REPORT OF THE STATE BOTANIST 1903 29 
a white villosity at the base; spores globose, .00016-.0002 of an 
inch in diameter. 
The family collybia is similar to the tufted collybia in its 
mode of growth. It grows in similar localities but is limited in 
its habitat to decaying wood of coniferous trees. It is smaller 
and less frequent in occurrence but the tufts or clusters are 
generally composed of many more individual mushrooms. The 
caps are thin and fragile but are usually free from insect attack. 
They are whitish, grayish or brownish sometimes tinged with 
yellow but they have none of the reddish hues of the tufted 
collybia. In drying they are apt to become darker than when 
fresh. The gills are thin, narrow, crowded, white and free from 
the stem or but slightly attached to it. The stem is smooth, hol- 
low and white or whitish, but like the pileus it becomes darker in 
drying. Sometimes it appears to be pruinosely pubescent in the 
fresh plant when viewed with a lens. A wholly white variety 
very rarely occurs. 
The cap is 6-12 lines broad; the stem 2-4 inches long, 1-1.5 lines 
thick. The time of its appearance is during July and August. 
Its edible qualities are similar to those of the tufted collybia from 
which it is easily separated by its smaller size and different color. 
Russula mariae Pk. 
MARY’S RUSSULA 
PLATE 85, Fic. 1-8 
Pileus at first nearly hemispheric, soon broadly convex, nearly 
plane or centrally depressed, pruinose and minutely pulverulent, 
dark crimson or purplish, sometimes darker in the center than 
on the margin, rarely striate on the margin when old, flesh white, 
pinkish under the cuticle, taste mild; lamellae moderately close, 
adnate, white when young, pale yellow when old; stem equal, 
solid or slightly spongy in the center, colored like or a little 
paler than the pileus, usually white at the top and bottom, 
rarely entirely white; spores pale yellow, globose, .0003 of an inch 
broad. 
This russula is a beautiful and easily recognizable species, 
though somewhat variable in its colors. The cap is at first 
