66 BRITISH FUNGI 



Gills thin, pliant, sometimes powdered with the spores ; stem 

 fibrous outside. Cliiocyhe. 



Structural characters same as in Cliiocyhe, but the spores are 

 globose and warted, and remain for some time on the gills, covering 

 them with a white bloom or powder. Laccaria. 



Gills thin and pliant ; stem cartilaginous outside. Omphalia. 



Growing on wood. Stem lateral (from edge of cap), or excentric 

 ( springing near to edge of cap, not central), when present. Plcnroius. 



Gills narrow, edge thick or blunt, rather waxy, forking. 



Caniharellus. 



Gills narrow, thick, edge blunt ; gro\\'ing on other fungi. Nycialis. 



** Tenaces. — Coriaceous, corky, or woody, persistent, rigid 

 when dry. 



Cap coriaceous ; gills decurrent, edge toothed or eroded. Lentinus. 



Cap coriaceous ; gills decurrent, edge quite entire. Panus. 



Cap coriaceous ; gills forking, edge thick and blunt. Xerotiis. 



Cap growing horizontally, sessile ( =stalkless), woody or corky ; 

 gills radiating from the point of attachment. Lenzites. 



1 1 . — SchizophyllcB 



Edge of gills split open. 



Gills narrow and resembling folds or wrinkles, edge grooved. 

 (In the only British species, the edge of the gills is not grooved, 

 hence the species is off type.) Trogia. 



♦Edge of gills split down for a short distance, tlie split portions 

 rolled outwards. Schizophyllum. 



If all the species belonging to each genus were quite typical 

 in structure, the above key would at once enable a species to be 

 assigned to its proper genus. But all species are not equally typical, 

 and yet have more points in common with one particular genus 

 than with any other. The following notes on the genera will assist 

 in grasping the range of form and structure included in each genus. 



Notes on the Genera 



Amanita 



Morphologically, that is structurally, Amanita shows more 

 specialized points of structure than are to be met with in any other 

 genus included in the Basidiomycetes. In the most highly evolved 

 species the entire plant, when young, is enclosed in a universal veil, 

 which remains intact until the stem, cap, and gills are completely 

 differentiated, when by increase in length of the stem and the 

 expansion of the cap it is ruptured, leaving a more or less loose 

 sheath round the base of the stem, called the volva. The upper 

 portion of the universal veil usually remains on the surface of the 



