VEGETABLES DESCKIPTION AND CULTUEE. 



365 



" The common mushroom (Agaricus campestris) grows in 

 lawns, pastures and similar places. It averages 5-8 cm. 

 (2-3 inches) in height, the pileus being 5-12 cm. in diameter. 



"Pileus. — The cap or pileus is convex or more or less 

 expanded, the surface 

 being nearly smooth, or 

 more or less silky hairy, 

 these fibrils sometimes 

 being collected into tri- 

 angular scales. The col- 

 or of the surface is 

 usually white, but 

 varies to light brown, 

 while the flesh is white. 



"Gills.— When the 

 plant is very young the 

 gills are first white, but 

 soon become pink, and 

 later purple brown or 

 dark brown from the 

 numerous purple col- 

 ored spores on the sur- 

 face. The gills are free 

 from the stem, and 

 rounded on their inner 

 ends. 



"Veil and Annulus. — 

 The veil is thin, white, 

 silky and very frail. As 

 the pileus expands the 

 veil is stretched and 

 finally torn, when it clings as a thin collar or ring (an- 

 nulus) around the stem, or fragments dangle from the 

 margin of the pileus. As the plant becomes "old, the an- 

 nulus shrivels up and becomes inconspicuous. 



Fig. 132— Mushroom. Amanita phal- 

 loides, Fr. (after Atkinson). Poison- 

 ous Mushroom. White form, show- 

 ing pileus, stipe, annulus and volva. 

 Cornell Experiment Station. 



