Plate 44, Figure 138.—Clitopilus prunulus, cap whitish or dark gray, gills flesh color (natural size). Copyright.
The pileus is fleshy, firm, convex and becoming nearly plane, and sometimes as the plants become old the center may be slightly depressed. It is whitish in color, or dark gray, or with a leaden tint, dry, sometimes with a distinct bloom on the surface, and the margin is often wavy. The cap is sometimes produced more on one side than on the other. The gills are not close, at first whitish, then salmon colored as the spores mature, and they are decurrent as is characteristic of the genus. The spores are elliptical or nearly so, and measure 10–12 µ long.
Figure [138] is from plants collected near Ithaca, in the autumn of 1898. This species is considered to be one of the excellent mushrooms for food. When fresh it has a mealy odor and taste, as do several of the species of this genus. It is known as the prune mushroom.
Clitopilus orcella Bull. Edible.—This plant is sometimes spoken of as the sweet-bread mushroom. It is much like the prune mushroom just described, in odor and taste, and sometimes resembles it in form and other characters. It is white in color, and the plants are usually considerably smaller, and the pileus is, according to my observations, sometimes more irregular, lobed and wavy on the margin. The flesh is also softer, and the cap is said to be slightly viscid in wet weather. The plant grows in the woods and sometimes in open fields.
ENTOLOMA Fr.
The volva and annulus are absent in this genus, the spores are rosy, the gills adnate to sinuate or adnexed, easily separating from the stem in some species. The stem is fleshy or fibrous, sometimes waxy, and the pileus is fleshy with the margin incurved, especially when young. The spores are prominently angular. The genus corresponds with Tricholoma of the white-spored agarics, and also with Hebeloma and Inocybe of the ochre-spored ones. Entoloma repandum Bull., is an Inocybe [I. repandum (Bull.) Bres.] and has angular spores resembling those of an Entoloma, but the spores are not rosy.
Entoloma jubatum Fr.—Growing on the ground in woods. The plants are 5–10 cm. high, the cap 3–6 cm. broad, and the stem 3–6 mm. in thickness.
The pileus is conic in some plants, to convex and umbonate, thin, minutely scaly with blackish hairy scales, dull heliotrope purple, darker on the umbo. The gills are vinaceous rufus to deep flesh color, strongly sinuate, and irregularly notched along the edge. The spores are irregularly oval to short oblong, coarsely angular, with an oil drop, 5–7 angled, 7–11 × 6–7 µ. The stem is of the same color as the pileus, sometimes deeply rooting, hollow. Figure [139] is from plants (No. 4000, C. U. herbarium) collected at Blowing Rock, N. C., during September, 1899.
Entoloma grayanum Pk.—This plant grows on the ground in woods. It is from 6–8 cm. high, the cap is 3–6 cm. broad, and the stem 4–6 mm. in thickness.