Ground under pine trees. Albany and Ticonderoga. July and August. Peck, 31st Rep. N.Y. State Bot.
Quite plentiful in pine woods of New Jersey. Edible; pleasant.
COLLY´BIA Fr.
Gr.—a small coin.
Pileus fleshy, usually thin, margin incurved at first, not corrugated. Stem different in substance from the pileus, but confluent with it; hollow, with a cartilaginous bark, internally cartilaginous or soft, often rooting. Gills free or obtusely adnexed, membranaceous, soft.
Growing on the ground, wood, leaves and decaying fungi.
In Clitocybe and Tricholoma the substance of the stem and pileus is alike; they differ in the character of the stem. Tricholoma has no distinct bark-like coat, and in Clitocybe the stem is covered with minute fibers. In Mycena as in Collybia the stem is different in substance from the pileus, but is distinguished by the margin of the pileus being straight. It is most closely allied to Marasmius, which is characterized by its tough coriaceous substance, which when dried fully revives and expands on being moistened. The line between them can not always be closely drawn, and there are numerous species which it is difficult to place with certainty in either genus. This does not apply to the fleshy edible species of this genus as they are quite distinct from Marasmius.
Peck’s 49th Report contains a monograph of the New York species of Collybia, supplemented by one of those found in other states.
Several common, prolific, long-season, delicious fungi occur in this genus. They vary in size from “a small coin” to five inches across. They grow in woods, on wood, on ground, on leaves, on lawns and among moss and grass in shaded places. The writer has tested many species raw, and eaten small quantities cooked, which are not herein described for the reason that not enough of a species was found to test to full extent. So far as is reported and as his experience goes, there is not a poisonous species in Collybia. Many of them are strong in odor.