The Mushroom, Edible and Otherwise / Its Habitat and its Time of Growth

by Miron Elisha Hard

Found in July, August, and September.

Eccilia polita. Pers.

Polita means having been furbished.

Figure 206.—Eccilia polita. Natural size. Caps hair-brown to olive, umbilicate.

The pileus is one inch or more broad, convex, umbilicate, somewhat membranaceous, watery, livid or hair-brown to olive, smooth, shining when dry, finely striate on the margin.

The gills are slightly decurrent, crowded, irregular or uneven, flesh color.

The stem is cartilaginous, stuffed or hollow, lighter in color than the pileus, equal or sometimes slightly enlarged at the base, polished from which the specific name is derived.

This is a larger plant than E. carneo-grisea; and it differs materially in the character of its spores, which are strongly angled and some of them square, 10–12µ in diameter, with a prominent mucro at one angle. It is found in the woods from September to frost.