14 BULLETIN 175, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Cantharellus aurantiacus. False chanterelle. 



Cap fleshy, soft, somewhat silky, shape variable, convex, plane or infundibuli- 

 form, margin wavy or lobed, inrolled when young, later simply incurved, dull orange 

 or brownish, especially in the center; flesh, yellowish; gills rather thin, decurrent, 

 forked, dark orange; stem spongy, fibrous, colored like the cap, larger at the base 

 than at the apex. 



Plant 1 to 3 inches in height; cap 1 to 3 inches broad. 



This plant is more slender and the gills are thinner than those of Cantharellus 

 cibarius, from which it can be readily distinguished. The taste is generally mild, 

 but sometimes slightly bitter. Foreign and American mycophagists do not agree in 

 regard to the edibility of the species. It is common on the ground or on very rotten 

 logs. 



Cantharellus cibarius. The chanterelle. (Edible.) 



Cap fleshy, thick, smooth, irregularly expanded, sometimes deeply depressed, 

 opaque egg yellow, margin sometimes wavy; flesh white; gills decurrent, thick, 

 narrow, branching or irregularly connected, same color as cap; stem short, solid, 

 expanding into a cap of the same color. 



Plant 2 to 4 inches in height; cap 2 to 3 inches broad. (PI. X, fig. 2.) 

 An agreeable odor of apricots may be observed, especially in the dried plants of 

 this species, but its absence need not be construed as affecting the validity of an iden- 

 tification established by other characters. The chanterelle has long been considered 

 one of the most highly prized edible mushrooms. The remark of a foreign mycologist 

 is recalled that ' 'The chanterelle is included when the most costly dainties are sought 

 for state dinners." 1 It is a common summer species found in open woods and grassy 

 places. 



CL1TOCYBE. 



The white-spored genus Clitocybe contains many species, and some 

 of them possess definite generic characters which render identifica- 

 tion easy, while others are extremely difficult to recognize. The cap 

 is generally fleshy, later in some species concave to infundibuliform, 

 thinner at the margin, which is involute. The gills are adnate or 

 decurrent. The stem is externally fibrous, tough, not readily separ- 

 able from the flesh of the cap. The gills in Clitocybe are never sinu- 

 ate, a character separating it from Tricholoma, with which it agrees 

 in having a fibrous stem. 



Clitocybe amethystina. (Edible.) 



Cap at first hemispherical, later broadly convex or nearly plane, sometimes de- 

 pressed in the center and umbilicate, hygrophanous, violaceous when moist, grayish 

 or grayish white when dry, often striate on the margin when young; gills violaceous, 

 rather thick, subdistant, adnate or slightly decurrent; stem slender, fibrillose, rigid, 

 straight or flexuose, stuffed, later hollow, paler than the moist cap. 



Cap 1 to 2 inches broad; stem 2 to 3 inches long. 



This species is edible, but slightly tough. Its characters are quite constant, and it 

 should be recognized by the violaceous color of the cap when moist, the grayish hue 

 when dry, and the persistent violaceous color of the gills. 



Clitocybe dealbata. (Edible.) 



Cap convex, then plane, finally revolute and undulate, dry, even, smooth, some- 

 what shining; flesh, thin, dry, white; gills adnate, crowded, scarcely decurrent, 

 white; stem equal, erect or ascending, stuffed, wholly fibrous, apex subpruinose. 



1 Berkeley. 



