C. subinvolu´ta Batsch.—turned under at the margin. Pileus brick color, convex, depressed, smooth, margin closely involute. Flesh pallid. Stem paler, stout, straight, somewhat equal, veined on the lower part with oblique coalescing slightly elevated wrinkles, tomentose and inclining to flesh color above toward the gills, base obtuse. Gills decurrent, rather broad, of the same color as the pileus.
The stem is rough on the surface and destitute of luster. It resembles Paxillus involutus in size and habit, in the crenate and involute margin of the pileus, and in the stem being obsoletely veined at the base and tomentose toward the gills. Stevenson.
New England, Frost; New York, Peck, Rep. 22.
Edible, Cooke.
C. geo´tropa Bull. Gr.—the earth; Gr.—to turn. From the turned down margin. Pileus 2–5 in. across. Flesh thick, white convex, then plane and finally more or less depressed, obtusely umbonate, the prominence remaining after the pileus becomes depressed, very smooth, even, margin thin, incurved, downy, pale pinkish-tan or buff. Gills decurrent, crowded, narrow, simple, white, then colored like the pileus. Stem 3–5 in. long, 1 in. or more thick at the base, slightly attenuated upward, compact, fibrillose, colored like the pileus or paler, solid. Spores elliptical, 6–7×4–5µ. Massee.
In woods and on their borders. Often in rings or troops.
Differs from C. maxima in being firmer, glabrous, and color much more variable; from C. gilva in the thinner pileus, less crowded gills, and white flesh.
Spores 5–7µ W.G.S.
In England and on the continent it is considered excellent and superior to most edible fungi.
Found in West Virginia, 1881; Haddonfield, N J., 1891. Spring and autumn. McIlvaine.