P. ostrea´tus Jacq.—ostrea, an oyster. (Plate [XXXV], p. 134, XXXVa, p. 142.) Pileus 3–5 in. broad, when young almost becoming black, soon becoming pale, brownish-ash color, passing into yellow when old, fleshy, soft, shell-shaped, somewhat dimidiate, ascending, smooth, moist, even, but sometimes with the cuticle torn into squamules. Stem shortened or obliterated, firm, elastic, ascending obliquely, thickening upward, white, strigoso-villous at the base. Gills decurrent, anastomosing behind, somewhat distant, broad, white, sometimes turning light yellow, and without glandules.
For the most part cespitose, imbricated, very variable, sometimes almost central. The pileus is at first convex and horizontal, then expanded and ascending. Stevenson.
Spores 10–12×4–5µ Massee; 7.5–10×4µ Peck.
General over the United States.
Var. glandulo´sus Ag. g. Bull.—With the habit of the typical form, but larger. Pileus dark brown, becoming pale. Gills white, with scattered small wart-like or glandular bodies.
On trunks. A very constant but somewhat rare variety; easily known by the dark-brown pileus. The gland-like bodies on the gills are due to the outward growth of the hyphæ of the trama in minute patches here and there. Massee.
Var. euos´mus Berk.—strong-smelling. Strong scented, imbricate. Pileus fleshy, depressed, shining, silky when dry, at first white with a tinge of blue, then brownish. Stem short or obsolete. Gills decurrent, ventricose, dingy, white. Spores 12–14×5µ, pale pinkish-lilac.
On elm trunks. Pilei very much crowded, 2 in. or more across, deeply depressed, unequal, at first white, invested with a slight blue varnish, at length of a pale brown. Stems distinct above, connate below. Gills rather broad; running down to the bottom of the free portion of the stem. Spores oblong, narrow, oblique, white, tinged with purple. The whole plant smells, when first gathered, strongly of tarragon. B. and Br.
Found at Richmond, Ind., Dr. J.R. Weist. On hickory stump at Mt. Gretna, Pa., McIlvaine; Haddonfield, N.J., T.J. Collins.
This esculent fungus closely allied to P. ostreatus, and differing only in having lilac spores, has been followed from book to book by a bad reputation, probably because of its “rosy” or lilac spores—all fungi having pink spores having been, until recently, ignorantly branded by authors as poisonous. The writer has eaten meals of it many times, as have his friends. It is in every way equal to P. ostreatus.