Occurred in large clusters on sugar maples at Eagle’s Mere in October, and on stumps at Mt. Gretna. It very closely resembles P. squarrosa. Its caps are of the very best.
P. subsquarro´sa Fr.—sub, under; squarrosus, scurfy. (Plate [LXXI], fig. 4, p. 268.) Pileus 2 in. and more broad, brown rust-color, with darker, adpressed, floccose scales, fleshy, convex, obtuse or gibbous, viscid. Stem 3 in. long, 4–5 lines thick, stuffed (often hollow when old), equal, yellow-rust-color, clothed with darker scales which are adpressed, or spreading only at the apex, not rough, furnished with an annular zone at the apex, becoming yellow-rust-color within. Gills deeply sinuate, emarginate, almost free, arcuate, crowded, at first pale then dingy yellow.
Spores rust-color. The pileus is viscid, but not glutinous like that of A. adiposus. It holds a doubtful place between A. aurivellus and A. squarrosus, departing from both, however, in the gills being at the first yellow; and from A. squarrosus, to which it is more like, in the gills being emarginato-free, not decurrent. Somewhat cespitose. Almost inodorous. Fries.
Spores ferruginous, size not stated.
West Philadelphia, Mt. Gretna, Pa., Haddonfield, N.J. September until after frosts. McIlvaine.
Not previously reported.
The maple trees in West Philadelphia frequently show large clusters of it up to twenty feet from ground; to be seen from afar after the leaves have fallen. Our American species differs somewhat from the European. American species:
Pileus 1–3 in. across, fleshy, convex, very viscid, rich brownish-yellow, covered with darker adpressed floccose scales. Flesh slightly yellow. Gills white when very young slightly emarginate, adnexed, crowded, ¼ in. broad, brown. Stem 2–3 in. long, ½ in. thick, equal or tapering toward base, stuffed, then hollow, covered with squamose scales as far up as the slight ring, smooth above ring. Ring membranaceous, slight.
Spores rust-color.
The species is variable and differs greatly in youth and maturity.