Part 6

=A. Frost´iana= Pk.—in honor of Charles C. Frost. POISONOUS. (Plate VI, fig. 5, p. 6.) =Pileus= convex or expanded, bright-orange or yellow, warty, sometimes nearly or quite smooth, striate on the margin. =Gills= free, white or slightly tinged with yellow. =Stem= white or yellow, stuffed, bearing a slight, sometimes evanescent ring, bulbous at the base, the bulb _slightly margined_ by the volva. =Spores= _globose_, 8–10µ in diameter.

=Plant= 2–3 in. high. =Pileus= 1–2 in. broad. =Stem= about 2 lines thick. June to October.

This appears like a very small form of the Fly Agaric, to which, as var. minor, it was formerly referred. The only decided characters for distinguishing it are its small size and globose spores. Our plant sometimes grows in company with A. muscaria, but it seems to prefer more dense woods, especially mixed or hemlock woods. It is generally very regular and beautiful and has the stem quite often of a yellow color, and the bulb margined above with a collar-like ring. _Peck_, 33d Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

West Virginia, New Jersey, North Carolina, _McIlvaine_.

A. Frostiana is found well over the land. It is frequent in shady woods and seems to favor ground under the prevailing tree—oak, chestnut, pine, hemlock, whichever it may be. From the many hundreds I have seen, I think it more likely to be mistaken by the novice for A. Cæsarea than A. muscaria, because of its often yellow gills and stem. It is much smaller and thinner than either. In the states I have found it, it is darker than described, being a rich reddish-orange or scarlet. The partial veil or ring is very evanescent but often found upon the stem as a yellow, floccose remnant. The stain of the ring is always noticeable. The volva is seldom found entire. It, too, is evanescent, but, like the veil, is found yellow and fluffy, adhering to the fingers when touched.

It is probable that its highly colored cap has caused it to be gathered by the careless collector of bright-capped Russulæ, and that thus R. emetica got its bad name. Examine carefully any toadstool resembling it. The Russulæ have neither ring nor volva.

=A. excel´sa= Fr.—_excelsus_, tall. POISONOUS. =Pileus= 4–5 in. broad, _brownish-gray_, darker in the center, _fleshy_, soft, globose, then plane, _pellicle thin_, but viscous, and in reality separable in wet weather, then the surface is often _wrinkled-papillose_, or in a peculiar manner hollowed and pitted, sprinkled with angular, unequal, whitish-gray, easily separating warts, the remains of the friable volva; margin at first even, but when properly developed manifestly striate, even furrowed. =Flesh= soft, white throughout, unchangeable. =Stem= 4–6 in. long, 1 in. thick, at first stuffed, almost solid, but at length hollow, globose-depressed at the base, attenuated upward from the bulb, covered, sometimes as far as the ring, sometimes only on the lower part with _dense, squarrose, concentric scales_ (from the epidermis of the stem being torn), striate at the apex. =Ring= superior, large, separating-free or at length torn. =Gills= quite _free, rounded_ (not decurrent on the stem in the form of lines), very ventricose, ½ in. and more broad, shining white.

The _bulb when young_ is _somewhat marginate_, but by no means separable, the margin proper, like that of A. muscaria, is marked with scales, buried in the soil, somewhat rooting, beneath the margin marked here and there with a concentric furrow. The shorter gills intermixed are more numerous than is usual among Amanitæ. There is a smaller variety, with the margin more frequently striate and the stem stuffed, then hollow. _Fries._

Solitary, in woods, chiefly under beech. _Stevenson._

=Spores= 6x9µ _W.G.S._; 8–9×5–6µ _Massee_.

North Carolina, _Schweinitz_, _Curtis_; South Carolina, _Ravenel_; California, _Harkness and Moore_; Massachusetts, _Frost_, _Andrews_; Minnesota, _Johnson_; Rhode Island, _Olney_.

=A. pantheri´na= De C.—spotted like a panther. Doubtful. =Pileus= commonly olivaceous-umber when young, fleshy, convex then flattened or somewhat depressed, with a _sticky pellicle_, which is at first thick and olivaceous dingy-brown, then thinned out, almost disappearing and livid, the disk only becoming brownish; _margin evidently striate_; the fragments of the volva divided into small, equal, white, regularly arranged, moderately persistent warts. =Flesh= _wholly white_, never yellow beneath the pellicle. =Stem= 3–4 in. long, ½ in. thick, at first stuffed then hollow with spider-web fibrils within, equal or attenuated upward, slightly firm and sometimes scaly downward, _greaved_ at the base by the separable _volva which has an entire and obtuse margin_. =Ring= more or less distant, adhering obliquely, white, rarely superior. =Gills= free, reaching the stem, broader in front, 3–4 lines broad, shining white.

It is readily distinguished from A. muscaria, var. umbrina, by the white flesh never becoming yellow beneath the pellicle. Variable in size and color, which, however, is never red or yellow, and in the position of the ring.

In woods and pastures. _Stevenson._

=Spores= 7–8×4–5µ _K._; 6–10µ _B._; 8×4µ _W.G.S._; 7.6×4.8µ _Morgan_.

Not poisonous, _W.G.S._; not edible, _Roze_; poisonous, _Leuba_.

North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio, California, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, New York. _Peck._

=A. Ravenel´ii= B. and C.—in honor of Henry W. Ravenel. =Pileus= 4 in. across, convex, broken up into distinct areas, each of which is raised into an acute, rigid, pyramidal wart. =Stem= 3 in. high, bulbous. =Volva= thick, warty, somewhat lobed. =Ring= deflexed.

South Carolina, June, _H.W. Ravenel_; a very fine species allied to A. strobiliformis, Vitt. Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 1859; Alabama, _Atkinson_ (Ll. Volvæ).

Properties not stated.

=A. russuloi´des= Pk.—resembling a Russula. =Pileus= at first ovate, then expanded or convex, rough with a few superficial warts, or entirely smooth, viscid when moist, widely striate-tuberculate on the margin, pale-yellow or straw color. =Gills= close, free, narrowed toward the stem, white. =Stem= firm, smooth, stuffed, annulate, equal or slightly tapering upward, bulbous; annulus thin, soon vanishing. =Volva= fragile, subappressed. =Spores= broadly elliptical, 10×8µ.

=Plant= 2–3 in. high. =Pileus= 1.5–2 in. broad. =Stem= 3–5 lines thick. Grassy ground in open woods. Greenbush. June.

This species is remarkable for the thin striate-tuberculate margin of the pileus, which causes it to resemble some species of Russula. _Peck_, 25th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Qualities not stated.

Massachusetts, _Francis_.

FIG. PAGE.

1. AMANITA CHLORINOSMA, 25

2. AMANITA RUBESCENS AND 21 SECTION,

3. AMANITA STROBILIFORMIS, 19

=A. strobilifor´mis= Vitt.—_strobilis_, a pine-cone, from the shape of the warts. (Plate VIII, fig. 3, p. 18.) =Cap= 3–10 in. across, convex or nearly plane, white or cinereous, sometimes yellow on the disk, rough with angular, mostly persistent warts which sometimes fall away and leave the pileus nearly smooth; generally whitish, sometimes tinged with brown; the margin even and extending a little beyond the lamellæ. =Gills= free, rounded behind. =Veil= large and portions sometimes adhere to margin of cap. =Stem= 3–8 in. long, up to 1¼ in. thick, equal or slightly tapering upward, solid, floccose-scaly, white, bulbous, the bulb very large, sometimes weighing a pound, margined above and furnished with one or two concentric furrows, somewhat pointed below, firmly and deeply imbedded in the earth, floccose-mealy when young.

=Spores= elliptical, 13–15×8–10µ _Peck_.

Open woods and borders. June to October.

Edible. _W.G. Smith_, _Curtis_, _Peck_.

This is among the best of species. Its size, solidity, flavor are marked. I have found specimens weighing a pound and a half. It grows singly, but when one is found several are apt to be neighbors. When young, the cap is but a small knob upon a beet or top-shaped base, which is largely under ground. It cuts like a soft turnip, and has a strong, pungent, unmistakable odor, like chloride of lime, which entirely disappears in cooking. As the plant develops the bulb decreases in size. On all the many specimens the author has seen and eaten, the scabs are light brown and reddish-brown.

=A. solita´ria= Bull.—growing alone. =Pileus= convex or plane, warty, white or whitish, even on the margin. =Gills= reaching the stem, white or slightly tinged with cream color. =Stem= at first mealy or scaly, equal, solid, white, bulbous, the bulb scaly or mealy, narrowed below into a root-like prolongation. =Ring= lacerated, often adhering in fragments to the margin of the pileus and gills. =Spores= elliptical-oblong, 8–13×6.5µ.

=Plant= 4–8 in. high. =Pileus= 3–6 in. broad. =Stem= 4–6 lines thick. _Peck_, 33d Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

Solitary in woods and open places. July to October.

Georgia, _H.N. Starnes_; Indiana, _H.I. Miller_; West Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, _McIlvaine_.

Edible. _Curtis_, _H.N. Starnes_, Philadelphia Myc. Club.

In many localities I find it quite plentiful, and it is so reported from Georgia. Southern and middle New Jersey woods abound with it, and at Mt. Gretna, Pa., it is always present in its growing months.

The cap is sometimes tinged with brown as are the angular, erect warts which are generally numerous, but often falling off or few and scattered. The flesh is white and smells like chloride of lime, but not nearly so strong as A. strobiliformis. The volva is broken up into floccose scales which cling to bulb and lower part of stem. These scales may be white and mealy or brownish. The entire fungus has a fluffy exterior, which is easily removed by rubbing. The annulus is torn, a part often adhering to the margin of the pileus and the gills. This and the long, tapering, rooting bulb are marked characteristics. The bulb is brittle. It is difficult to get the fungus from the ground entire.

Stem and cap are juicy, tender, mild in flavor, wholesome. It is not equal in flavor to A. rubescens, but is more delicate.

By many its properties have been stated as poisonous, doubtful. Quantities of it have been eaten by myself and friends. Hypodermic injection of its juices into the blood circulation of live animals prove it perfectly harmless.

=A. can´dida Pk.=—shining white. =Pileus= thin, broadly convex or nearly plane, verrucose with numerous small, erect, angular or pyramidal, easily separable warts, often becoming smooth with age, white, even on the margin. =Flesh= white. =Gills= rather narrow, close, reaching to the stem, white. =Stem= solid, bulbous, floccose-squamose, white, the annulus attached to the top of the stem, becoming pendent and often disappearing with age, floccose-squamose on the lower surface, striate on the upper, the bulb rather large, ovate, squamose, not margined, tapering above into the stem and rounded or merely abruptly pointed below. =Spores= elliptical, 10–13×8µ.

=Pileus= 3–6 in. broad. =Stem= 2.5–5 in. long, 5–8 lines thick, the bulb 1–1.5 in. thick in the dried specimens.

This is a fine large species related to A. solitaria, but differing from it in the character of its bulb and of its annulus. The bulb is not marginate nor imbricately squamose. Its scales are small and numerous. Nor is it clearly radicating, though sometimes it has a slight abrupt point or myceloid-agglomerated mass of soil at its base. The veil or annulus is large and well developed, but it is apt to fall away and disappear with age. Its attachment at the very top of the stem brings it closely in contact with the lamellæ of the young plant and the striations of its upper surface appear to be due to the pressure of the edges of these upon it. It separates readily from the margin of the pileus and is not lacerated. In the mature plant the warts have generally disappeared from the pileus and sometimes its margin is curved upward _Peck_, Bull. Torr. Bot. Club, Vol. 24, No. 3.

Woods. Auburn, N.Y., Alabama, _U. and E._; Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New Jersey, August to October, _McIlvaine_.

A dozen or more specimens were found in oak woods near Philadelphia, and carefully tested. Their edible qualities were found to be precisely the same as A. solitaria.

*** _Whole volva friable, etc._

=A. rubes´cens= Pers.—_rubesco_, to become red. (Plate VIII, fig. 2, p. 18. Plate XII, fig. 4, p. 32.) =Pileus= about 4 in. broad, dingy-reddish, becoming pale flesh-color, tan, scarcely pure, fleshy, convex, then plane, obtuse, moist but _not glutinous_ in rainy weather and opaque when dry, covered with unequal, soft, mealy, whitish, easily-separating warts, which are smaller, harder and more closely adherent in dry weather; margin even and, when old, slightly striate only in wet weather. =Flesh= commonly soft, white when fresh, _reddening when broken_. =Stem= 4–5 in. long, as much as 1 in. thick, stuffed, somewhat solid, though soft within, conico-attenuated from the thickened base, reddish-_scaled_, becoming red-white, and without a trace of a distinct volva at the base. =Ring= superior, large, membranaceous, soft, striate and white within. =Gills= reaching the stem in an attenuated manner, forming decurrent lines upon it, thin, crowded, soft, as much as ½ in. broad, shining white.

Very changeable, but readily distinguished from all others of the same group _by the flesh being reddish when broken_; the stem and pileus are commonly spotted-red when wounded. In dry weather it is firmer, flesh reddening more slowly, warts minute. Odor scarcely any. There is a remarkable variety _circinata_, pileus becoming plane, umber-brown, warts adnate, crowded, roundish. A. circinatus Schum. _Stevenson._

=Spores= spheroid-ellipsoid, 7–8×6µ _K._; 8×6µ _W.G.S._; 7–9×6–8µ _B._; elliptical, 8–9µ long. _Peck._

Not reported west of the Mississippi river.

Oak woods, borders and open places. July to September. Indiana, _H.I. Miller_; West Virginia, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, _McIlvaine_.

It is quite common, often growing in large patches. Recent authors agree upon the edibility and deliciousness of this species. The author knows it to be one of the most plentiful, useful and delicious, after several years of pleasant experience with it.

In July, 1899, at Mt. Gretna, I found, growing from the ground gregariously, a singular fungoid growth from 2–5 in. high; cap hemispherical, 1 in. in diameter, tightly fitting a solid stem of nearly the diameter of the cap. The whole was watery white, and evidently affected by a parasite. It was edible. September 1st Professor Peck wrote to me: “I think I have found the identity of the diseased Agaric, of which you sent me samples some time ago. I mean the one affected by _Hypomyces inæqualis_ Pk. The host is Amanita rubescens, at least sometimes, and probably always.”

The plant is very heavy for its size. The lack of a volva, the dingy color and reddish stains distinctly separate this from any poisonous Amanita.

=A. spis´sa= Fr.—compact, dense;—of the warts. =Pileus= umber, sooty or gray, fleshy, somewhat compact, convexo-plane, obtuse, smooth, even, but _marked with small, ash-colored, angular, adnate_ warts; margin even, but often torn into fibers. =Flesh= _firm, white, quite unchangeable_. =Stem= 2–3 in. long, as much as 1 in. thick, _solid, turnip-shaped at the base_, somewhat rooting with a globoso-depressed not marginate bulb, curt, firm, shining white, at length _squamulose with concentric cracks_. =Ring= superior, large. =Gills= reaching the stem, _slightly striato-decurrent_, broad, crowded, shining white. _Fries._

=Spores= 14µ _W.G.S._; subglobose, 8–10µ _C.B.P._; 6µ _W.P._; rather pear-shaped, 9–10×6µ _Massee_.

=Cap= 2–3 in. across. =Stem= 2½-3 in. long, up to ¾ in. thick.

New Jersey, oak woods, August and September. _McIlvaine._

A. spissa has been reported from but few localities. It is rare in the latitude of Philadelphia. Half a dozen specimens have been found in neighboring New Jersey.

Taste and smell strong, but when cooked the dish is savory and not unlike one of A. rubescens.

=A. as´pera= Fr.—_asper_, rough. =Pileus= 2–3 in. across. =Flesh= rather thick at the disk, whitish, white or reddish with tints of livid or gray, _reddish or brownish under the cuticle_; convex then plane, margin thin and even, rough with firmly adnate, minute, closely crowded, angular warts, reddish-brown or livid-brownish, not pure white, unchangeable. =Gills= free and rounded behind, not striately decurrent, ventricose, white. =Stem= stuffed, striate above the ring, short at first, ovate, then elongating to 2–3 in., attenuated upward from a wrinkled bulb, squamulose, white without and within. =Ring= superior, entire.

=Spores= 8×6µ _Massee_; 8×6–7µ _W.G.S._

The flesh of stem and bulb when eaten by insects is reddish, the bulb when old is a reddish-brown. The large ring and stem become red when touched. In these particulars it resembles A. rubescens. In smell it is somewhat strong, not unlike A. strobiliformis, but not nearly so pungent.

Cooked it is of excellent quality and flavor. I have eaten it since 1885.

=A. abrup´ta= Pk.—abrupt, of the bulb. =Pileus= thin, broadly convex or nearly plane, covered with small angular or pyramidal, erect, somewhat evanescent warts, white, slightly striate on the margin. =Flesh= white. =Gills= moderately close, reaching the stem and sometimes terminating in slightly decurrent lines upon it, white. =Stem= slender, glabrous, solid, bulbous, white, the bulb abrupt, subglobose, often coated below by the white persistent mycelium, the ring membranous, persistent. =Spores= broadly elliptical or subglobose, 8–10×6–8µ.

=Pileus= 2–4 in. broad. =Stem= 2.5–4 in. long, 3–4 lines thick.

The chief distinguishing mark of this species is the abrupt, nearly globose, bulbous base of the stem. This is somewhat flattened above and is sometimes longitudinally split on the sides. The small warts of the pileus are easily separable, and in mature specimens they have often wholly or partly disappeared. The remains of the volva are not present on the bulb in mature dried specimens, which indicates that the species should be placed in the same group with A. rubescens, A. spissa, etc. The latter species have the bulb of the stem similar to that of our plant, but the color of the pileus and other characters easily separate it. _Peck_, Bull. Torr. Bot. Club, Vol. 24, No. 3.

Alabama, _Underwood_; New Jersey, Pennsylvania, _McIlvaine_. July to September.

This species is edible and quite equal in quality to A. rubescens. Great care should be exercised in distinguishing it.

=A. nit´ida= Fr.—_niteo_, to shine. =Pileus= when flattened 4 in. broad, whitish, fleshy, _somewhat compact_, at first hemispherical, wrapped up, the _thick volva_ forming a floccose crust, then _broken up into thick, remarkably angular, adhering warts, which become brownish_, dry, shining, without a glutinous pellicle, margin always even. =Flesh= _white, quite unchangeable_. =Stem= 3 in. long, 1 in. thick, solid, _firm_, conico-attenuated, _with a bulb-shaped base, squamulose_, white. =Ring= superior, thin, torn, slightly striate, white, villous beneath, at length disappearing. =Gills= _free_, crowded, _very broad_, as much as ½ in., ventricose, shining white. _Fries._

Menands. Albany county. Our plant is more slender than the typical form, and has smaller but more numerous warts, but in other respects it exhibits the characters of this species. _Peck_, 43d Rep. N.Y. State Bot.

California, _H. and M._; Maryland. Common in nearly every woods in Maryland. _Banning._

From its likeness to poisonous species it should be suspected.

=A. prairiic´ola= Pk—_prairie, colo_, to inhabit. =Pileus= thin, convex, slightly verrucose, white, more or less tinged with yellow, even on the margin. =Flesh= white. =Gills= rather broad, subdistant, reaching the stem, white. =Stem= equal or slightly tapering upward, somewhat squamose toward the base, white or whitish, the annulus persistent. =Spores= large, broadly elliptical, 12–14µ long, 7–9µ broad.

=Pileus= 1.5–3 in. broad. =Stem= 2–2.5 in. long, 2–4 lines thick.

Bare ground on open prairies. Kansas. September. _E. Bartholomew._

This species belongs to the same tribe as A. abrupta. The only evidence of the presence of a volva shown by the dried specimens is found in a few inconspicuous, but separable warts on the pileus. There is no well marked bulb to the stem and no evidence remains of a volva at its base. _Peck_, Bull. Torr. Bot. Club, Vol. 24, No. 3.

Reported from Kansas only. Qualities unknown.

=A. monticulo´sa= Berk.—mountain, from the warts. =Pileus= 2.5–3 in. across, convex, areolate, with a wart in the center of each areola; those toward the margin consisting of soft threads meeting in a point, but sometimes simply flocculent, the central warts angular, pyramidal, truncate, discolored. =Stem= bulbous, scaly, flocculent, white. =Veil= thick, at length distant. =Gills= free, ventricose, remote, forming a well-defined area around the top of the stem. The warts are not hard and rigid as in A. nitida, and the free remote gills separate it from that and the neighboring species. _Berk._

North Carolina, sandy woods, common. _Curtis._

Properties not known.

=A. dau´cipes= B. and M.—_daucum_, a carrot; _pes_, a foot. =Pileus= 2–5 in. broad, hemispherical, globose. =Flesh= white, soft, warts regular, pyramidal, saffron color. =Gills= narrow, reaching the stem, broadest in the middle. =Stem= 5–6 in. high, solid, base bulbous, with a restricted cortina above, squamulose downward. =Veil= fibrillose, extending from the margin of the pileus to the apex of the stem, fugacious.

In cultivated fields. Ohio. _Sullivant._ Properties not given.

=A. lenticular´is= Lasch.—resembling (the stem) a lentil.

Fries places this species in Amanita, in which Stevenson follows him. Cooke and Massee place it in Lepiota, where it will be found.

**** _Volva rudimentary, wholly disappearing._

=A. chlorinos´ma= Pk.—smelling like chlorine. (Plate VIII, fig. 1, p. 18.) =Pileus= convex or expanded, warty on the disk, covered on the even margin with a light powdery, at length evanescent substance, white. =Gills= white. =Stem= nearly cylindrical, stout, deeply penetrating the earth. =Spores= broadly elliptical, 7–10µ long. Odor distinct, chlorine-like.

=Plant= 6–7 in. high. =Pileus= 4–6 in. broad. =Stem= 1–2 in. thick. _Peck_, Bot. Gaz., Vol. 4.

Burnt ground in woods. August. Closter, N.J., _C.F. Austin_; Alabama, _U. and E._; West Virginia, _Nuttall_; New Jersey, _Ellis_; Mt. Gretna, Pa., July, in a cluster of a dozen individuals, and afterward until frost, strong smelling, warts brownish-white. _McIlvaine._

It is edible and equal to A. strobiliformis.

=A. calyptra´ta= Pk. =Pileus= fleshy, thick, convex or nearly plane, centrally covered by a large irregular persistent grayish-white fragment of the volva, glabrous elsewhere, striate on the margin, greenish-yellow or yellowish-brown tinged with green, the margin often a little paler or more yellow than the rest. =Lamellæ= close, nearly free, but reaching the stem and forming slight decurrent lines or striations on it, yellowish-white tinged with green. =Stem= stout, rather long, equal or slightly tapering upward, surrounded at the base by the remains of the ruptured volva, white or yellowish white with a faint greenish tint. =Spores= broadly elliptic, 10µ long, 6µ broad, usually containing a single large nucleus.

=Pileus= 10–20 cm. broad. =Stem= 10–15 cm. long, 12–20 mm. thick.

Rich ground in fir woods or their borders. Autumn. Oregon. _Dr. H. Lane._