Crepidotus mollis.
Natural size.
Veil wanting or not manifest. Pileus eccentric, lateral or resupinate. Spores rust-color.
The Crepidoti correspond in shape and habit to the smaller Pleuroti and the Claudopodes, but they are distinguished from both by the rust-color of their spores. These are globose in several species, in others they are elliptical. In some there is a depression on one side which gives them a naviculoid character and causes the spore to appear slightly curved when viewed in a certain position. In consequence of the similarity of several of our species, the character of the spores is of much importance in their identification, and it is unfortunate that European mycologists have so generally neglected to give the spore characters in their descriptions of these fungi. In most of the species the pileus is at first resupinate, but it generally becomes reflexed as it enlarges. It is generally sessile or attached by a mass of white fibrils or tomentum. For this reason it is usually somewhat tomentose or villose about the point of attachment, even in species that are otherwise glabrous. In several species the pileus is moist or hygrophanous and then the thin margin is commonly striatulate. This character is attributed to but one of the dozen or more European species. Their mode of growth is usually gregarious or somewhat loosely imbricated, in consequence of which the pileus, which in most species is white or yellowish, is often stained by the spores, and then it has a rusty, stained or squalid appearance. The species occur especially on old stumps, prostrate trunks and soft much decayed wood in damp, shaded places. Peck, 39th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.
C. ful´vo-tomento´sus Pk.—tawny-tomentose. Pileus ¾-2 in. broad, scattered or gregarious, suborbicular, kidney-shaped or dimidiate, sessile or attached by a short, white-villose tubercle or rudimentary stem, hygrophanous, watery-brown and sometimes striatulate on the margin when moist, whitish, yellowish or pale ochraceous when dry, adorned with small, tawny, hairy or tomentose scales. Lamellæ broad, subventricose, moderately close, rounded behind, radiating from a lateral or eccentric white villose spot, whitish becoming brownish-ferruginous. Spores elliptical often uninucleate, 8–10×5–6µ.
Decaying wood of poplar, maple, etc. Common. June to October.
A pretty species, corresponding in some respects to the European C. calolepis, but much larger and with tawny, instead of reddish scales. The cuticle is separable and is tenacious, though it has a hyaline gelatinous appearance. The pileus is subpersistent, and specimens dried in their place of growth are not rare. Peck, 39th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.
Haddonfield, N.J.; Angora, West Philadelphia. On decaying hickory. McIlvaine.
Substance fair. Taste strong but pleasant.