MUSHROOMS AND OTHER COMMON FUNGI. 21 



This species is closely related to Lactarius deliciosus, to which in flavor and sub- 

 stance it is scarcely inferior. It is paler than that species and the milk is saffron yellow 

 rather than orange. The plan Is are fragile and when wounded turn blue, and later green. 

 They are to be found especially in dry localities in the vicinity of pine woods in 

 September and October. 



Lactarius deceptivus. (Edible.) 



Cap fleshy, convex umbilicate, then expanded and centrally depressed, somewhat 

 infundibuliform, white or whitish, margin at first involute, covered with a dense soft 

 cottony tomentum, filling the space between the margin and the stem, finally spread- 

 ing or elevated and more or less fibrillose; gills whitish or cream colored, rather broad, 

 distant or subdistant, adnate or decurrent, forking; stem solid, nearly equal, pruinose- 

 pubescent. 



Cap 2£ to 5£ inches broad; stem three-fourths inch to 3 inches long. (PI. XVII, 

 fig. 3.) " 



Lactarius deceptivus is found in woods and open places from July to September. It 

 is coarse, but fairly good after its peppery taste is lost by cooking. 



Lactarius deliciosus. (Edible.) 



Cap convex, but depressed in the center when quite young, finally funnel shaped, 

 smooth, slightly viscid, deep orange, yellowish or grayish orange, generally zoned, 

 margin naked, at first involute, unfolding as the plant becomes infundibuliform ; flesh 

 soft, pallid; gills crowded, narrow, often branched, yellowish orange; stem equal 

 or attenuated at the base, stuffed, then hollow, of the same color as the cap except that 

 it is paler and sometimes has dark spots. 



Cap 2 to 5 inches broad; stem 1 to 2 inches long, 1 inch thick. 



This fungus is distinctive, on account of its orange color and the concentric zones 

 of light and dark orange on the cap and because of the saffron red or orange milk. 

 A peculiarity of the plant is that it turns green upon bruising and in age changes from 

 the original color to greenish . Lactarius deliciosus is widely distributed and of common 

 occurrence, appearing on the ground in woods, solitary or in patches, from June or 

 July to October. As the name indicates, it is considered a delicious species, and that 

 it has a preeminent claim to the name is unchallenged. Even by the ancients it 

 was considered "food for the gods." 



Lactarius fumosus. (Suspicious.) 



Cap convex, plane or slightly depressed, snuff brown or coffee colored, dry gla- 

 brous or i>ruinose, very smooth, margin entire or sometimes wavy; flesh, white, chang- 

 ing to reddish when wounded; gills subdistant, adnate, or slightly decurrent, white 

 then yellow, becoming pinkish or salmon where bruised; stem nearly equal or 

 slightly tapering downward, stuffed, then hollow, colored like the cap. 



Cap 2 to 3 inches broad; stem 1^ to 2 \ inches long, about 6 lines thick. 



This species varies considerably in size, color, and closeness of the gills. The dis- 

 tinguishing features for field identification are the coffee-colored cap and the change- 

 able color of the flesh and gills. Its use should be strictly avoided, as it closely resem- 

 bles Lactarius fuliginosus , a poisonous species. These two species, L. fumosus and 

 L. fuliginosus, are sometimes considered identical. 1 



Lactarius indigo. (Edible.) 



Cap at first umbilicate and the margin involute, later cap depressed or infundibuli- 

 form and margin elevated, indigo blue with a silvery gray luster, zonate, fading in 

 age, becoming greenish and less distinctly zoned, milk abundant and dark blue; gills 

 crowded, indigo blue, changing to greenish in age; stem short, nearly equal, hollow. 



1 Burlingham, Gertrude S. Study of the Lactariae of the United States. Memoirs, Torrey Botanical 

 Club, v. 14, no. 1, p. 84, 1908. 



