected 

 in the Blue Ridge Mountains, at Blowing Rock, N. C, September, 

 1899. 



Lactarius fuliginosus Fr. 

 The smoky or dingy lactarius 

 occurs in woods and open 

 grassy places. It is widely 

 distributed. The plants are 

 4-7 cm. high, the cap 3-5 cm. 

 broad, and the stem 6-10 

 mm. in thickness. The light 

 smoky color of the cap and 

 stem, the dull yellowish 

 white color of the gills, and 

 in old plants the wavy mar- 

 gin of the cap make it com- 

 paratively easy to recognize 

 the species. 



The pileus is thin, at first 

 firm, becoming soft, convex, 

 then plane and often some- 

 what depressed in the center, 

 usually even, dry, the mar- 

 gin in old plants crenately 

 wavy, dull gray or smoky gray in color, with a fine down or 

 tomentum. The gills are adnate, distant, more so in old plants, 

 white, then yellowish, sometimes changing to salmon color or reddish 

 where bruised. The spores are yellowish in mass, faintly yellow 



FiGURK 120. Lactarius fuliginosus. Cap and stem 

 smoky, cap usually not wrinkled ; gills white, then 

 light ochre, distant (natural size). Copyright. 



