278 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



is a very pale dull lilac as represented by figure 9, It has 

 seemed to me that they are whitish, even on white paper, when 

 first thrown down, but after a short exposure or after a greater 

 accumulation the lilac tint appears. Notwithstanding this pecu- 

 liarity in the color of its spores the species is classed among the 

 white-spored mushrooms, and it is perhaps a question whether it 

 is, after all, anything more than a variety of the next species. 



Cap two to five inches broad, stem one to two inches long, one- 

 fourth to two-thirds of an inch thick. 



The Sapid pleurotus grows in woods and open places from June 

 to November. It is quite common and more abundant in wet 

 weather. It inhabits decaying wood and may be found about old 

 stumps, prostrate trunks of trees or even on dead or dying trees 

 while yet standing. Sometimes it appears to grow from the 

 ground, but a careful investigation would show that it starts from 

 some decaying root or some buried piece of wood. In Europe it 

 is said to grow on elm and oak, but in our State it inhabits other 

 trees also, such as beech, birch, maple and horse chestnut. I have 

 eaten it both fried and stewed and consider it about the same as 

 the Oyster mushroom in edible qualities. In Hungary, according 

 to Dr. Kalchbrenner, it is eagerly sought for food in the woods, 

 and is also cultivated on pieces of elm trunks in gardens. 



Pleurotus ostreatus Fr. 

 OrsTBR Pleurotus. Otstee Mushroom. 



Plate 26. Figs. 5 to 9. 



Pileus convex, soft, imbricated, glabrous, moist, whitish, ciner- 

 eous or brownish, flesh white ; lamellaB broad, decurrent, anasto- 

 mosing at the base, white or whitish ; stem short, firm, mostly 

 lateral and indistinct or absent ; spores oblong, white, .0 03 to 

 .0004 in. long. 



The Oyster mushroom or Oyster fungus, so named because of 

 its shape probably, rather than because of its flavor, is very simi- 

 lar to the Sapid mushroom. According to the descriptions of the 

 European plant it is quite variable in color, but with us the pre- 

 vailing colors are white or ashy-gray, changing to yellowish in the 

 old or dried state. The stem when present is generally shorter than 

 in the Sapid pleurotus and more often lateral. It is sometimes hairy 

 at the base and sometimes wanting entirely. But the caps are 



