Fungus flora of a front lawn 

 Lai ra A. Kolk 



It has been in > interesting experience during the past three 

 months to discover the value of the "back yard" or better, 

 "the front yard" of a suburban home as a collecting ground for 

 fungi. Since mid-August I have been collecting at the home of 

 my brother, about thirty miles out on Long Island, from New 

 York city, and have found to date twenty-three different species 

 of fleshy fungi in the grass on the open lawn, under shrubs and 

 evergreens, and also under the porch of the house — an area 

 having a frontage of approximately sixty-five feet and extend- 

 ing back forty feet to the house line. A neighbor's lawn and 

 shrubbery yielded five more species. 



Some of the more striking finds were three specimens of the 

 dog stinkhorn, Mutinus caninns, found September 16 and 23 on 

 the open lawn, and at least twenty specimens of Amanita mus- 

 caria which appeared during the same time beneath the trailing 

 branches of a blue spruce tree, and of a hemlock nearby. Some 

 of the Amanitas had stipes an inch in thickness, and pilei six to 

 eight inches in diameter. 



At different times there were also found in the grass, Clito- 

 cybe laccata var. amethystina, Russula heterophylla (or variata?), 

 Russula Joetens, Amanitopsis vaginata, and two Ascomycetes, 

 Xylaria polymorpha and a very tiny, reddish black, bristly cup 

 fungus which I have tentatively identified as Patella albo-spa- 

 dicea. These two Ascomycetes were discovered in August when 

 there were few fungi to be found, but abundant rainfall in Sep- 

 tember especially over week-ends, when the collecting was done, 

 probably accounted for the numerous fungi found later. The cup 

 fungus was present on bare patches of soil continuously from 

 August through October, as were also Scleroderma vulgare and 

 a smoother skinned puff-ball growing with it. Another fungus, 

 which made its first appearance in September, and then con- 

 tinued to appear in numbers through October, was Coprinus 

 micaceus. A single specimen of Hypholoma sublateritium ap- 

 peared October 28. 



Under the porch were found on September 23, several beau- 

 tiful specimens of the chestnut Boletus, Boletus castaneus, with 



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