240 SECTION HYGROCYBE 



142 



Hygrophorus ceraceus ( Fr. ) Fr. 



Epier. Myc, p. 330. 1838 



Agaricus ceraceus Fr., Syst. Myc. 1: 102. 1821. 

 Hijgrocybe ceracea (Fr. ) Kummer, Fiihr. in Pilzk., p. 112. 1871. 

 Hygrocybe nitida var. lutea Murr., Torrev Bot. Club Bull. 66: 159. 

 1939. 



Illustrations: 



Boudier, Icon. Myc, pi. 39. 



Jacquin, Misc. Austr. 2, pi. 15, fig. 2. 



Juillard-Hartmann, Icon. Champ., pi. 50, fig. 9. 



Murrill, Mycologia 2, pi. 27, fig. 2. 



Sowerby, Engl. Fungi, pi. 20. 



Wakefield and Dennis, Common British Fungi, pi. 34, fig. 4. 



Pileus 1-4 cm broad, convex, becoming broadly convex or obtuse, 

 at times the disc flattened or slightly depressed, "light orange-yellow" 

 to "wax yellow," fading to "straw yellow," glabrous, slightly viscid, 

 hygrophanous, translucent striate to the disc when moist. Context 

 yellowish, very soft and fragile; odor and taste not distinctive. 



Lamellae broadly adnate to subdecurrent, pale yellow to nearly 

 white, broadest at base, at times almost triangular, subdistant, thickish, 

 edges even. 



Stipe 2-5 cm long, 2-4 mm thick, concolorous with the pileus, 

 equal, terete or compressed, glabrous, slightly viscid but soon dry, 

 often undulating, hollow. 



Spores 5.5-8 X 4-5 fx, broadly ovoid to subellipsoid, smooth, yel- 

 lowish in Melzer's reagent. Basidia 30-45 X (4)5-7 ^, 4-spored. Pleuro- 

 cystidia and cheilocystidia not differentiated. Gill trama of subparallel 

 to slightly interwoven hyphae, cells 8-12(24) /x broad. Cuticle of 

 repent hyphae, a few of the surface hyphae gelatinous, forming a thin 

 ixocutis. No hypodermium differentiated. Pileus trama of radial hyphae. 

 Clamp connections rare on the cuticular hyphae of the stipe and 

 pileus. 



Habit, Habitat, and Distribution — Scattered to gregarious on 

 moss and soil, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, North 

 Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, Michigan, Washington, Ore- 

 gon, and California, July-January; also Canada and Europe. 



Material Studied — Alabama: Burke, Montgomery Co., Dec. 21, 

 1921. California: Lewis, Santa Barbara, Jan. 6, 1939. Florida: Murrill 

 (type of H. nitidus var. luteus, Gainesville, Aug. 13, 1938). Mas- 

 sachusetts: Bigelow 8315. Michigan: Smith 7261, 21534, 33745, 37021, 

 37056, 41761, 41777, 42263, 42663; Thiers 1108, 3309, 3348, 3637. new 

 york: Bigelow 5049; Kauffman, Ithaca, Aug. 19, 1904, and North Elba, 



