Porphyrosporae 



Gregarious or cespitose; thin woods, Mt. Gretna, Pa. August. Agancus- 

 CJiarles Mcllvaine. 



A large fine species distinguished from its near allies by the absence 

 of pink hues from the gills. Mr. Mcllvaine remarks that it has an anise- 

 like flavor and odor and that when young the whole fungus is tender 

 and high flavored, but when full grown the caps only are edible. Peck, 

 Bull. Torr. Bot. Club, Vol. 26, F. 1899. 



A. silvic'ola Vitt. silva, a wood; colo, to inhabit. (Plate XCIII, fig. 

 2, p. 332.) (A. arvensis, var. abruptus Pk. ; now A. abruptus Pk.) 

 Pileus convex or sub-bell-shaped, sometimes expanded or nearly plane, 

 smooth, shining, white or yellowish. Gills close, thin, free, rounded 

 behind, generally narrowed toward each end, at first whitish, then pink- 

 ish, finally blackish-brown. Stem long, cylindrical, stuffed or hollow, 

 white, bulbous; ring either thick or thin, entire or lacerated. Spores 

 elliptical, 6-8x4-5^1. 



Plant 4-6 in. high. PileilS 3-6 in. broad. Stem 4-8 lines thick. 



Woods, copses and .groves or along their borders. Summer and 

 autumn. Peck, 36th Rep. N. Y. State Bot. 



Very good eating, though scarcely as highly flavored as the common 

 mushroom. Reck. 



West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, June to frost. Mcllvaine. 



A. s-ilvicola, by many authors considered a variety of A. campester, 

 is, seemingly, becoming common. Professor Peck in 46th Rep. has 

 made the abrupt bulb and its usual double veil distinctive marks which 

 ally it to A. arvensis. He therefore calls it var. abruptus. As this 

 book goes to press Professor Peck writes me that he concludes var. 

 abruptus to be a good and distinct species. It is therefore given as 

 such. While familiar with it since 1881, I never found it in quantity 

 until 1898, at Mt. Gretna, Pa. There, among the straw and rubbish 

 of abandoned camps on wood margins, it grew in great quantity; 

 sometimes singly, at others in crowded clusters. When growing singly 

 it exhibits all the characteristics of its description; when clustered, 

 the stems are not always bulbous. The caps are thin but fleshy, 

 brittle and bear a disproportionate width to the stem like a plate on 

 a pipe stem. The cap^s when mature are usually tinged with yellow and 

 are spread flat; the ring is large, often double, yellowish, often torn, 

 fragments of it frequently hang from the cap margin ; the bulb when 



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