Allied to N. pediades, distinguished by its viscid cap when moist, and dark stem.
Common over the states. Washington, D.C., Mrs. Mary Fuller.
West Virginia, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, New Jersey. Solitary, sometimes cespitose, very common on lawns, rich pastures, etc. April until frost. McIlvaine.
This is one of our first appearing toadstools, coming up when the grass shows its full spring hue. It is found after rains until the coming of frost. Its hemispherical caps, precise, neat, dark gills and brown spores readily distinguish it. While usually small, patience and picking will soon gather quarts. The caps cook easily and are of excellent flavor.
N. platysper´ma Pk.—platys, broad; sperma, seed. Pileus convex, becoming nearly plane, glabrous, slightly tinged with ochraceous or reddish-yellow when young, soon whitish, the margin at first adorned with vestiges of a white flocculent veil. Flesh white. Lamellæ moderately close, slightly rounded behind, pallid, becoming brownish. Stem equal, stuffed with a white pith, slightly flocculent or furfuraceous above when young, whitish, the mycelium sometimes forming white thread-like strands. Spores broadly elliptical, 15µ long, 12.5µ broad.
Pileus 1–1.5 in. broad. Stem 3–5.5 in. long, 1.5–2 in. thick.
On the ground. Compton, Cal. Prof. A.J. McClatchie.
This species differs from N. pediades and N. semi-orbicularis, to which it is related, by its larger, broader spores and paler color. Peck, Bull. Torr. Bot. Club, Vol. 25, No. 6.
This new species reported from California is so closely allied to N. semi-orbicularis and N. pediades, both of which are edible, that it is here given, that it may be recognized by students on the Pacific coast or wherever it occurs.
