THE BLACK-SPORED AGARICS.

Pileus present to which the gills are attached. 1
Pileus wanting, gills attached to a disk at apex of stem from which they radiate.Montagnites.[G]
1—Gills more or less deliquescing, or pileus thin, membranous and splitting between the laminæ of the gills and becoming more or less plicate.Coprinus.[32]
Gills not deliquescing, etc. 2
2—Spores globose, ovoid. 3
Spores elongate, fusiform (in some species brown), plants with a slimy envelope.Gomphidius.[49]
3—Pileus somewhat fleshy, not striate, projecting beyond the gills at the margin; gills variegated in color from groups of dark spores on the surface. 4
Pileus somewhat fleshy, margin striate, gills not variegated.Psathyrella.[48]
4—Annulus wanting, but veil often present.Panæolus.[45]
Annulus wanting, veil appendiculate on margin of cap.Chalymotta.[48]
Annulus present.Anellaria.

[GLOSSARY OF THE MORE TECHNICAL TERMS USED IN THIS WORK.]

Abbreviations:

Adnate, said of the gills when they are attached squarely, or broadly, to the stem.

Adnexed, said of gills when they are attached only slightly or only by the upper angle of the stem.

Anastomose, running together in a net-like manner.

Annulus, the ring or collar around the stem formed from the inner or partial veil.

Appendiculate, said of the veil when it clings in fragments to the margin of the pileus.

Arachnoid, said of the veil when it is cobwebby, that is, formed of loose threads.

Ascus, the club-shaped body which bears the spores inside (characteristic of the Ascomycetes).

Basidium (pl. basidia) the club-shaped body which bears the spores in the Basidiomycetes. These stand parallel, and together make up the entire or large part of the hymenium or fruiting surface which covers the gills, etc. Paraphyses (sterile cells) and sometimes cystidia (longer sterile cells) or spines are intermingled with the basidia.

Bulbous, said of the enlarged lower end of the stem in some mushrooms.

Circumscissile, splitting transversely across the middle, used to indicate one of the ways in which the volva ruptures.

Cortina, a cobwebby veil.

Cuticle, the skin-like layer on the outside of the pileus.

Decurrent, said of the gills when they extend downward on the stem.

Diffluent, said of the gills when they dissolve into a fluid.

Dimidiate, halved, said of a sessile pileus semi-circular in form and attached by the plane edge directly to the wood.

Echinulate, term applied to minute spinous processes, on the spores for example.

Eccentric, said of a stem when it is attached to some other point than the center of the pileus.

Fimbriate, in the form of a delicate fringe.

Fistulose, becoming hollow.

Floccose, term applied to indicate delicate and soft threads, cottony extensions from the surface of any part of the mushroom.

Flocculose, minutely floccose.

Fugacious, disappearing.

Fuliginous (or fuligineous), dark brown, sooty or smoky.

Fulvous, tawny, reddish yellow.

Fusiform, spindle-shaped.

Fusoid, like a spindle.

Furfuraceous, with numerous minute scales.

Gleba, the chambered tissue forming the hymenium (fruiting surface) in the puff-balls and their allies.

Hygrophanous, appearing to be water soaked.

Hymenium, the fruiting surface of the mushrooms and other fungi.

Hymenomycetes, the subdivision of the Basidiomycetes in which the fruiting surface is exposed before the spores are ripe.

Hymenophore, the portion of the fruit body which bears the hymenium.

Hypha (pl. hyphæ), a single mycelium thread.

Imbricate, overlapping like the shingles on a roof.

Involute, folded or rolled inward.

Lamella (pl. lamellæ), the gills of the mushroom.

Mycelium, the vegetative or growing portion of the mushrooms, and other fungi, made up of several or many threads.

Ocreate, applied to the volva where it fits the lower part of the stem, as a stocking does the leg.

Pectinate, like the teeth of a comb.

Peridium, the wall of the puff-balls, etc.

Pileus (pl. pilei), the cap of the mushroom.

Plicate, plaited, or folded like a fan.

Punctate, with minute points.

Pulverulent, with a minute powdery substance.

Repand, wavy.

Resupinate, spread over the matrix, the fruiting surface external and the pileus next the wood.

Revolute, rolled backward.

Rugose, wrinkled.

Rugulose, with minute wrinkles.

Saprophytic, growing on dead organic matter.

Sessile, where the pileus is attached directly to the matrix without any stem.

Sinuate, said of the gills when they are notched at their junction with the stem.

Stipe, the stem.

Sulcate, furrowed.

Squamulose, with minute scales.

Squarrose, with prominent reflexed scales.

Tomentose, with a dense, matted, hairy or woolly surface.

Trama, the interior portion of the gills or pileus.

Umbo, with a prominent boss or elevation, in the center of the pileus.

Umbilicate, with a minute abrupt depression in the center of the cap.

Veil, a layer of threads extending from the margin of the cap to the stem (partial veil or marginal veil). A universal veil envelops the entire plant.

Veins, elevated lines or folds running over the surface of the lamellæ in some species, and often connected so as to form reticulations.

Ventricose, enlarged or broadened at the middle, bellied.

Vesiculose, full of small rounded vesicles, as the trama of the pileus of a Russula.

Volva, a wrapper or envelope, which in the young stage completely surrounds the plant, same as universal veil. At maturity of the plant it may be left in the form of a cup at the base of the stem, or broken up into fragments and distributed over the cap and base of the stem.