Keport of the State Botanist. 225 



The soft downy tomentum which is characteristic of this species and 

 which covers the whole pileus gives it a pruinose appearance when 

 viewed from a little distance. The stem is generally short and is some- 

 times broader than long. The lamellae vary in width from two to four 

 lines and are generally about equal in width to the thickness of the 

 pileus. They become stained where bruised. The milk, which is some- 

 times quite abundant in wet weather, exudes from wounds arid dries 

 into cream-colored gummy granules. The taste is very acrid. Cordier 

 states that it is poisonous according to some authors, edible according 

 to Leveille. 



Lactarius deceptivus, Peck. 

 Deceptive Lactarius. 



Pileus compact, at first convex and umbilicate, then expanded and 

 centrally depressed or subinfundibuliform, obsoletely tomentose or gla- 

 brous except on the margin, white or whitish, often varied with yellow- 

 ish or sordid stains, the margin at first involute and clothed with a dense, 

 soft or cottony tomentum, then spreading or elevated and more or less 

 fibrillose ; lamellae rather broad, distant or subdistant, adnate or decur- 

 rent, some of them forked, whitish, becoming cream colored ; stem equal 

 or narrowed downward, solid, pruinose-pubescent, white ; spores white, 

 .00035 t0 'W°$ i n *5 milk white, taste acrid. 



Pileus 3 to 5 in. broad, stem 1 to 3 in. long, 8 to 18 lines thick. 



Woods and open places, especially under hemlock trees. Common. 

 July to September. 



This plant appears to have been confused with L. vellereus, which it 

 closely resembles, but from which it appears to me to be quite distinct, 

 both in the character of the tomentum of the pileus and in its de- 

 cidedly larger and rougher spores. The young pileus is clothed with a 

 thin, silky tomentum, which, on the involute margin, is quite thick, but 

 very soft and cottony, and sometimes striated with parallel impressions, 

 produced by previous pressure against the edges of the lamellae. In the 

 mature plant the pileus appears nearly or quite glabrous, or is merely 

 shaggy fibrillose on the margin. Sometimes the cuticle seems to be 

 slightly rimose, and the surface then has a kind of scaly appearance. 

 The lamellae are as broad and distant as in L. vellereus, but the stem is 

 generally a little longer in the present species than it is in that. The 

 glabrous form of this species was referred to L. piperatus in the Twenty- 

 third Report. An experiment of its edible qualities was made without 

 any evil consequences. The acridity was destroyed by cooking. 



ft Pileus glabrous or merely pruinose or pruinose-pubescent, not 

 squamulose. 



Lactarius piperatus, Fr. 



Peppery Lactarius. 



Agaricus piperatus, Scop. A. acris, Bull. A. Listeri, Krombh. 



Pileus compact, at first convex and umbilicate, then expanded and 

 centrally depressed or infundibuliform, even, glabrous, white : lamellae 

 narrow, crowded, dichotomous, adnate or decurrent, white or cream 

 colored ; stem equal or slightly tapering downward, solid, glabrous, 



