GENERA AND SPECIES OF MUSHROOMS 



According to the descriptions of the European plant, it is 

 there quite variable in color, but in the United States, the 

 prevailing colors are white or ashy-gray, changing to yellow- 

 ish in the old or dried state. The stem, when present, is 

 usually shorter than in the sapid pleurotus and is often more 

 lateral. It is sometimes hairy at the base and is sometimes 

 absent. But the caps are clustered and overlapped very 

 much as in that species and the gills are the same in both. 

 For table purposes there is little need of keeping the two 

 species distinct. Both are much more liable to be infested 

 with insects than is the elm pleurotus. Both grow on de- 

 caying wood and at the same season and under similar condi- 

 tions. The oyster mushroom is apparently much less 

 frequently found in New York State than is the sapid mush- 

 room. It has long been classed amongst the esculent species 

 but in consequence of the toughness of its flesh it does not 

 rank as a mushroom of the first quality. Peck. 



Its spores are white; oblong; 7 to lo microns in length. 



Pleurotus sapidus; sapid pleurotus. Plate XIV, Species 

 107. 



On dead trunks or limbs of trees, in tufts or crowded 

 clusters whose stems are more or less united at the base and 

 whose caps crowd and overlap each other; in woods and open 

 places; June to November; edible. 



Cap convex or concave (depressed on the top); smooth; 

 often irregular in shape; moist in wet weather; variable in 

 color — white, yellowish, ashy gray, dull lilac or even brownish; 

 flesh white; 2 to 5 inches broad. 



Gills broad and rather far apart; extending down on the 

 stem (decurrent); branching and connected with each other 

 on the stem; whitish or yellowish; ^sometimes ragged or 

 torn. 



Stem usually tufted, several growing from a common base; 

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