Photo by C. G. Lloyd.
Plate XXVIII. Figure 188.—Pluteus cervinus.
Natural size.
Cervinus is from cervus, a deer. The pileus is fleshy, bell-shaped, expanded, viscid in wet weather, smooth, except a few radiating fibrils when young, margin entire, flesh soft and white; color of the cap light-brown or fawn-color, sometimes sooty, often more than three inches across the cap.
The gills are free from the stem, broad, ventricose, unequal in length, almost white when young, flesh-colored when mature from the falling of the spores. The stem is solid, slightly tapering upward, firm, brittle, white, spread over with a few dark fibrils, generally crooked. The spores are broadly elliptical. The cystidia in the hymenium on the gills will be of interest to those who have a microscope.
This is a very common mushroom about Chillicothe. It is found on logs, stumps, and especially on old sawdust piles. Note how easily the stem is removed from the cap. This will distinguish it from the genus Entoloma. You cannot get anything in the market that will make a better fry than Pluteus cervinus; fried in butter, it is simply delicious. Found from May to October.
Figure 189.—Pluteus cervinus.