198 SECTION HYGROCYBE 



Spores 11-16 X 8-12 /x, ellipsoid, smooth, white in deposits, pale 

 yellow or almost colorless in Melzer's reagent. Basidia 50-62 X 9-12 /x, 

 2- and 4-spored. Pleurocystidia and cheilocystidia none. Gill trama un- 

 dulating parallel or subparallel hyphal cells 10-18 /x broad. Cuticle a 

 broad (150-400 /x) gelatinous zone, an ixocutis, the hyphae 1.5-4 /x in 

 diameter. No hypodermium differentiated. Pileus trama of periclinal 

 hyphae. Clamp connections present. 



Habit, Habitat, and Distbibution — Singly to sparsely scattered 

 on soil, next to patches of melting snow, Oregon, May. 



Material Studied — obegon: Gruber (type, from Mt. Hood, May 

 31, 1947); Crater Lake National Park, July 15, 1955. (R. McP. Brown 

 282). 



Obsebvatioxs — This species differs from H. brevipes in its more 

 viscid pileus, its close, narrower lamellae, and its much larger spores. 

 The white to pinkish pileus and the unusually large spores constitute 

 distinctive characters. No small basidia or small spores were found. 

 The pileus is about as slimy as that of H. unguinosus. 



112 



Hygrophorus sphaerosporus Pk. 



Torrey Bot. Club Bull. 22: 486. 1895 



Camawphyllus sphaerosporus (Pk.) Murr., North Amer. Flora 9: 

 386. 1916. 



Pileus 12-24 mm broad, subconic, convex, obtuse or slightly um- 

 bonate, whitish, inclining to reddish brown, the margin incurved vis- 

 cid. Context thick at the center, firm, white; odor unpleasant in dry- 

 ing. 



Lamellae adnate or slightly decurrent, white, broad, subdistant. 



Stipe 2.5-5 cm long, 4-6 mm thick, colored like the pileus, gla- 

 brous, floccose above, flexuous, often slightly thickened at the base, 

 solid. 



Spores 5-7 X 4.5-7 /x, globose to subglobose, smooth, at times one 

 or more sides faintly flattened, pale yellowish to colorless in Melzer's 

 reagent. Basidia 28-38 X 6-8 /x, 4-spored. Pleurocystidia and cheilo- 

 cystidia none. Gill trama parallel to subparallel, hyphae 5-14 n broad. 

 Cuticle a gelatinous zone, 40-150 /x thick, with scattered areas of brown- 

 ish hyphae on the surface, the subjacent hyphae colorless. Cuticular hy- 

 phae radially disposed, 2-3.5 /x broad. No hypodermium differentiated. 

 Pileus trama of radial hyphae. Clamp connections absent. 



Habit, Habitat, and Distbibution — Communicated to Peck by 

 C. Mcllvaine, from Iowa, October. 



