GENERA AND SPECIES OF MUSHROOMS 



growth and its grooved stem. The plants sometimes emit 

 an agreeable odor. Peck. 



Although it is not a common species it is included here on 

 account of its unique grooved stem. 



Lentinus lepideus; scaly lentinus. Plate XII, Species 8i. 



On decaying wood of evergreen trees, often on railroad 

 ties, fence posts and bridge timbers; singly or in tufts; May 

 to October; too tough to be eaten but makes good soup. 



Cap fleshy; tough; hard when dry; convex or nearly plane; 

 sometimes slightly depressed in the center; often irregular in 

 shape; the peel (cuticle) cracks and forms brownish, spotlike 

 scales; surface of cap otherwise white or pale rusty; flesh 

 white. 2 to 4 inches broad. 



Gills rather far apart; notched near the stem (sinuate); 

 with saw-like teeth along the free edge (serrate-dentate); 

 white; often torn across. 



Stem short; hard; solid; often pointed at the base; some- 

 times scaly; sometimes with a slight ring when young; white 

 or whitish; i to 2^2 inches long. 



Spores white; slightly elliptical; .0004-.0005 inch long, 

 .0002-.00024 broad. 



This fungus is often injurious to railroad ties. The cap 

 is occasionally umbonate, that is, there is a knob protruding 

 from its center. The scales may be brown or almost black. 

 The stem is sometimes attached between the center and the 

 side of the cap. When the mushroom emerges from a crack 

 in wood, its stem is pointed at the base. 



The genus Lepiota 



Mushrooms belonging to the genus Lepiota resemble those 



of the genera Amanita and Amanitopsis in having their gills 



free from the stem and in having white spores. They differ 



in having no removable warts on the cap and no sheath or 



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