SUBSECTION CAMAROPHYLLI 351 



dried, are darker than the western collections; otherwise there is (lose 

 agreement. In color, the pileus of the Tennessee collection approaches 

 H. capreolarius, but the lamellae become spotted or stained pinkish red 

 which is characteristic of H. erubescens. Smith has collected a form 

 (No. 59170, from Idaho) which has a bitter taste. Niiesch (1922) says 

 that H. rubescens Schroter is a synonym. 



213 



Hygrophorus erubescens var. gracilis Sm. & Hes. 



Lloydia 2: 48. 1939 



Illustration: 

 Fig. 111. 



Pileus 2-3 cm broad, plane with a decurved margin, sometimes 

 slightly umbonate, "Vandyke red" on the disc, "flesh pink" toward the 

 margin, the margin at first white pruinose. Context white, unchanging, 

 soft; odor and taste mild. 



Lamellae adnate, becoming decurrent, white or flushed grayish 

 pink, staining reddish, distant, narrow. 



Stipe 6-10 cm long, 4-8 mm thick, whitish, becoming purplish red 

 in age, upper portion with white-fibrillose scales, or coarsely fibrillose- 

 pruinose, lower portion appressed-fibrillose, dry, equal, base somewhat 

 pointed. 



Spores 8-11 X 5.5-6(7) fi } ellipsoid, smooth, yellowish in Melzer's 

 reagent. Basidia 43-62 X 7-10 /x, rarely 2-spored, usually 4-spored. 

 Pleurocystidia and cheilocystidia none. Gill trama divergent, hyphae 

 3-7 fx broad. Cuticle a gelatinous zone 175-250 /x thick, hyphae pale 

 fuscous, narrow (2.5-4 //,). Hypodermium present, of parallel, peri- 

 clinally disposed hyphae, not conspicuous. Pileus trama interwoven, 

 radially disposed. Special hypodermial zone at the base of the pileus, 

 as found in H. erubescens var. erubescens, absent. Clamp connections 

 present in the cuticle, the gill trama, and the subhymenium (at the 

 base of the basidia ) . 



Habit, Habitat, and Distribution — Gregarious under pine, Ore- 

 gon, Washington, and Tennessee, October-December. 



Material Studied — Oregon: Sipe 922; Smith 3564 (type, from 

 Florence, Nov. 20, 1935), 27990. Washington: Smith 49341. Tennessee: 

 Hesler 24618. 



Observations — This variety is related to H. erubescens var. erube- 

 scens in the same way that the slender form of H. olivaceoalbas is re- 

 lated to that species. There seems to be a series of slender variants in 



