GILL FUNGI 



Key to the Species 



1. Cap whitish; gills whitish, distant 



2. Cap rust-colored; gills yellow or yellowish, close 



31 



0. uiiibcllifera 

 0. campanella 



Omphalia umbellifera Umbel Cup 



Cap small 1-3 cm. wide, whitish or grayish, smooth, watery-translucent, 

 striate, convex, plane and finally depressed; stem slender, 1-3 cm. by 2 mm., 

 whitish, usually smooth, hairy at the base, stuffed or hollow ; gills decurrent, 

 whitish, broad, distant; spores subglobose to ellipsoid, 8-10 X 5-6;u,. The name 

 refers to the shape of the cap. 



Common on decaying wood or on ground containing much decayed wood, 

 smmiier and autumn ; edible, but scarcely desirable. 



Omphalia campanella 

 Bell Cup 



Cap small, 6-15 mm. 

 wide, rust-colored, smooth, 

 watery-translucent, somewhat 

 striate, bell-shaped or convex, 

 depressed in the middle ; 

 stem slender, 3-6 cm. by 2 

 mm., brown, smooth, hairy at 

 the base, hollow ; gills de- 

 current, yellow or yellowish, 

 connected by veins, close ; 

 spores elliptic 6-7 X 3-4;U,. 

 The name refers to the bell- 

 shaped cap. 



In clusters on decaying 

 logs and stumps, especially of 

 conifers, rarely on the ground, 

 summer and autumn ; edible. 



Figure 18. Omphali.a. campanella 



PLEUKOTUS 



This genus is characterized by an excentric or lateral stem; the stem is entirely 

 lacking in some species, and the cap is shelf-like, or is turned upside down. 

 Pleurotus resembles Tricholoma and C 1 i t o c y b"e"'*in"*9tr'UCture' but is 

 readily recognized as a rule by the absence of a central stem, and by its habit of 

 growing on wood. This is one of the most satisfactory of genera from the stand- 

 point of the mushroom-eater. The species are conmion, usually grow in large masses 

 throughout the entire growing period, and are of excellent flavor. The name refers 

 to the excentric or lateral stem. 



