H. erubes´cens Fr.—erubesco, to become red. Pileus 2–4 in. and more broad, white becoming everywhere red, fleshy, gibbous then convexo-plane, viscid, adpressedly dotted with squamules or becoming smooth, sometimes wholly compact, sometimes thin towards the margin which is at the first naked. Flesh firm, white. Stem sometimes short, robust, 2 in. long, 1 in. thick and attenuated upward, sometimes elongated, 4 in. long, equal or attenuated at the base, solid, flexuous, with red fibrils, dotted with red upward. Gills decurrent, distant, soft, white, with red spots. Fries.

Veil none. The ground color is white, as it is also internally, but it everywhere becomes red and the pileus often rosy blood-color. Handsome, growing in troops, commonly forming large lax circles.

In pine woods. Stevenson.

Spores ellipsoid, very obtuse at both ends, 8–10×4–5µ K.; 8×4µ Cooke.

Edible. Cooke.

H. ni´tidus B. and Rav.—shining. Pileus thin, fleshy, convex, broadly umbilicate, smooth, shining, viscid, pale yellow with the margin striatulate when moist, nearly white when dry. Gills arcuate, decurrent, yellow. Stem slender, brittle, smooth, viscid, hollow, yellow. Flesh yellow.

Height 2–4 in., breadth of Pileus 8–12 lines. Stem 1–2 lines thick.

Swamps. Sandlake. August.

The cavity of the stem is very small. Peck, 23d Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Found in many states and places, usually on moist ground beside streams, or spring heads. It sometimes parades itself in irregular processions, at others in sparse patches. It is delicate in flavor, and tender cooked.

H. limaci´nus Fr.—limax, a slug. Pileus 1½-2½ in. broad, disk umber then sooty, paler round the margin, fleshy, convex then flattened, obtuse, smooth, viscid. Flesh rather firm, white. Stem 2–3 in. long, ½ in. thick, solid, firm, ventricose, sticky, flocculose, fibrilloso-striate, roughened with squamules at the apex. Gills adnate, then decurrent, somewhat distant, thin, white inclining to ash-color. Fries.

Veil entirely viscous, not floccose.

In woods among damp leaves. Stevenson.

Spores 12×4µ Cooke.

New York, Peck, Rep. 34. Thin woods and open places.

Reported edible Bulletin No. 5, 1897, Boston Mycological Club.

H. hypoth´ejus Fr. Gr.—under; Gr—sulphur (under gluten). Pileus 1–2 in. broad, at first smeared with olivaceous gluten, ash-colored, when the gluten disappears, becoming pale and yellowish, orange or rarely (when rotting) rufescent, fleshy, thin, convex then depressed, obtuse, even, somewhat streaked. Flesh thin, white then becoming light yellow. Stem 2–4 in. long, 2–3 lines and more thick, stuffed, equal, even, viscous, but rarely spotted with the veil, at length hollow. Partial veil floccose, at the first cortinate and annular, soon fugacious. Gills decurrent, distant, distinct, at first pallid (even whitish) soon yellow, sometimes flesh-color. Fries.

Very protean, changeable in color and variable in size. Stem not scabrous. There is no trace of the veil when the plant is full grown. Appearing after the first cold autumn nights, and lasting even till snow.

In pine woods. Frequent. Stevenson.

Spores 10×6µ Cooke; 12×4µ W.G.S.

Hollis Webster, in Bulletin No. 5, 1897, Boston Mycological Club, writes: “H. hypothejus Fr., when dried, is crisp and nutty, and very good to carry in the pocket for occasional nibble.”

II.—Camarophyl´lus.

H. dis´tans Berk.—distant (of the gills). Pileus about 2 in. broad, white, with a silky luster, here and there stained with brown, somewhat fleshy, plane or depressed, viscid. Stem white above, gray below, and attenuated, not spotted. Gills decurrent, few, very distant, somewhat ventricose, pure white then tinged with ash-color, interstices obscurely wrinkled.

Often umbilicate. Remarkable for the few and distant gills. Stevenson.

Spores 10×8µ Cooke.

Caps white, shaded to light pinkish-brown toward center. Gills very distant. Leaves adhere to cap.

Specimens tested were of mild, pleasant flavor.

H. sphæro´sporus Pk. Pileus fleshy and thick in the center, sub-obconic, convex, obtuse or slightly umbonate, whitish, inclining to reddish-brown, the margin incurved. Flesh firm, white. Gills rather broad, subdistant, adnate or slightly decurrent, white. Stems tufted, flexuous, solid, glabrous, often slightly thickened at the base, colored like the pileus. Spores globose, 6–8µ broad.

Pileus 6–12 lines broad. Stem 1–2 in. long, 2–3 lines thick.

Iowa. October. Communicated by C. McIlvaine.

The fresh plant is said to have no decided odor, but when partly dried it emits a slight but rather unpleasant odor. It belongs apparently to the section Camarophyllus, and is related to Hygrophorus Peckii. Peck, Torr. Bull., Vol. 22, No. 12.

Received by the writer from Hon. Thomas Updegraff, MacGregor, Iowa, and forwarded to Professor Peck as a new species.

The fungus has but slight taste and is without odor when fresh.

It is probably edible. Not received in sufficient quantity to test.

H. cera´ceus Fr.—cera, wax. Pileus about 1 in. broad, waxy-yellow, shining, slightly fleshy, thin, but slightly firm, convexo-plane, obtuse, slightly pellucid-striate, viscid. Stem 1–2 in. and more long, about 2 lines thick, hollow, often unequal, flexuous and at length compressed, even, smooth, of the same color as the pileus, never darker at the apex. Gills adnato-decurrent, broad, almost triangular, distinct, yellow. Fries.

Fragile; easily distinguished from others by its waxy (not changeable) color. Stevenson.

Spores 8×6µ Cooke.

Eaten in Germany.

Found at Angora and Kingsessing, Philadelphia, 1887. August to October. Open grassy places in woods, and in pastures. Scattered and in troops. Excellent. Stew slowly.

H. fla´vo-dis´cus Frost—flavus, yellow; discus, disk. Pileus convex or plane, smooth, glutinous, white with a pale-yellow or reddish-yellow disk. Flesh white. Gills adnate or decurrent, subdistant, white, sometimes with a slight flesh-colored tint, the inter-spaces sometimes veiny. Stem subequal, solid, glutinous, white, sometimes slightly stained with yellow. Spores elliptical, 6–8×4µ.

Plant 2–3 in. high. Pileus 1–3 in. broad. Stem 2–8 lines thick.

Pine woods. West Albany. November.

This, like H. fuligineus, has a short white space at the top of the stem, free from the viscidity that exists elsewhere. It resembles in many respects Hygrophorus speciosus, which has the pileus red, fading to yellow with advancing age. Perhaps the three may yet prove to be forms of one very variable species, for the most conspicuous differences between them consist in the colors of the pileus. The constancy with which the three styles of coloration has thus far been maintained indicates a specific difference, but color alone is not generally regarded as having any specific value. Peck, 35th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Spores 6.4–7.6×4µ Peck.

I find this very good but its dirty pellicle should be peeled before using. Peck, in letter, 1896.

Mr. Hollis Webster writes of H. flavo-discus (Yellow Sweet Bread) in Bull. No. 45, of the Boston Mycological Club, 1897: “This is a mushroom worth going a long way to get. It is abundant in rich woods under pines in certain localities, and is a great favorite with those who know it. It is easily prepared and requires little cooking.”

I have eaten enjoyably of it since 1881.

Plentiful in the Jersey pines, in West Virginia and Pennsylvania, and equal to any toadstool of its size.

H. fuligi´neus Frost—resembling soot. Pileus convex or nearly plane, glabrous, very viscid or glutinous, grayish-brown or soot-color, the disk often darker or almost black. Gills subdistant, adnate or decurrent, white. Stem solid, viscid or glutinous, white or whitish. Spores elliptical, 7–9×5µ.

The Sooty hygrophorous resembles the Club-stemmed clitocybe in the color of its cap, but in nearly every other respect it is different. When moist the cap is covered with an abundant gluten which when dry gives it a shining appearance as if varnished. The color varies from grayish-brown to a very dark or sooty-brown with the central part usually still darker or almost black, but never with an umbo. The flesh and the gills are white. The stem also is white or but slightly shaded toward the base with the color of the cap. It is variable in length and shape, being long or short, straight or crooked, everywhere equal in thickness or tapering toward the base. It is glutinous and unpleasant to handle.

The cap is 1–4 in. broad, the stem 2–4 in. long, and 4–8 lines thick. The plants grow either singly or in tufts. In the latter case the caps are often irregular from mutual pressure.

The plants occur early in October and November, in pine woods or woods of pine and hemlock intermixed.

This mushroom is tender and of excellent flavor, but its sticky and often dirty covering should be peeled before cooking. Peck, 49th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Found at Angora, near Philadelphia, August 1, 1897. Densely cespitose.

Raw it tastes like dead leaves. Tender and of fine flavor when cooked.

H. puni´ceus Fr.—blood-red. Pileus 2–4 in. broad, glittering blood-scarlet, in dry weather and when old becoming pale especially at the disk, slightly fleshy for its breadth, at first bell-shaped, obtuse, commonly repand or lobed, very irregular, even, smooth, viscid. Flesh of the same color, fragile. Stem 3 in. long, ½-1 in. thick, solid when young, at length hollow, very stout (not compressed), ventricose (attenuated at both ends), striate, and for the most part squamulose at the apex, when dry light yellowish or of the same color as the pileus, always white and often incurved at the base. Gills ascending, ventricose, 2–4 lines broad, thick, distant, white-light yellow or yellow and often reddish at the base. Fries.

The largest of the group and very handsome. It certainly differs from H. coccineus, for which it is commonly mistaken, in stature, in the adnexed gills, and in the white base of the striate stem. The attachment of the gills varies, but from the form of the pileus they ascend to the base of the cone and appear free.

In pastures. Stevenson.

Spores 8×5µ Cooke.

Edible. Cooke. No harm would come of confusing it with the vermilion mushroom—H. miniatus Pk.

H. con´icus Fr.—conical. Pileus thin, submembranaceous, fragile, smooth, conical, generally acute, sometimes obtuse, the margin often lobed. Gills rather close and broad, subventricose, narrower toward the stem, free, terminating in an abrupt tooth at the outer extremity, scarcely reaching the margin, yellow. Stem equal, fibrous-striate, yellow, hollow.

Height 3–6 in., breadth of pileus 6–12 lines. Stem 1–2 lines thick.

Ground in woods and open places. North Elba and Center. August to October.

The color of the pileus is variable. I have taken specimens with it pale sulphur-yellow and others with it bright red or scarlet. The plant turns black in drying. Peck, Rep. 23, New York State Bot.

Spores 10×7µ Cooke; 10×6µ Morgan.

An old-time cure-all had medicinal virtues proportionate to its offensiveness. Old-time writers, contrariwise, gave every toadstool a bad name which changed color or displeased their noses. The pretty little Hygrophorus conicus, for these reasons, has, until now, been under the ban of suspicion. M.C. Cooke, in his handy book, Edible and Poisonous Mushrooms, was the first to lighten its sentence and make it a sort of ticket-of-leave culprit.

The writer has frequently eaten it, and is glad to vouch for its harmlessness and testify to its eminent respectability.

H. chloroph´anus Fr. Gr—greenish-yellow. Pileus 1 in. broad, commonly bright sulphur-yellow, sometimes, however, scarlet, not changing color, somewhat membranaceous, very fragile, at first convex, then plane, obtuse, orbicular and lobed, and at length cracked, smooth, viscid, striate. Stem 2–3 in. long, 2–3 lines thick, hollow, equal, round, rarely compressed, wholly even, smooth, viscid when moist, shining when dry, wholly unicolorous, rich light yellow. Gills emarginato-adnexed, very ventricose, with a thin decurrent tooth, thin, distant, distinct. Fries.

Very much allied to H. conicus, but never becoming black, and otherwise certainly distinguished by its convex, obtuse, striate pileus, by its even and viscous stem, and by its emarginato-free, thin, somewhat distant, whiter gills. Like H. ceraceus in appearance.

In grassy and mossy places. Common. August to October. Stevenson.

Spores 8×5µ Cooke; 8µ Q.

Received from E.B. Sterling, Trenton, N.J., August, 1897.

Open grassy woods.

But three specimens were tested. They were in every way agreeable.

LACTA´RIUS Fr.

The hymenophore continuous with the stem. Pileus somewhat rigid, fleshy, becoming more or less depressed, often marked with concentric zones. Gills unequal, membranaceous-waxy, slightly rigid, milky, edge acute, decurrent or adnate and often branched. Stem stout, central, rarely excentric except in those growing on trunks. Spores globose, minutely echinulate, white, rarely yellowish.

Nearly all grow on the ground.

Distinguished from all other fungi by the presence of a granular milk which pervades every part of the plant and especially the gills; it is commonly white, sometimes changing color and in section Dapetes highly colored from the first. The nature of the milk, especially its taste, whether acrid, subacrid or mild, must be carefully noted in distinguishing species, as it is the most useful characteristic.

In Russula, the only allied genus, the milk-bearing cells are present, but their contents do not appear as milk.

Many of the species are peppery, acrid, astringent; some mildly so, others will be long remembered if tasted raw. Yet not a species is hotter than some radishes, onions, and others of our favorite vegetables. Who would condemn them because they are peppery? There is not a single species of Lactarius which retains its pepperiness after cooking. This quality has to be and is supplied by one of our favorite condiments—pepper itself. Simply because they are toadstools and hot, they have been condemned without trial. It is remarkable that not one of the fungi known to be deadly gives any warning by appearance or flavor of the presence of a poison. The day will probably come when it can be said that if toadstool eaters will confine themselves to hot species, otherwise attractive, they will run no risk. Panus stypticus is astringent, not hot.

Stem central. Gills unchangeable, not pruinose nor becoming discolored. Milk white at first, usually acrid.

L. tormino´sus Fr.—tormina, gripes. Pileus 2–4 in. broad, convex, then depressed, viscid when young or moist, yellowish-red or paleochraceous tinged with red or flesh color, often varied with zones or spots, the at first involute margin persistently tomentose-hairy. Gills thin, close, narrow, whitish, often tinged with yellow or flesh color. Stem 1.5–3 in. long, 4–8 lines thick, equal or slightly tapering downward, hollow, sometimes spotted, whitish. Spores subglobose or broadly elliptical, 9–10µ. Milk white, taste acrid.

Woods. Adirondack mountains and Sandlake. August. Peck, 38th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Poisonous, and Gillet declares it to be deleterious and even dangerous, and that in the raw state it is a very strong drastic purgative. On the other hand, Cordier states that almost all authors agree in stating that it is eaten with impunity, and that Letellier has eaten it more than once without inconvenience.

Cooke states: “Whether it is poison is rather uncertain, and probably assumed from its acridity.”

Bulliard says: “It is very acrid and this is changed by heat into an astringent of such power that a very little suffices to produce the most terrible accidents.” On the other hand, Boudier says that the presence of an acrid milk is an indication of no importance, that in certain parts of the country they eat such Lactaria as even L. piperatus and do not experience any trouble. Certain Russulæ as acrid as any Lactaria are known to be inoffensive.

The Russians preserve it in salt and eat it seasoned with oil and vinegar.

L. tur´pis Fr.—turpis, base, from its ugly appearance. Pileus large, as much as 3–12 in. broad, olivaceous inclining to umber, fleshy, rigid, convex becoming plane, disk-shaped or umbilicate, at length depressed, innately hairy at the circumference or wholly covered over with tenacious gluten, zoneless, sometimes tawny toward the margin, at length entirely inclining to umber; margin for a long time involute, at the first villous, olivaceous-light-yellow, then more or less flattened, at length often densely furrowed. Flesh compact, white, then slightly reddish. Stem 1½-3 in. long, ½-1 in. and more thick, solid, hard, equal or attenuated downward, even or pitted and uneven, but not spotted, viscid or dry, pallid or dark olivaceous, ochraceous-whitish at the apex. Gills adnato-decurrent, thin, 1–2 lines broad, much crowded, forked, white straw-color, spotted brownish when broken or bruised. Milk acrid, white, unchangeable. Fries.

Gregarious, rigidly and compactly fleshy; habit almost that of Paxillus involutus. It varies with the stem hollow, and the pileus somewhat zoned.

Spores spheroid or subspheroid, uniguttate, echinulate, 6–8µ K.; minutely spinulose, 6–8µ Massee.

New Jersey, Trenton, E.B. Sterling; North Carolina, Curtis, Schweinitz; Mt. Gretna, Pa. September, 1898. Along road in woods, moist places. McIlvaine.

The species is attractive by its very homeliness and odd individuality. It is not inviting. Cooked it is coarse and resembles L. piperatus. An emergency species.

L. controver´sus Fr.—contra, against; verto, to turn. Pileus 3 in. and more broad, fleshy, compact, rigid, at the first convex, broadly umbilicate, when fuller grown somewhat funnel-shaped, oblique, on emerging from the ground dry, flocculose, whitish, then with rain smooth, viscid, reddish, with blood-colored spots and zones (especially toward the margin), margin acute when young, closely involute, more or less villous. Flesh very firm. Stem commonly 1 in. long and thick, sometimes, however, 2 in. long and then manifestly attenuated toward the base and often excentric, solid, obese, even but pruinate and as if striate at the apex from the obsoletely decurrent tooth of the gills, wholly white, never pitted. Gills decurrent, thin, very crowded, 1–2 lines broad, with many shorter ones intermixed, but rarely branched, pallid-white-flesh-color. Milk white, unchangeable, plentiful. Fries.

Odor weak but pleasant, taste very acrid. Allied to L. piperatus.

In woods. Uncommon. August to October. Stevenson.

Spores echinulate, 8×6µ W.G.S.; globose, rough, 6–8µ Massee.

California, H. and M.

Edible, rather deficient in aroma and flavor. Cooke.

L. blen´nius Fr. Gr—slimy. Pileus 3–5 in. across. Flesh thick, firm; soon expanded and more or less depressed, glutinous, dingy greenish-gray, often more or less zoned with drop-like markings; margin at first incurved and downy. Gills slightly decurrent, crowded, narrow, whitish or with an ochraceous tinge. Stem 1–2 in. long, up to 1 in. thick at the apex, where it expands into the thick flesh of the pileus, often attenuated at the base, viscid, colored like the stem or paler, soon hollow. Milk persistently white, very acrid. Spores subglobose, 7–8×6µ.

In woods, on the ground, very rarely on trunks.

L. turpis somewhat resembles the present species but differs in the darker olive-brown pileus and the yellow down on the incurved margin, especially when young. Massee.

Pileus 2–4 in. broad, fleshy, rarely subzonate, convex, the margin generally involute and adpresso-tomentose (quite smooth, Fries); at length more or less depressed, dull cinereous-green, at first viscid, more or less pitted. Milk white, not changeable. Gills rather narrow, pale ochraceous, scarcely forked, not connected by veins. Stem 1 in. long, ¼-½ in. thick, paler than the pileus, attenuated downward, obtuse, smooth, at length hollow, sometimes pitted, very acrid. Berk.

Edible. Coarse.