The gills are rather broad, somewhat close, rounded behind, adnexed, dingy-white, becoming brown or blackish, with a white edge.
The stem is short, stout, tapering upwards, strongly striate and minutely mealy or pruinose; solid in the young plant, hollow in the mature, but with the cavity small; hairy, or substrigose at the base. The spores elliptical and black, .0003 to .00035 of an inch long, .0002 to .00025 broad. Peck.
The plants are small, about two thirds to an inch broad and from an inch to an inch and a half high. It is referred to this genus because of its black spores. It has other characteristics which would seem to place it better among Hypholomas. It is not common. Found in October and November. The specimens in Figure 277 were found in Michigan and photographed by Dr. Fisher.
Panæolus campanulatus. Linn.
Bell-Shaped Panaeolus.
Campanulatus is from campanula, a little bell.
The pileus is an inch to an inch and a quarter broad, oval or bell-shaped, sometimes slightly umbonate, smooth, somewhat shining, grayish-brown, sometimes becoming reddish-tinted, the margin often fringed with fragments of the veil.
The gills are attached, not broad, ascending, variegated with gray and black.
The stem is three to five inches long, hollow, slender, firm, straight, often covered with frost-like bloom and often striate at the top, the veil remaining only a short time. The spores are subellipsoid, 8–9×6µ.
The gills do not deliquesce. It is widely distributed and is found in almost any horse pasture.