12 CIRCULAR 143, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
This fungus appears mostly on grassy places, such as lawns and parks, during 
the summer months, frequently forming large “ fairy rings.” 
LEPIOTA NAUCINA. SMOOTH LEPIOTA 
(Fig. 10) 
In this species the cap is smooth, white or smoky, almost globose when young, 
then convex, expanding, and becoming somewhat gibbous; the flesh is white; 
FIGURE 9.—Lepiota morgani. (Poisonous) 
the gills are free from the stem, crowded, white, becoming smoky pink when 
old; the stem is rather stout, enlarged below, nearly hollow or loosely stuffed ; 
the ring adheres to the stem. 
The cap is 1% to 8 inches broad; the stem is 2 to 3 inches long and 4 to 8 
lines thick. 
Peck * describes and discusses a form closely allied to Lepiota naucina which 
he calls L. naucinoides, the differences consisting in the smoother cap and in 
the shape of the spores. This latter character, being a microscopic feature, is 
of no practical assistance to the amateur. 
These two forms are both considered edible, but extreme caution must be used 
in order not to collect poisonous or deadly white Amanitas for specimens of 
Lepiota before the pink tinge of the gills is apparent. 
4PrEcK, CHARLES H. 35th Ann. Report of the New York State Museum of Nat. Hist., 
pp. 160-161. 1884. 
