182 SECTION HYGROCYBE 



100 



Hygrophorus ravenelii B. & C. 



Ann. Mag. Xat. Hist. II (12): 424. 1853 



Pileus 4-6.5 cm broad, convex, orange-red, moist, smooth. 



Lamellae deeply emarginate but attached, paler than the pileus, 

 ventricose. 



Stipe 10-12.5 cm long, 6 mm thick, yellow, whitish and attenuated 

 below, brittle, fistulose. 



Spores 8-9 X 4.5-5.5 p., rather numerous, ellipsoid, smooth, color- 

 less in Melzer's reagent. Basidia 41-49 X 4-8 /x. Pleurocystidia and 

 cheilocystidia none. Gill trama composed of subparallel hyphae, 3.5-6 

 fx broad, many are collapsed and do not revive in 2% KOH, vellowish 

 brown in Melzer's reagent. Pileus cuticle hyphae with a few clamp 

 connections, repent to somewhat erect, not gelatinous. Pileus trama 

 yellowish brown in Melzer's reagent. 



Habit, Habitat, and Distbibutiox — On wet soil, South Carolina. 



Matebial Studied — south cabolina: Ravenel (type, on deposit 

 in the Herbarium at Kew Gardens, 2889). 



Obsebvatioxs — The description of microscopic characters given 

 above is based on our study of the type. 



Although there are two collections at Kew, only the type, No. 

 2889, according to Dr. G. Taylor at Kew, was definitely determined by 

 Berkeley as H. ravenelii. 



The single carpophore is dark red and is cemented to the sheet. 

 There seems to be no umbo. 



The second collection, Kew No. 3444, may be a different species. 

 The spores are similar to those of the type, but the basidia are smaller, 

 the pileus is pallid-brownish with very thin flesh, and the gills are thin. 



Coker (1929) reported in some detail on an agaric from North 

 Carolina which he described and figured under the name H. ravenelii. 

 We have studied Coker's Nos. 3590, 3780, 3757, and 3790. In all of 

 these the spores are 9-14 X 5.7-8 p, the basidia 2- and 4-spored, clamp 

 connections absent, and the pileus is strongly umbonate. In our opin- 

 ion, Coker's specimens are H. cuspidatus. So far as we know, the type 

 is the only reported collection of the true H. ravenelii. Further search 

 may yield additional collections of it. 



101 



Hygrophorus subcaespitosus (Murr.) Murr. 



Mycologia 4: 332. 1912 



Hijdrocybe subcaespitosa Murr., Mycologia 3: 197. 1911. 



