lar has a thick external edge, but its inner edge is so thin that it 
sometimes breaks loose from the stem and becomes a movable 
collar like that of the Parasol mushroom. 
This species grows especially in grassy places, such as lawns 
and pastures, but it is also found in fields, by roadsides and even 
in thin woods. It occurs from August to November. 
The Smooth mushroom has a white and generally tender 
flesh, and is scarcely inferior to the Common mushroom in edible 
qualities. Some have thought its flavor less agreeable, but 
others esteem it quite as good. One correspondent writes that 
“it grows abundantly here, and is one of our finest edible mush- 
rooms. I have taught our people to eat it, and it is now highly 
prized in this region.” It is sometimes mistaken for the com- 
mon mushroom, so close is the resemblance between the two in 
‘habit, size and color, but the white gills of the one and the pink 
gills of the other should be sufficient to distinguish them before 
maturity, and the hollow stem and thick-edged collar of the one 
and the stuffed stem and thin collar of the other after 
maturity. The dangerous Vernal amanita, Amanita verna, 
need never be mistaken for either of these, if the fact is borne in 
mind that its gills are always white, that it has a tall stem with a 
large abrupt bulb at its base margined above with themembranous 
remains of its wrapper. The Smooth mushroom ecarcely diflers 
from the European Lepiota naucina, except in its smoother cap 
and subelliptical spores; the European plant is described as having 
gicbose spores. 
The “Flaky lepiota,” Lepiota excoriata, and the “Bossed 
lepiota,” Lepiota mastoides, have been recorded by Dr. Curtis 
among the edible mushrooms of North Carolina. I have seen 
neither of these species. 
Morgan’s lepiota, Lepiota morgant, a species which occurs in 
some of the western States, which is very remarkable because of 
its green spores, is to be regarded as an unwholesome species. 
Eating it has been followed by severe sickness and vomiting. Its 
gills, which became green in the mature plant, separate it from 
all other known species in this country. 
The genus Armillaria commences a series of white-spored 
agarics, in which the gills are attached to the stem. In this 
respect it differs from the preceding genera, and in its collar- 
bearing stem it differs from those which follow. 
We have a single very common and very variable edible spe- 
cies. It is the Honey-colored mushroom, Armillaria mellea. 
Because of its variability, it is not so easy to describe it as it is 
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