The Mushroom, Edible and Otherwise Part 55

This plant grows in September in mixed woods among the dead leaves. Its bright violet color will arrest the attention at once.

_Inocybe dulcamara. A. & S._

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 220.--Inocybe dulcamara.]

Dulcamara means bitter-sweet. The pileus is an inch to an inch and a half in diameter, rather fleshy, convex, umbonate, pilosely-scaly.

The gills are arcuate, ventricose, pallid olivaceous.

The stem is somewhat hollow, fibrillose and squamulose from the veil, farinaceous at the apex. Spores 8-105.

Found from July to September, in gra.s.sy places.

_Inocybe cincinnata. Fr._

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 221.--Inocybe cincinnata. Two-thirds natural size.

Caps scaly, dark or grayish-brown.]

Cincinnata means with curled hair. This is quite an interesting little plant. It is found on Cemetery Hill, in Chillicothe, under the pine trees and along the walks where there is but little gra.s.s. It is gregarious and quite a hardy plant.

The pileus is fleshy, convex, then plane, quite squarrosely scaly, somewhat dark or grayish-brown.

The gills are grayish-brown with a tinge of violet at times; adnexed, rather close, ventricose.

The stem is solid, slender, scaly, somewhat lighter than the pileus. The spores are 8-105.

This plant seems to be a late grower. I did not find it till about the 15th of October and it continued till the last of November. I had found two other species on the same hill earlier in the season. No Inocybes are good to eat.

_Inocybe pyriodora. Pers._

Pyriodora, smelling like a pear. The pileus is one to two inches broad, quite strongly umbonate, at first conical, expanded, covered with fibrous adpressed scales, in old plants the margin turned up, smoky or brown-ochre becoming pale.

The gills are notched at the stem, not crowded, dingy-white, becoming nearly cinnamon-brown, somewhat ventricose.

The stem is two to three inches long, stuffed, firm, equal, pale, apex pruinose, veil very fugacious. Flesh tinged with red.

Common in the woods in September and October. The plant is not edible.

_Inocybe rimosa. Bull._

THE CRACKED INOCYBE.

Rimosa, cracked. The pileus is one to two inches broad, s.h.i.+ning, satiny, adpressed fibrillose, brown-yellow, campanulate, then expanded, longitudinally cracked.

The gills are free, somewhat ventricose, at first white, brownish-clay color.

The stem is one to two inches high, distant from the pileus, solid, firm, nearly smooth, bulbous, mealy white above. Spores smooth, 10-116.

I. eutheles differs from this species in being umbonate; I. pyriodora in its strong smell. Many plants will often be found in one place in open woods or in cleared places. Their radiately cracked pilei, with the inner substance showing yellow through the cracks, will help to distinguish the species. Found from June to September.

_Hebeloma. Fr._

Hebeloma is from two Greek words meaning youth and fringed. Partial veil fibrillose or absent. Pileus is smooth, continuous, somewhat viscid, margin incurved. The gills are notched adnate, edge of different color, whitish. The spores clay-color. All found on the ground.

_Hebeloma glutinosum. Linn._

Glutinosum, abounding in glue. The pileus is one to three inches broad, light-yellow, the disk darker, fleshy, convex, then plane, covered with a viscid gluten in wet weather; flesh is white, becoming yellow.

The gills are attached to the stem, notched, slightly decurrent, crowded, pallid, light yellow, then clay-color. Spores elliptical, 10-125.

The stem is stuffed, firm, somewhat bulbous, covered with white scales, and mealy at the top. There is a partial veil in the form of a cortina.

Found among leaves in the woods. In wet weather the gluten is abundant.

While it is not poisonous it is not good.

_Hebeloma fastibile. Fr._

OCHREY HEBELOMA. POISONOUS.

Fastibilis means nauseous, disagreeable; so called from its pungent taste and smell.

The pileus is one to three inches across, convex, plane, wavy, viscid, smooth, pale yellowish-tan, margin involute and downy.

The gills are notched, rather distant, pallid, then cinnamon; lachrymose.

The stem is two to four inches long, solid, subbulbous, white, fibrous scaly, sometimes twisted, often becoming hollow, veil evident. The spores are pip-shaped, 106.

The odor is much the same as in H. crustuliniforme but it differs in having a manifest veil and more distant gills. Found in woods from July to October.

_Hebeloma crustuliniforme. Bull._

THE RING HEBELOMA. NOT EDIBLE.

Crustuliniforme means the form of a cake or bun.

The pileus is convex, then expanded, smooth, somewhat viscid, often wavy, yellowish-red, quite variable in size.

The gills are notched, thin, narrow, whitish then brown, crowded, edge crenulate, and with beads of moisture.

The stem is solid, or stuffed, firm, subbulbous, whitish, with minute white recurved flecks.