Var. rufes´cens B. and Br. Pure white at first, then partially turning red and in drying acquiring everywhere a reddish tint.
Var. al´bida Pk. Persistently white.
Though small many plants grow neighboring. Being fleshy for their size, and of pleasing quality, they well repay gathering. Remove stems.
Open woods, Angora, West Philadelphia; Haddonfield, New Jersey, McIlvaine.
A. Cuticle Viscid. Neither Scaly nor Warty.
L. delica´ta Fr.—delicatus, delicate. Up to 1½ in. across, reddish, becoming yellowish toward margin. Flesh well proportioned to cap, convex, obscurely umbonate, glabrous, slightly viscid. Stem 1½-2 in. long, very thin, but covered with dense downy scales, equal, lighter than cap. Ring usually entire, membranaceous, fluffy from scales. Gills free, crowded, ventricose, white.
Haddonfield, N.J., January, 1896–97, in hot-houses. McIlvaine.
A delicate, delicious Lepiota. Though small, it is meaty. Its appearance in hot-houses (it is found in woods) insures a crop at a time of year when other species are not plentiful, and when anything edible in the toadstool line is most welcome to their lovers.
L. lenticula´ris Lasch.—lenticula, a lentil. Pileus at first globose, then convex, even, naked, pinkish-tan color. Flesh thick, spongy, white. Gills close to stem, but free from it, ventricose, crowded, whitish. Stem 4–6 in. high, thick, equal or swollen at base, solid but spongy, more or less covered with scales; above the ring it is frequently covered with drops of water more or less green, which leave spots when they dry. Veil superior and very large.
Pileus 3–4 in. across. Stem 4–6 in. long, ½ in. and more thick. In damp woods.