The distinctive features of this genus are the involute margin and the soft, tough, and decurrent gills which are easily separable from the hymenophore. Some grow on the ground, others grow on stumps and sawdust.
Paxillus involutus. Fr.
Photo by C. G. Lloyd.
Figure 232.—Paxillus involutus.
Involutus means rolled inward. The pileus is two to four inches broad, fleshy, compact, convex, plane, then depressed; viscid when moist, the cap being covered with a fine downy substance, so that when the margin of the cap unrolls the marks of the gills are quite prominent; yellowish or tawny-ochraceous, spotting when bruised.
The gills are decurrent, branched; anastomosing behind, near the stem; easily separating from the hymenophore.
The stem is paler than the pileus, fleshy, solid, firm, thickened upward, brown spotted.
The flesh is yellowish, changing to reddish or brownish when bruised. The spores are rust-colored and elliptical, 8–10µ. It is found on the ground and decayed stumps. When found on the side of a decayed stump or a moss-covered log the stem is usually eccentric, but in other cases it is generally central.