Photographed by Dr. J.R. Weist. Plate XIV.
LEPIOTA MORGANI.
L. Mor´gani Pk.—in honor of Professor Morgan. (Plate [XIV].) Pileus fleshy, soft, at first subglobose, then expanded or even depressed, white, the brownish or yellowish cuticle breaking up into scales except on the disk. Gills close, lanceolate, remote, white, then green. Stem firm, equal or tapering upward, subbulbous, smooth, webby-stuffed, whitish, tinged with brown. Ring rather large, movable. Flesh both of the pileus and stem white, changing to reddish and then to yellowish when cut or bruised. Spores ovate or subelliptical, mostly uninucleate, sordid green, 10–13×7–8µ.
Plant 6–8 in. high. Pileus 5–9 in. broad. Stem 6–12 lines thick. Peck in Bot. Gaz., March, 1879.
Open dry grassy places. Dayton, Ohio. A.P. Morgan.
This species is remarkable because of the peculiar color of the spores. No green-spored Agaric, so far as I am aware, has before been discovered, and no one of the five series, in which the very numerous species of the genus have been arranged, is characterized in such a way as to receive this species.
It seems a little hasty to found a series (Viridispori) on the strength of a single species. Until other species of such a supposed series shall be discovered it seems best to regard this as an aberrant member of the white-spored series. The same course has been taken with those Agarics which have sordid or yellowish or lilac-tinted spores.
It gives me great pleasure to dedicate this fine species to its discoverer Mr. Morgan. Peck.
Commonly 6–8 in. high, 5–9 in. diameter, though larger specimens are sometimes found. It is the most conspicuous Agaric in the meadows and pastures of the Miami valley; it appears to flourish from spring to autumn whenever there is abundance of rain.
It is heavier and stouter than L. procera and I am disposed to claim that it is the largest Agaric in the world. Spores 10–12×7–8µ. In immature specimens they are greenish-yellow. Morgan.
Kansas, Bartholomew (Peck, Rep. 50); Kansas, Cragin; Alabama, U. and E.; Georgia, Benson; Louisiana, Rev. A.B. Langlois; Michigan, C.F. Wheeler (Lloyd, Myc. Notes); Texas, Prof. W.S. Carter; Indiana, H.I. Miller.