Figure 135.—Pluteus cervinus. Cap grayish brown, or sooty, smooth or sometimes scaly, rarely white, stem same color, but paler; gills first white, then flesh color (natural size, often larger). Copyright.
Pluteus cervinus Schaeff. Edible.—This is one of the very common species of the higher fungi, and is also very widely distributed. It varies considerably in size and appearance. It is 7–15 cm. high, the cap 5–10 cm. broad, and the stem 6–12 mm. in thickness. It occurs on the ground from underground roots or rotten wood, or grows on decaying stumps, logs, etc., from spring until late autumn. Sometimes it is found growing in sawdust.
The pileus is fleshy, bell-shaped, then convex, and becoming expanded, the surface usually smooth, but showing radiating fibrils, grayish brown, or sometimes sooty, sometimes more or less scaly. The gills are not crowded, broad, free from the stem, white, then becoming flesh color with the maturity of the spores. One very characteristic feature of the plant is the presence of cystidia in the hymenium on the gills. These are stout, colorless, elliptical, thick-walled, and terminate in two or three blunt, short prongs.
The stem is nearly equal, solid, the color much the same as that of the pileus, but often paler above, smooth or sometimes scaly.
In some forms the plant is entirely white, except the gills. In addition to the white forms occurring in the woods, I have found them in an old abandoned cement mine growing on wood props.
