FIELD BOOK OF COMMON GILLED MUSHROOMS 



after heavy rains; usually in groups. Sometimes in arcs or 

 circles or in complete circles or even in lines; sometimes in 

 clusters; May to October; edible. 



Cap fleshy; firm; tough; convex, becoming expanded when 

 mature, often with a large umbo or elevation at the central 

 portion; smooth; buff or tawny {caje au hit) ; drying easily and 

 shrinking, reviving when moist; flesh thin, white, of pleasant 

 odor and taste; i to 2 inches broad. 



Gills rather broad and far apart; scarcely or but slightly 

 attached to the stem; whitish or yellowish. 



Spores white; nearly elliptic; .0003 to .00035 inch long. 



The fairy-ring mushroom has received this name because of 

 its tendency to grow in rings or circles. 



There are two or three mushrooms which are somewhat 

 similar to the fairy-ring mushroom in size and color and which 

 might, by carelessness, be mistaken for it. One of these, the 

 semiorbicular naucoria, Naucoria semiorbicularis, sometimes 

 grows in company with it. It may be distinguished by the 

 color of the gills which, in the mature plant of Naucoria semi- 

 orbicularis are rusty-brown. Its spores when caught on white 

 paper have a dark rusty color, and its stem is smooth. 



The oak-loving collybia (CoUybia dryophila) also resembles 

 it in the color of the cap and gills, but its (C. dryophila's) 

 gills are more narrow and placed very closely, side by side, and 

 the stem is very smooth and hollow. This usually grows in 

 woods, but sometimes it occurs in open places and then might 

 be mistaken for the fairy-ring mushroom through carelessness. 



It has long been esteemed as edible, but owing to its small 

 size and somewhat tough substance it has not gained the 

 popularity it deserves. Peck. 



This very excellent little species is to be looked for in 



pastures during wet weather in late summer or autumn. Its 



habit of growing in circles will aid one in recognizing it. I 



have found it much more abundant in England and other 



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