**Pileus more or less viscid, smooth.
V. specio´sa Fr.—speciosus, handsome. Pileus 3–5 in. broad, whitish, gray or umber at the disk, fleshy, globose when young, then bell-shaped, at length plane and somewhat umbonate, even, smooth, gluey. Flesh soft, floccose, white. Stem 4–8 in. long, as much as 1 in. thick, solid, firm, slightly attenuated from the base as far as the apex, when young, white-villous and tomentose at the base, then becoming smooth, white. Volva bulbous rather than lax, free however, variously torn into loops, membranaceous, ½-1 in. broad, externally tomentose, white. Gills free, flesh-colored.
The gills are wholly the same as those of A. bombycinus. It occurs also thinner, with the pileus wholly gray. Fries.
Spores 12–18×8–10µ K.; elliptical or subglobose, smooth, 14–16×8µ Massee.
Distinguished by the whitish, viscid pileus, and the downy volva and stem. Massee.
“Common in cultivated soil, especially grain fields and along roads. A fine edible agaric and our most abundant one in California.” McClatchie. Volvæ, U.S., Lloyd.
V. gloioceph´ala Dec. Fl. Gr—sticking; head. Pileus dark opaque brown, fleshy, bell-shaped then expanded, umbonate, smooth, glutinous, striate at the margin. Stem solid, smooth, becoming brownish or tawny; the volva, which is circularly split, pressed close. Gills free, reddish.
Fragments of the volva are sometimes seen on the pileus. The stem is commonly more slender than that of A. speciosus. Fries.
On the ground. Uncommon. June to October. Stevenson.
Pileus about 3 in. across, with a strong regular, obtuse umbo in the center, of a delicate mouse-gray, viscid when moist, but when dry shining, quite smooth, margin striate in consequence of the thinness of the flesh. Stem 6 in. or more high, about ½ in. thick in the center, attenuated upward, bulbous at the base, clothed with a few slight fibers, easily splitting, solid, rather dingy, ringless. Volva loose, villous like the base of the stem, splitting into several unequal lobes; the gills are broad, especially in front, narrower behind and quite free, so as to leave a space round the top of the stem, white, tinged with grayish-pink; margin slightly toothed. Smell strong and unpleasant, and taste disagreeable. M.J.B. Very poisonous according to Letellier. Stevenson.