78 
THE LARGER FUNGI 
close, considerably paler than Light Drab (xlvi.). Stem 1] to 3}in. (3.1 to 9.3 
cm.), 5 to 8 mm. thick, mealy above, slightly fibrillose below, equal, stuffed, 
cartilaginous, pallid tinted with drab or fuscous becoming darker below. Mealy 
smell. Spores oval, slightly irregular, 7 to 9 x 4 to 5.5 y. In grassy land or 
under trees. South Australia — Eagle-on-the-Hill, National Park. June. 
The species resembles superficially Colhjbia radicata but has a shorter stem, 
which is not rooting, moderately close, drab-tinted gills and much smaller spores. 
Its characteristics are the dark fuscous cap which is slightly viscid, the close 
gills becoming greyish and the fuscous tinted stem. 
■**Gills rather distant, broad. 
None of our species seem referable to this section. 
ttMargin of pilous straight, at first adpressed to the stem. 
MYCENA Fr. 
(Gr., myites, a fungus.) 
‘ ' Pileus fiesli v or submembranaceous, regular ; margin straight, never incurved. 
Stem central, cartilaginous. Gills adnate or sinuato-adnate with a decurrent 
tooth. Spores white; elliptical, oval, globose or oblong elliptical; smooth, punctate 
or verrucose; continuous. Oystidia present, very rarely absent. Growing on the 
ground or on wood ; solitary or eaespitose. ’ ' — Boa. 
The species of Mycena are characterised by the white spores, the thin pileus 
whose margin is not incurved, the stem differing in texture from the flesh of 
the pileus and the gills adnate or sinuato-adnate with a decurrent tooth but not 
truly decurrent. The plants are relatively small, in some cases minute, the thin 
pileus usually broadly conical, cuuipnmilnte or deeply convex and not tending to 
expand, though the edge may become upturned when old. Often there is a more 
or less prominent umbo or boss. The colour is usually clear, is frequently brown 
or white, sometimes bright red or yellowish. The pileus may be ribbed or striate 
and in some species viscid or glutinous, a condition which may affect the stem 
also. The gills in some eases show a decurrent tooth on the stem; they may be 
white, or have a cinereous tint, or become spotted, or the edge may be red and 
sometimes serrate. The stem may arise from a little bulb at its insertion and, 
especially in eaespitose species, may have abundant strigose hairs at its base. 
It may exude a coloured juice when cut. The species grow on dead leaves, dead 
wood, or on the ground, niul may be single or densely eaespitose. 
Members of the genus are quite common in South Australia, Several brown 
species occur on stumps and between the interstices of the rough bark of some of 
our Eucalypts as dense eaespitose masses with conico-campanulate caps and often 
long clustered stems much covered with hairs at their bases. A delicate whitish 
species may be found after heavy rains growing on the trunks of the elms on 
North Terrace. Other species occur on the ground, usually single and amongst 
grass or fallen leaves and sometimes growing from the latter. Thus Mycena 
sanguinolcnta, fleshy-brownish, rather bell-shaped, with a dark red edge to the 
gills and exuding a prune-coloured juice when the stem is injured, is often found 
in little groups amongst grass, as at National Park. 
KEY TO THE SPECIES. 
Stem juiceless, not viscid, not filiform or fragile and 
without a disc at the base. Densely eaespitose, 
growing on or near wood. 
Pileus brown without a lilac or vinaceous tint. 
Gills white becoming greyish or flesh-tinted, 
adnate, sometimes with a decurrent tooth. 
Pileus rarely up to lin., dark smoky 
brown. Stem whitish, brownish below. 
Spores 9 to 13 x 5.5 y 68. Mycena subgalericu- 
lata. 
Gills white, adnate. 
Pileus Jin., buffy brown to clove brown. 
Stem whitish above, buifv brown below. 
Spores 8.5 to 11 x 6. to 7.5 y 69. M. mistraliana. 
