Section of
Stropharia semiglobata.
Natural size. (From Massee.)
S. semigloba´ta Batsch.—semi, half; globus, a ball. Pileus commonly ½ in. broad, light-yellow, slightly fleshy, hemispherical, not expanded, very obtuse, even, viscous. Stem about 3 in. long, 1 line thick, tubed, slender, firm and straight, equal, even, smooth, becoming yellow, paler at the apex, powdered with the spores, otherwise smeared with the glutinous veil which is abrupt above terminating in an incomplete (not membranaceous) viscous, distant ring. Gills adnate, very broad, plane, clouded with black.
Spores dusky-purple. Stevenson.
Spores blackish-purple, 13×8µ W.G.S.; elliptical, ends rather acute, 12×6µ Massee.
Grows on dung, rich lawns and pastures. April to November. A common, frequent, solitary species, easily recognized by its hemispherical cap, dark mottled gills. At first sight it resembles Naucoria semiorbicularis.
The caps are equal to any mushroom. I have eaten it since 1881. M.C. Cooke says: “It was Sowerby who drew attention to this species as dangerous, and intimated that it had been fatal. Since that period we are not aware of any further evidence against it.”
It is tender, good and harmless.
Grouped by F.D. Briscoe—Studies by C. McIlvaine. Plate XCVII.