42 MINNESOTA MUSHROOMS 



Hygrophorus pratensis Water Top 



Cap small to medimii. 3-10 cm. \vide, yellow, yellowish or whitish, moist but 

 not stickv. smooth, convex or flattened, then shaped like a top; stem short. 3-5 

 cm. by 1-2 cm., tawny or whitish, tapering toward the base, smooth, stuffed: gills 

 long-decurrent. yellowish or whitish, connected bv veins at the base, distant ; spores 

 ellipsoid, 7-10 \ 4-(Yi. The name refers to its habit of growing in meadows and 

 pastures. 



In grassland, often m tufts or rings, late summer and autumn : excellent. 



Hygrophorus psittacinus Green Slimecap 



C a p small. 2-4 cm. wide, usuallv vellow. but var\'ing to red, brown or white, 

 tvpicalh' covered with a green slime, smooth, striate, bell-shaped to plane or more 

 or less depressed ; stem somewhat slender, 5-S cm, bv 3-4 mm., colored much like 

 the cap, but the green slime most persistent at the top, smooth, hollow: gills 

 adnate, more or less greenish, broad and distant : s p ores ellipsoid. 7-S X 5-6/.1. 

 The name refers to the parrot-like color. 



In woodland and grassland, summer and autumn : iirobablv edible. 



Hygrophorus miniatus Vermilion Watercap 



C a p small. 1-4 cm. wide, vermilion red. rarelv red-vellow or vellow, not stickv. 

 usuallv smooth, convex to plane : s t e m short, slender, 2-5 cm. bv 2 mm., ustiallv 

 red, polished, more or less stuffed : gills adnate, yellow, or tinged with red, distant ; 

 s p ores elliptic, S \ 6/.1. The name refers to the color of the cap. 



Common in woods, and in grassland, July to frost : excellent, 



Hygrophorus puniceus Blood Cap 



Cap small to medium, 3-12 cm. wide, blood-red, paler in age, stickv. smooth, 

 bell-shaped to Hat or depressed: stem S cm. bv 1-2 cm., vellow or red above, hut 

 always wdiite at the base, striate, hollow ; gills adnexed, yellow, broad and distant ; 

 spores elliptic, 10 \ 4-5/^. The name refers to the color of the cap. 



In grassland, summer and autumn : edible. 



Hygrophorus conicus Red Cone 



Pl.vte I : 7 



Cap small, 1-4 cm. wide, red, vermilion, orange or vellow, blackening as it 

 dries, sticky when moist, shining, smooth, conic, though more or less expanded and 

 lobed at the margin in age; stem slender, 5-10 cm, by 4-8 mm,, colored like the 

 cap or paler, striate, hollow ; gills free, yellow, distant : spores ellipsoid, 10X6- 

 Sfj-. The name refers to the shape of the cap. 



Common in woodland and thicket, during simimer and autumn ; edible. 



