FIELD BOOK OF COMMON GILLED MUSHROOMS 



Gills yellow; attached to the stem (adnate); broad; purple- 

 brown to blackish, darker in color when old than when young, 

 clouded with the ripening spores. 



Stem light yellow; sticky (viscid) ; slender; smooth; cylindric 

 or with a bulb at the base; hollow; ring or collar near the top, 

 but this is sometimes incomplete; 2 to 5 inches long. 



Spores brownish piu-ple; ellipsoid; smooth; 15-18 by 9-10 

 microns in diameter. 



Common and widely distributed but rarely abundant. 

 Stevenson says it is considered poisonous, but later authors 

 claim that it is edible, although its favorite habitat and its 

 slimy character are objectionable to most persons. The 

 name is exceedingly well chosen as the shape of the cap is 

 as near an exact hemisphere as one is able to find among 

 living things. Murrill. 



The genus Tricholoma 



The species of Tricholoma have no collar on the stem. 

 In this white-spored genus the gills are attached to the stem 

 and are excavated or notched on the edge at or near the 

 stem. It often happens that this notch is so near the ex- 

 tremity of the gill that the part attached to the stem is more 

 narrow than the gill just beyond the excavation and causes 

 the gills to appear as if rounded at the inner extremity. 

 This is an important character though not a very conspicuous 

 one. The stem is fleshy and usually short and stout. 



The species of Tricholoma are numerous and are mostly 

 rather large, having a fleshy cap and a stout fleshy stem and 

 white spores. The veil is usually very slight and it is not 

 often noticeable except in the young plant. 



The genus is distinguished from Armillaria on one hand 

 by the absence of a ring on the stem and from Clitocybe on 

 the other by the notched gills and the fleshy or fibrous- 

 fleshy stem. It is distinguished from the genus Collybia 

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