OP SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 
135 
****Witli 0 ut a ring or a volva. 
PILOSACE Fr. 
(Gr., pilos, a cap; sakos, a shield.) 
“Pilens fleshy, regular. Stem central, stout. Gills free from the stem. Spores 
Lay purple, globose, smooth, with a germ-pore. Growing on the ground.’’ — Rea. 
No Australian species so far known. 
(b) PiLEUS CONFLUENT WITH AND HOMOGENEOUS WITH THE FLESHY STEM. 
:i With a membranous ring o.. the stem. 
STROPHARIA Fr. 
(Gr., strophos, a belt'.) 
‘ ‘ Pileus fleshy, regular. Stem central. Ring membranaceous, adnate, persis- 
tent or fugacious. Gills more or less adnate. Spores purple or fuscous, rarely 
blackish, elliptical, elliptic-oblong or pip-shaped, smooth with an apical germ- 
pore. Growing on the ground, on dung, or on wood, sometimes caespitose, sub- 
caespitose or fasciculate. ’ ' — Rea. 
The genus is readily recognised by the more or less evident ring on the stem, 
the latter not being readily separable from the pileus, and by the purple or 
fuscous spores, a colour which is recognisable in the tint of the mature gills. 
Only four (or five) species have hitherto been found in the State, one of which 
grows in lawns and gardens and the others on dung. In the case of S. merdarkt, 
the incompleteness or absence of the ring leads to the placing of the species by 
some authors under Psilocybe. 
KEY TO THE SPECIES. 
Not growing on dung. Medium sized 202. Stropharia Obturata. 
Growing on dung or manured soil. 
Ring obvious. 
Pileus persistently hemispherical 203. *S‘. semiglqbata. 
Pileus hemispherical, then expanding 204. S. sterooraria. 
Pileus with a more or less acute umbo. Smell 
musty 205. 8- umbonatesaens. 
Ring incomplete, often not recognisable 206. S. merdaria. 
A. Pellicle of the pileus even or scaly, usually viscid. 
*Not growing on dung. 
202. Stropharia obturata Fr. (L., obturatus, stopped up). — Pileus up to Uin. 
(3.7 cm.), light yellow (Buff Yellow, iv.) becoming slightly browner, convex, 
then plane or a little upturned, obsoletely viscid, commonly dry, smooth, tending 
to crack rimosely. Gills very slightly sinuate or adnexed (adnate in British 
plants), crowded, pallid whitish, then dingy greyish (near Deep Quaker Drab, 
li.). Stem 1 to 2in. (2.5 to 5 cm.), slightly attenuated downwards, firm, often 
a little flexuous, solid, somewhat mealy above the ring, silky-shining and slightly 
fibrillose below. Veil white, appendiculate to the margin of the pileus when 
young. Ring superior or subdistant, white, reflexed, sometimes disappearing 
in old plants. Spores obliquely elliptical, purplish-vinaeeous to purplish-brown. 
5.5 to 8 x 3.5 t'o 5.6 y. On the ground in lawns and amongst grass in gardens, 
etc. South Australia — University lawns, Beaumont Common, Hallett’s Cove, 
Encounter Bay. New South Wales. February, April to June, after rain. 
This species is not uncommon in lawns and: amongst grass or in gardens. The 
pileus is buff-yellow, the gills have a dingy greyish appearance, the superior ring 
is usually well marked and the stem is rather short. 
