Allied to Lepiota in the thin pileus and free gills, but differing in the entire absence of a ring. Not at all deliquescent as in the genus Coprinus, near to which it was at one time placed by Fries. Massee. Reported from North Carolina.
OMPHA´LIA Fr.
Gr.—belonging to an umbilicus.
Omphalia Umbellifera.
Enlarged about two sizes.
Pileus generally thin, usually umbilicate at first, then funnel-shaped, often hygrophanous, margin incurved or straight. Gills truly decurrent from the first, sometimes branched. Stem distinctly cartilaginous, polished, tubular, often stuffed when young. Flesh continuous with that of the pileus but differing in character. Spores white, somewhat elliptical, smooth.
Generally on wood, preferring hilly woods and a damp climate.
Resembling Collybia and Mycena in the flesh of stem and pileus being different in texture and in the externally cartilaginous stem. It is perfectly separated by the gills being markedly decurrent from the first.
The American species of Omphalia number between thirty-five and forty. Many of them are common. Few woods are free from them. Several of them are beautiful. They are usually small and lacking in substance. Raw, the writer has not found one that is objectionable in any way; a few have a woody taste. But two species have been found by him in sufficient quantity to make a dish. It is probable that all are edible. At best the species of Omphalia are valuable in emergency only.