GENERA AND SPECIES OF MUSHROOMS 



Laccaria ochropurpurea. Plate X, Species 70. 



On ground in open, bushy or grassy places; solitary, rarely 

 grouped; July to September; edible. 



Cap purplish-brown when moist, grayish or pale tan when 

 dry; unpolished; watery in appearance when moist (hygro- 

 phanous) ; convex or almost hemispheric, with decurved mar- 

 gin; when mature, becoming plane or slightly depressed at 

 the center; firm; fleshy; 2 to 4 inches broad. 



Gills attached to or extending down the stem (adnate or 

 decurrent); purplish (color of the cap or paler); thick; broad; 

 far apart. 



Stem long or short ; variable ; cylindric or sometimes thicker 

 in the middle, sometimes thicker at each end; fibrous; solid; 

 color of cap or paler; i>^ to 3 inches long. 



Spores white; globular; warty; 8 to 10 microns in diameter. 



This species is often very irregular and very variable in 

 size and shape. The color of the gills is generally darker than 

 those of Laccaria laccata. The cap is much darker when 

 moist than when dry. The stem is very fibrous and firm. 



The genus Lactarius 



In the white-spored genus Lactarius the gills of the mush- 

 rooms exude a milky or colored juice where they are cut or 

 broken. This character alone is sufficient to distinguish this 

 genus from all others but there are also other features which 

 are quite characteristic. The texture of the milky mush- 

 rooms is such that while the flesh seems to be firm and rigid 

 it is nevertheless very brittle. The fracture is quite even 

 and not ragged or torn as in more filamentous or fibrous 

 substances. Most of the Lactarius species are stout and 

 fleshy in appearance and resemble in outline those of the 

 clitocybe. In mature plants of this genus the cap is often 

 somewhat funnel-shaped or like a broad inverted cone. The 



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