CHAPTER IV.
THE RUSTY-SPORED AGARICS.
The spores are of various shades of ochre yellow, rusty, rusty-brown, brown, yellowish-brown. The hymenophore is never free from the stem in the rusty-spored series, nor is there a volva.
Pholiota. Fr.
Pholiota, a scale. The members of this genus have rusty spores. These may be sepia-brown, bright yellowish-brown or light red. There is no volva, but there is a ring which is sometimes persistent, friable, and fugacious. In this respect it corresponds with the Armillaria among the white spored agarics. The pileus is fleshy. The gills are attached to the stem and sometimes notched with a decurrent tooth, tawny or rusty in color on account of the falling of the spores. Many species grow on wood, logs, stumps, and branches of trees, although others grow on the ground.
Pholiota precox. Pers.
The Early Pholiota. Edible.
Figure 209.—Pholiota precox. Two-thirds natural size. Caps whitish, often tinged with yellow.
Precox, early. Pileus is fleshy, soft, convex, then expanded, at length smooth, even, margin at first incurved; moist but not sticky, whitish, often with slight tinge of yellow or tan-color; when the plant is fully matured it is often upturned and fluted.