Edible. Cooke.
September 8, 1897, Mr. E.B. Sterling, Trenton, N.J., sent me several specimens new to me and remarkable in having two well-defined veils, the lower and thicker one of which left a dark zone upon the stem, the upper, fibrillose, was more persistent, but left a fainter impression. These veils are not mentioned in Professor Peck’s description of the American species, but are prominently noted in that of Fries, as above. In a very young specimen both veils were present. Cap light brown, minutely squamulose, with a few small red spots; margin thin, involute, flesh thick, yellowish, firm; gills distant, rounded behind, slightly emarginate, alternate ones short, light brown inclined to cinereous on edge.
Spores brown. Small young specimens did not show bulbous stem as distinct as larger and older ones.
I afterward found several specimens at Mt. Gretna, Pa., September and October, 1897.
The flesh is excellent, closely resembling Pholiota subsquarrosa. The species seems to be rare. If found in quantity it will prove one of our very best edibles.
C. dis´tans Pk. Pileus thin except the disk, convex, squamulose, bay-brown when moist, tawny when dry. Lamellæ broad, distant, thick, dark cinnamon-color. Stipe subequal, often a little tapering upward, solid, slightly fibrillose-scaly, concolorous.
Height 2–3 in., breadth of pileus 1–2 in., stipe 4–6 in. thick.
Grassy ground in pine woods. Greenbush. June.
The flesh is dull-yellowish. The pileus, when drying, has for a time a brown-marginal zone. Peck, 23d Rep. N.Y. State Bot.
New Jersey pines. Eagle’s Mere, Pa., coniferous woods. August. Mt. Gretna, Pa., pines. August, September. McIlvaine.