THE WHITE-SPORED AGARICS.
(Sometimes there is a faint tinge of pink or lilac when the spores are in bulk, but the color is not seen under the microscope.)
| Plants soft, fleshy or nearly so, usually soon decaying; dried plants do not revive well when moistened. | 1 | ||
| Plants tough, either fleshy or gelatinous, membranaceous, corky or woody, persistent, reviving when moistened. | 13 | ||
| 1— | Gills acute on the edge. | 2 | |
| Edge of the gills obtuse, or gills fold-like, or vein-like, but prominent. | 12 | ||
| 2— | Trama of the pileus of interwoven threads, not vesiculose. | 3 | |
| Trama of the pileus vesiculose, plants rigid but quite fragile. | 11 | ||
| 3— | Gills thin, not much broadened toward the pileus. | 4 | |
| Gills broadened toward the pileus, of waxy consistency. | Hygrophorus. | [110] | |
| 4— | Stipe central or sub-central. (Some species of Pleurotus are sub-central, but the gills are usually not decurrent.) | 5 | |
| Stipe on one side of the pileus, or none, rarely with the stipe sub-central. (Some species of Clitocybe are sub-central.) | Pleurotus. | [102] | |
| 5— | Stipe fleshy, pileus easily separating from the stipe, gills usually free. | 6 | |
| Stipe fleshy or fibrous and elastic, pileus confluent with the stipe and of the same texture. | 7 | ||
| Stipe cartilaginous, pileus confluent with the stipe, but of a different texture. | 9 | ||
| 6— | Volva and annulus present on the stipe. | Amanita. | [52] |
| Volva present, annulus wanting. | Amanitopsis. | [74] | |
| Volva wanting, annulus present. | Lepiota. | [77] | |
| 7— | Annulus and volva wanting. | 8 | |
| Annulus usually present (sometimes vague), volva wanting, gills attached to the stipe. | Armillaria. | [83] | |
| 8— | Gills sinuate. | Tricholoma. | [87] |
| Gills decurrent, not sinuate. | Clitocybe. | [89] | |
| 9— | Gills decurrent, pileus umbilicate. | Omphalia. | [100] |
| Gills not decurrent. | 10 | ||
| 10— | Margin of pileus at first involute, pileus flat or nearly so, somewhat fleshy (some plants rather tough and tending toward the consistency of Marasmius). | Collybia. | [92] |
| Margin of the pileus at first straight, pileus slightly bell-shaped, thin. | Mycena. | [93] | |
| Gills usually free, pileus deeply plicate so that the gills are split where they are attached to the pileus, pileus membranaceous, very tender but not diffluent. | Hiatula. | ||
| 11— | Plants where bruised exuding a milky or colored juice. | Lactarius. | [114] |
| Plants not exuding a juice where bruised. | Russula. | [125] | |
| 12— | Gills decurrent, dichotomous, edge blunt. | Cantharellus. | [128] |
| Gills not decurrent, plants parasitic on other mushrooms. | Nyctalis. | ||
| 13— | Edge of gills not split into two laminæ. | 14 | |
| Edge of gills split into two laminæ and revolute. | Schizophyllum. | [136] | |
| 14— | Plants leathery, either fleshy, membraneous, or gelatinous. | 15 | |
| Plants corky or woody (placed by some in Polyporaceæ). | Lenzites. | ||
| 15— | Stipe separate from the pileus (hymenophore), easily separating. | 16 | |
| Stipe continuous with hymenophore. | 17 | ||
| 16— | Plants tough and fleshy, membranaceous or leathery. | Marasmius. | [130] |
| Plants gelatinous and leathery. | Heliomyces. | ||
| 17— | Edge of the gills acute. | 18 | |
| Edge of the gills obtuse. | 19 | ||
| 18— | Edge of gills usually serrate. | Lentinus. | [134] |
| Edge of gills entire. | Panus. | [134] | |
| 19— | Gills dichotomous. | Xerotus. | |
| Gills fold-like, irregular. | Trogia. | [137] |
There are only a few rare species of Hiatula, Nyctalis, Heliomyces and Xerotus in the United States. None are here described.