REPORT OF THE STATE BOTANIST 1901 971 



Pholiota squarrosa Mull. 



SCAI/Y PHOLIOTA 

 PLATE 79, FIG. 1-7 



Pileus fleshy, firm, convex or nearly plane, dry, adorned with 

 floccose tawny spreading or recurved scales, tawny, paler or 

 yellowish on the margin, flesh whitish; lamellae thin, close, 

 emarginate, adnexed, whitish becoming pale olivaceous, finally 

 brownish ferruginous; stem rather long, firm, nearly equal, 

 adorned with revolute scales, stuffed or hollow, tawny ferrug- 

 inous, paler above when young, whitish above the commonly 

 laciniate annulus; spores brownish ferruginous, elliptic, .00025- 

 .0003 of an inch long, .00016-.0002 broad. 



The scaly pholiota is not a very common mushroom but it is 

 attractive in appearance. It is closely related to the sharp 

 scale pholiota which it resembles in general appearance but 

 from. which it differs in its dry, not viscid, cap, in its scales 

 which are flat instead of terete and not prominent and erect 

 ■on the disk as in that species, and in its larger spores. The 

 European plant is represented both by Schaeffer and by Bulliard 

 as sometimes having a prominent and rather pointed elevation 

 or umbo in the center of the cap, but I have not seen such a 

 iorm here. In the American plant the young plant is almost 

 hemispheric becoming convex or nearly plane with age. Its 

 margin is paler than the center, fading to a yellowish color. 

 The gills are thin and closely placed side by side. At the stem 

 end they are more or less excavated on the edge. In the very 

 young plant they are concealed by the veil and the incurved 

 margin of the cap. They are then whitish but after exposure 

 they became tinged with pale yellowish green and finally they 

 assume a dull rusty brown hue. The stem is rather long, firm 

 and scaly like the cap. It is stuffed or hollow, rusty tawny and 

 furnished with an imperfect ragged collar near the top. This 

 is at the upper termination of the scaly part and above it the 

 stem is smooth and whitish. The cap is 2-4 inches broad; the 

 stem is 3-5 inches long and 4-6 lines thick. The plants grow 

 on old stumps and prostrate trunks of trees in woods, often 



