Professor Peck wrote of it: “It has the general appearance of Pluteus cervinus, but these specimens seem to depart from the usual form of growing in clusters from the ground, and in having an almond flavor. Without knowing more about it I would scarcely feel justified in separating it from such a variable species. As Fries sometimes remarks concerning variable species: Perhaps several species are concealed under the one name, but a pretty full and accurate knowledge of them is desirable if one is to split them up.”
This is excellent judgment. While I believe the above to be a distinct species, the disposition to make new species of varieties is regrettable in many botanists.
Var. Bul´lii Berk., MS. Pileus 4–6 in. across, flesh thick, convex then expanded, smooth, even, pallid, the disk darker. Gills free, rounded behind, rather distant from the stem, crowded, ½ in. broad, pale salmon-color. Stem 3–4 in. long, 1 in. and more thick, slightly swollen at the base, fibrillose, pale brown, darkest at the base, solid. Massee.
Pileus 6 in. across, expanded from bell-shape, ashy-white (oyster color), glossy, like floss silk, silky fibrillose, irregularly corrugated. Skin separable. Flesh spongy, pure white, like shreds of cotton, separable into plates, very brittle, ½ in. thick at stem, immediately thinning to ⅛ in., very thin toward margin. Gills thin, elastic, rounded behind, close to stem, free, ½ in. wide, close, alternate short and long, white, then tinged and spotted pink with spores which when cast in mass are a pinkish-brown with slight lavender shade. Stem 5 in. long, ½-¾ in. thick, subequal, spreading at top, white, silky-fibrillose, changing to very light yellowish brown from center to base, exterior hard, skin thin, tough, interior filled with continuous, cottony fibers, snow-white, brittle, watery, slightly swollen at base. Taste pleasant.
Mt. Gretna, Pa., July, 1898, on chestnut stump and in woods on ground among leaves. Leaves adhere to base of stem which is powdery-white. McIlvaine.
Cooked, it is as good as P. cervinus.
Var. petasa´tus Fr. Pileus 3–4 in. across, flesh rather thick, campanulate then expanded, umbonate, grayish-white, very smooth, with a viscid cuticle, at length striate to the middle. Gills free, ½ in. and more broad, crowded, becoming dry, white then reddish. Stem 4–5 in. long, ½-⅔ in. thick, rigid, very slightly and equally attenuated from the base, whitish, fibrillosely striate, solid.
On heaps of straw and dung, sawdust, etc.
Color verging on bay when old. Stem and margin of gills at length with a tawny tinge. Fries.
Haddonfield, New Jersey, Bell’s Mill, sawdust, 1890; Mt. Gretna, Pa., August, 1898, among sawdust from ice-house. Caps 6 in. across. Stem easily split, exterior hard, fibrillose, streaked, whitish, shining, stuffed with cottony fibers. Spores dark pink. McIlvaine.