GENERA AND SPECIES OF MUSHROOMS 



brown or reddish-brown; paler when dry than when moist; 

 often of several shades; >^ to i inch broad. 



Gills attached to the stem (adnate); broad; not crowded 

 together; brown. 



Stem pallid or brownish; slender; cylindric; hollow; fragile; 

 smooth or slightly powdered (pruinose); 2 to 3 inches long. 



Spores brown; smooth; slightly elliptic; 12-15 by 6-7 

 microns in diameter. 



The harvest mushroom is small but very abundant and 

 therefore may be considered as of use for food, although it 

 can not be classed among the best species. It occurs every- 

 where on lawns and in fields after rains throughout the 

 season and should be carefully distinguished from certain 

 poisonous species of Panseolus and other genera which grow 

 in similar localities. Murrill. 



The haymakers' psilocybe is a small but regular, neat and 

 attractive species which gets its name from its usual place of 

 growth, where it is often destroyed by the mower while he 

 is cutting grass. 



When fresh and moist it is dark brown or reddish-brown and 

 is usually marked on the margin by darker parallel radiating 

 lines. By the escape of moisture these lines disappear and 

 the cap becomes paler, assuming a grayish color. The 

 moisture generally escapes first from the center of the cap 

 though the flesh is thicker there than on the margin. This 

 gives a somewhat variegated appearance to the cap while the 

 moisture is escaping, but after the evaporation is completed 

 the color is nearly uniform. Sometimes the center of the 

 cap has a reddish or tan-colored hue, in which case this 

 color is generally retained for a time after escape of the 

 moisture. 



Sometimes the mowers' mushrooms appear in great num- 

 bers and in successive crops, otherwise it would be unimpor- 

 tant as an edible mushroom on account of its small size. 



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