Agaricaceae 



Phoiiota. P. ornel'la Pk. (Agaricus ornellus Pk., 34 Rep., p. 42.) Pileus 

 convex or nearly plane, slightly squamose, reddish-brown tinged with 

 purple, the margin paler, floccose-appendiculate. Gills moderately 

 close, yellowish or pallid, becoming brown. Stem equal or slightly 

 thickened upward, solid, squamulose, pale-yellow, sometimes expanded 

 at the base into a brownish disk margined with yellowish filaments. 

 Spores brown, elliptical, 6-7.5x4-5^. 



Plant 1-2 in. high. Pileus about I in. broad. Stem I line to 1.5 

 lines thick. 



Decaying wood. South Ballston, Saratoga county. October. 



The scales of the pileus are sometimes arranged in concentric circles. 

 The purplish tint is not always uniform, but in some instances forms 

 spots or patches. Peck, 34th Rep. N. Y. State Bot. 



Specimens, clustered, found by me on railroad ties at Haddonfield, 

 N. J., September, 1897, had caps i-i % in. broad, of a dull green 

 without tinge of purple ; skin minutely cracked, showing the white flesh 

 in the interstices; stem I 2 in. long, 34 lines thick, slightly thickened 

 upward, pale orange, solid, squamulose; ring floccose ; taste when raw, 

 slightly bitter. These were sent to Professor Peck who wrote: "Ap- 

 pears to be a form of P. ornella Pk., but it differs some in color, being 

 more of a green hue than of purple or olivaceous. It is pretty and I 

 would like to know more about it before deciding on it fully." 



I have not since found it. Very palatable when cooked. 



*** Hygrophani. Gills cinnamon, etc. 



P. muta'bilis Schaeff. changeable. Pileus about 2 in. broad, cin- 

 namon when moist, becoming pale when dry, hygrophanous, slightly 

 fleshy, convex then flattened, commonly obtusely umbonate, sometimes 

 depressed, even andsmoot/t, but when young occasionally scaly through- 

 out. Stem about 2-3 in. long, 2 lines and more thick, rigid, stuffed 

 then hollow, equal or attenuated downward, scaly-rough as far as the 

 ring, rust-color, blackish or umber downward, often ascending or 

 twisted. Ring membranaceous, externally scaly. Gills adnato-decur- 

 rent, crowded, rather broad, pallid then cinnamon. Stevenson. 



Densely cespitose, variable in stature. 



Spores ellipsoid-obovate, 6xi I/A W.G. S. ; 7x4/1 W.P.\ 9-11x5-6/4 

 Massee ; 1 1 x7/u. Morgan . 



Edible. Curtis. Considered excellent in Europe. 



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