Figure 136.—Pluteus tomentosulus. Cap and stem entirely white, gills flesh color, stem furrowed and tomentose (natural size). Copyright.
Pluteus tomentosulus Pk.—This plant was described by Peck in the 32d Report, N. Y. State Mus., page 28, 1879. It grows on decaying wood in the woods during July and August. The plants are 5–12 cm. high, the cap 3–7 cm. broad, and the stem 4–8 mm. in thickness. The description given by Peck is as follows: "Pileus thin, convex or expanded, subumbonate, dry, minutely squamulose-tomentose, white, sometimes pinkish on the margin; lamellæ rather broad, rounded behind, free, crowded, white then flesh colored; stem equal, solid, striate, slightly pubescent or subtomentose, white; spores subglobose, 7 µ in diameter, generally containing a large single nucleus." From the plant collected at Ithaca the following notes were made. The pileus and stem are entirely white, the gills flesh color. The pileus is expanded, umbonate, thin except at the umbo, minutely floccose squamulose, no pinkish tinge noted; the flesh is white, but on the umbo changing to flesh color where wounded. The gills are free, with a clear white space between stem and rounded edges, crowded, narrow (about 3–4 mm. broad) edge finely fimbriate, probably formed by numerous bottle-shaped cystidia on the edge, and which extend up a little distance on the side of the gills, but are not distributed in numbers over the surface of the gills; cystidia thin walled, hyaline. The spores are flesh colored, subglobose, 5–7 µ. Stem cylindrical, even, twisted somewhat, white, striate and minutely squamulose like the pileus, but with coarser scales, especially toward the base, solid, flesh white.
The species received its name from the tomentose, striate character of the stem. The plants (No. 3219, C. U. herbarium) illustrated in Fig. [136] were collected in Enfield Gorge, vicinity of Ithaca, July 28, 1899.
VOLVARIA Fr.
This genus takes its name from the volva, which means a wrapper, and which, as we know from our studies of Amanita, entirely envelops the plant at a young stage. The genus is characterized then by the rosy or reddish spores, the presence of a volva, and the annulus is wanting. The stem is easily separable from the pileus at its junction, in this respect being similar to Amanita, Amanitopsis, Lepiota and others. The gills are usually, also, free from the stem. The species grow on rotting wood, on leaf mould and on richly manured ground, etc. They are of a very soft texture and usually soon decay.
Volvaria bombycina (Pers.) Fr. Edible.—The silky volvaria is so called because of the beautiful silky texture of the surface of the cap. It is not very common, but is world wide in its distribution, and occurs on decayed wood of logs, stumps, etc., during late summer and in autumn. It is usually of a beautiful white color, large, the volva large and thick, reminding one of a bag, and the stem is ascending when the plant grows on the side of the trunk, or erect when it grows on the upper side of a log or stump. The plant is from 8–16 cm. high, the cap 6–20 cm. broad, and the stem 1–1.5 cm. thickness.
The pileus is globose, then bell-shaped, and finally convex and somewhat umbonate, white, according to some becoming somewhat reddish. The entire surface is silky, and numerous hairs stand out in the form of soft down, when older the surface becoming more or less scaly, or rarely becoming smooth at the apex. The flesh is white. The gills are crowded, very broad along the middle, flesh colored, the edge sometimes ragged. The spores are rosy in mass, oval to broadly elliptical, 6–9 × 5–6 µ, smooth. The stem tapers from the base to the apex, is solid, smooth. The volva is large and bag-like. The plant is considered edible by some. Figure [137] is from a plant (No. 3096, C. U. herbarium) collected on a log of Acer rubrum in Cascadilla woods, Ithaca, on August 10th, 1898.
Figure 137.—Volvaria bombycina. Cap, stem and volva entirely white, gills flesh color (natural size). Copyright.