REPORT OF THE STATE BOTANIST I906 • 79 



Pilens 2-3 inches broad; stem 1.5-3 i'lches long', 4-8 lines thick. 



Woods and bushy places. Rensselaer, Suffolk and Warren coun- 

 ties. July and August. Edible. 



The margin of the pileus in old plants sometimes becomes striate 

 and occasionally fades to white. The species is easily recognized by 

 having both stem and pileus yellow and the intervening lamellae 

 white. 



Russula lepida Fr. 



SCALY RUSSULA 



Pileus firm, compact, convex becoming nearly plane, dry, un- 

 polished, often rimose areolate in part, even on the margin, variable 

 in color, red, bright red, red in the center with yellowish margin 

 or wholly yellow, flesh white, taste mild becoming somewhat acrid 

 or disagreeable ; lamellae close, narrowed toward the stem, rounded 

 behind or slightly decurrent, some forked at the base, a few short 

 ones intermingled, white becoming yellowish ; stem equal or nearly 

 so, solid, white or whitish, sometimes reddish ; spores globose, yel- 

 lowish, .0003-. 0004 of an inch in diameter. 



Pileus 2-4 inches broad ; stem 1-2.5 inches long, 6—10 lines thick. 



Woods. Albany and Suffolk counties. July and August. Not 

 common. ' ^' I ^ '■1'''^'^ 



The description here given applies to the American plant, which 

 differs slightly in color from the European. The disk in that species 

 is said in Syllogc to always become whitish, a character not yet 

 observed in our plant. In this the disk sometimes is red while the 

 margin is yellow. The lamellae also, in drying, usually assume a 

 subochraceous or pale cinnamon hue, which character is not at- 

 tributed to the European plant. The edg'e of the lamellae is some- 

 times red near the margin of the pileus. The European plant is 

 said to have the stem almost always stained or spotted with red. In 

 ours it is more often white. 



Russula rubra Fr. 



RED RUSSULA 



Pileus fleshy, hard, rigid, convex becoming nearly plane or cen- 

 trally depressed, dry, polished, even on the obtuse sometimes wavy 

 margin, very red, almost shining, often darker in the center, flesh 

 white, reddish under the cuticle, taste acrid ; lamellae rather close, 

 adnate, broad, unequal, some of them forked, white becoming yel- 

 lowish with age ; stem hard, solid, white or red ; spores white, glo- 

 bose or subglobose, .0003-.0004 of an inch long. 



