POISONOtrS MUSHROOMS. 97 



CLUSTERED YELLOW MUSHROOM. 



Agaricus (ffypholoina) fascicularis. 



(Plate XIII. Fig. 1.) 



The above-named fungus is about the 

 most common everywhere in the British 

 Islands. It appears soon after midsummer, 

 and lasts until destroyed by the frosts. 

 Wholly confined to rotten wood, it grows 

 on fallen trunks, logs, but chiefly on old 

 stumps left in the ground, and forms dense 

 clumps, sometimes two or three feet across. 

 The cap is usually about an inch, but 

 occasionally two inches, in diameter, of a 

 sulphury yellow, reddish or brownish on the 

 top, turning brown in decay, smooth and 

 even. The stems are hollow and elongated, 

 flexuous, and closely pressed together at 

 the base, where they are brownish, but 

 yellow in the upper portion. The gills 

 have a dull greenish tinge, which lasts for 

 a long time, at length becoming discoloured 

 with the purple-brown spores. The odour 



