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

by Miron Elisha Hard

Pholiota heteroclita. Fr.

Bulbous-stemmed Pholiota.

Figure 214.—Pholiota heteroclita. Natural size. Caps whitish or yellowish.

Heteroclitus means leaning to one side, out of the center.

The pileus is three to six inches broad, compact, convex, expanded, very obtuse, rather eccentric, marked with scattered, innate, adpressed scales, whitish or yellowish, sometimes smooth when dry, viscid if moist.

The gills are very broad, at first pallid, then ferruginous, rounded, adnexed.

The stem is three to four inches long, solid, hard, bulbous at the base, fibrillose, white or whitish; veil apical, ring fugacious, appendiculate. The spores are subelliptical, 8–10×5–6µ.

This species has a strong and pungent odor very much like horse-radish. It grows on wood and its favorite hosts are the poplar and the birch. It is found at almost any time in the fall. The specimens in the Figure 214 were found in Michigan and photographed by Dr. Fischer, of Detroit.