Remarkable for the bright rosy-red spores which are sometimes so thickly dusted over the lower pilei of a tuft as to conceal their real color. The species is very rare. Peck, 42d Rep. N.Y. State Bot.
Spores Very Pale Flesh-Colored, Merely Tinted.
C. cæspito´sus Pk.—tufted. Pileus at first convex, firm, nearly regular, shining, white, then nearly plane, fragile, often irregular or eccentric, glabrous but with a slight silky luster, even, whitish. Flesh white, taste mild. Gills narrow, thin, crowded, often forked, adnate or slightly decurrent, whitish, becoming dingy or brownish-pink. Stems cespitose, solid, silky-fibrillose, slightly mealy at the top, white. Spores 5×4µ.
Pileus 2–4 in. broad. Stem 1.5–3 in. long, 2–4 lines thick.
Thin woods and pastures. Ulster county. September.
This is a large, fine species, very distinct by its cespitose habit, white color and very pale sordid-tinted spores. But for the color of these the plant might easily be taken for a species of Clitocybe. The tufts sometimes form long rows. Peck, 42d Rep. N.Y. State Bot.
Mt. Gretna, Pa. October. McIlvaine.
Tender, not much flavor.
C. Noveboracen´sis Pk.—New York Clitopilus. Pileus thin, convex, then expanded or slightly depressed, dingy white, cracked in areas or concentrically rivulose, sometimes obscurely zonate, odor farinaceous, taste bitter. Gills narrow, close, deeply decurrent, some of them forked, white, becoming dingy, tinged with yellow or flesh-color. Stem equal, solid, colored like the pileus, the mycelium white, often forming white branching root-like fibers. Spores globose, 4–5µ broad.
Var. brevis. Margin of the pileus, in the moist plant, pure white. Gills adnate or slightly decurrent. Stem short.