2 



Murrill: Illustrations of Fungi 



In collecting this species for food, young and fresh specimens of 

 mild flavor should be selected, and they should be cooked for at 

 least thirty minutes. 



Armillaria mellea (Vahl) Quel. 

 Honey Agaric 



Plate i. Figure 2. X J 



Pileus convex to expanded, 4-12 cm. broad, very variable, 

 usually dry, smooth or becoming striate toward the margin, pale 

 honey-yellow to dark reddish-brown, usually adorned with mi- 

 nute tufts of brown or blackish hairs, which are more abundant 

 on the disk ; flesh white or whitish, somewhat acrid and unpleas- 

 ant to the taste ; gills adnate or decurrent, white or whitish, 

 becoming discolored or spotted with age ; spores ellipsoid, smooth, 

 hyaline, 7-10 /x long; ring white, cottony, with dark specks, or 

 thin, arachnoid and evanescent ; stem melleous, reddish-brown or 

 dirty-brown below, paler above, nearly equal, firm, fibrous, spongy 

 within, usually floccose-scaly below the ring, 4-12 cm. long, 5-15 

 mm. thick. 



Very widely distributed and very abundant on stumps and 

 buried roots of both deciduous and evergreen trees, on which it 

 grows as a parasite, the sporophores appearing in dense clusters 

 in autumn and the shining brown cords or rhizomorphs being 

 often seen in dead logs and stumps. To the forester this is prob- 

 ably the most important species of all the gill-fungi. It is also 

 much used as an article of food in Europe and about New York 

 City, although of inferior quality. 



Tricholoma equestre (L.) Quel. 

 Equestrian Tricholoma 



Plate 1. Figure 3. X 2 



Pileus convex to expanded, depressed at the center, 8-12 cm. 

 broad, yellowish or reddish, the disk darker, glabrous or slightly 

 scaly, margin flexuous.; flesh white or slightly yellowish, rather 

 unpleasant in flavor; gills broad, nearly free, rounded behind, 

 close, sulphur-yellow ; spores ellipsoid, smooth, hyaline, 6-8 X 

 4-5 fx ; stipe short, thick, solid, variable in shape, white with yel- 

 low or red markings, 3-6 cm. long, 1-2 cm. thick. 



This edible species is conspicuous and beautiful, but not abun- 



