REPORT OF THE STATE BOTANIST 1908 39 
dark lilac or violaceous color before maturity, but when old it 
changes color as the moisture escapes and becomes pallid, grayish 
or reddish brown. 
The young gills are also violaceous but with age they assume 
a pallid or smoky hue sometimes tinged with pink. 
The stem is nearly equal in diameter throughout its entire length 
but sometimes it is a little thickened at the base. It may be 
solid or stuffed with a pith or in large specimens it may be hollow. 
It is similar in color to the pileus but may be a little paler. Often 
several stems are united at the base, and then the caps are fre- 
quently so crowded that they become irregular or wavy on the 
margin and sometimes they may be eccentric. The stems are 
slightly fibrillose striate and white within. The pinkish tint of 
the spores and the slightly decurrent lamellae are characters sug- 
gestive of the genus Clitopilus. . , 
On account of its slight toughness and the somewhat disagree- 
able flavor of the flesh this species would not be considered a first- 
class mushroom, but with proper preparation it makes a very good 
dish and is harmless. The collector of the Poughkeepsie speci- 
mens gives the following as his method of cooking this mushroom. 
Put them in a covered dish with a little water, having previously 
seasoned them with a little salt and pepper. Put in an oven and 
after roasting them, not before, add a little butter. He adds, 
“we roasted some this morning and pronounce them first-rate.” 
Pholiota duroides Pk. 
HARDISH PHOLIOTA 
PLATE I16, FIG. I-7 
N. Y. State Mus. Bul. 122, p.148 
Pileus thin, convex becoming nearly plane, glabrous or slightly 
rimose squamose in the center, creamy white or sometimes ochra- 
ceous buff either wholly or in the center only, flesh white, taste 
mild; lamellae thin, close, narrow, adnexed, sometimes broadly 
sinuate and having a decurrent tooth, whitish becoming brown or 
rusty brown; stem equal or nearly so, stuffed or hollow, glabrous, 
whitish, the annulus thick and cottony, often lacerated and evanes- 
cent, white; spores broadly elliptic, .00024-.00028 of an inch long, 
.00016-.0002 broad. 
The hardish pholiota is related to the hard pholiota, Pholiota 
dura (Bolt.) Fr. but it may be separated from it by its different 
