In structure it reminds one of a miniature cropped Lombardy poplar. The color is not bright, but dingy-yellow. Resembles C. flava; distinguished by different color of spores. The branches (not stem) are tender and good.
Var. rufes´cens Schaeff.
This plant occurs after heavy rains. It sometimes grows in continuous rows several feet in extent. The pinkish-red tips of the branches fade with age. The axils are rounded and the plant is quite fragile. Fries considers it a variety of C. aurea. Peck, 25th Rep. N.Y. State Bot.
Found at Springton, Chester county, Pa., August, 1887. It is edible and good. The plant is tender and easily cooked.
C. formo´sa Pers.—formosus, finely formed. (Plate [CXXXIX], fig. 3, p. 416.) Height 2–4 in. Trunk 1 in. and more thick, whitish or yellowish, elastic. Branches numerous, crowded, elongated, divided at ends into yellow branchlets which are thin, straight, obtuse or toothed.
Spores ochraceous 9×3–4µ Massee; elongated, oval, rough, 16×8µ W.G.S.
On ground in woods, in large tufts, frequently in rows several feet long.
North Carolina, Schweinitz, Curtis; Pennsylvania, New Jersey, McIlvaine.
Esteemed in Europe. Edible. Dr. Curtis.
Common in the United States in woods. Variable. An orange-rose color is sometimes prominent on the tips. The tenderer portions of the plant are excellent, but must be well cooked.