Porphyrosporee 



AGAR'ICUS. 



Agaricon, a Greek name for fungi, said to be derived from the name 



of a town, Agara. 



Pileus fleshy, flesh of the stem different from that of the pileus, fur- 

 nished with a distinct ring. Gills at first enclosed by the veil, free, 

 rounded behind, at first white or whitish, in some species this stage last- 

 ing but a short time, then pink or reddish, at length dark purplish- 

 brown from the spores. Spores brown, brownish or reddish-purple. 



On the ground, generally in pastures, meadows or manured ground, 

 a few species occur in woods. 



Analogous with Lepiota of the white-spored series. Stropharia also 

 bears a ring and has similar colored spores, but is separated by the flesh 

 of stem and pileus being continuous and the gills being more or less 

 adnate. 



Formerly in Agaricus as sub-genus Psalliota (psallion, psalion, in 

 poetry, a ring). When Psalliota was raised to generic rank it was given 

 the name of the great genus Agaricus as a mark of distinction on ac- 

 count of its including the most widely known and useful mushroom of 

 the world Agaricus campester. The name Psalliota is not in modern 

 use. 



Old Agaricus included many subgenera and consequently many more 

 species. Now it contains but few. All of them are highly flavored and of 

 marked excellence. Before the subgenera under Agaricus were promoted 

 to full generic standing it was customary to state the name of a species 

 thus: Agaricus (Psalliota) campester. Agaricus (Stropharia) semi- 

 orbicularis. This was lengthy and clumsy. In 'the older books this 

 form prevails. Often, however, the subgenus is omitted before the 

 name, which compels the student to look up the subgenus to which the 

 species belongs. The older books are therefore puzzling to modern 

 students, who find there simply the name Agaricus to guide them. The 

 present genus of a known species in old Agaricus can be easily found 

 by looking in the index for its specific name. The name of the genus 

 follows it in parentheses. 



All of the genus can be cooked in any desired way. 



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