GENERA AND SPECIES OF MUSHROOMS 



Cap saffron-rust color; covered with darker, turned up scales; 

 fleshy; convex; dry. Flesh light yellow. 3 to 5 inches broad. 



Gills attached to the stem with a tooth; close together 

 (crowded); narrow; pale olive when young, turning rusty 

 when old. 



Stem short when young, but long when mature; tapering 

 dowTiward ; scaly below the ring that surrounds the upper part^ 



Spores rusty; elliptical; .0003 inch by .00016 inch broad. 



A variable and showy species, growing chiefly in dense 

 tufts. The scales give the cap a very rough appearance, 

 especially in the young plant. Peck. 



The genus Pleurotus 



The genus Pleurotus scarcely differs from Tricholoma and 

 Clitocybe except for the fact that the stems of plants are 

 attached to the cap at some point to one side of the center. 

 In some species the stem is scarcely developed at all; in 

 others, it is attached to the very margin of the cap. Some of 

 the species of Pleurotus have the gills rounded or notched at 

 their inner extremity, near the stem, as in the genus Tricho- 

 loma, while some others have them decurrent, that is, ex- 

 tending down the stem, as in the genus Clitocybe. A dis- 

 tinctive character that is worthy of notice in this genus 

 Pleurotus, is that the plants are found growing on wood only. 

 Generally their flesh is more tough than it is in those mush- 

 rooms growing upon the ground. Sometimes they grow from 

 dead spots or dead branches of living trees and are often out 

 of reach, being high above the ground. 



Species of Pleurotus 

 Pleurotus ostreatus; oyster mushroom. Species 106. 

 Figure 30. 

 The oyster mushroom, or oyster fungus, so named be- 

 cause of its flavor, is very similar to the sapid mushroom. 



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