The stem is one to two inches long, solid, fleshy-compact, ovate-bulbous (conical to the middle, cylindrical above), fibrillose-striate, white. Spores elliptical, 6–7×4µ.
Tricholoma personatum. Fr.
The Masked Tricholoma. Edible.
Figure 61.—Tricholoma personatum. One-third natural size. Caps usually tinged with lilac or violet. Stems bulbous.
Figure 62.—Tricholoma personatum. Two-thirds natural size. The entire plant white.
Personatum means wearing a mask; so called because of the variety of colors it undergoes. This is a beautiful mushroom, and is excellently flavored; it has a wide range and is frequently found, in great abundance. I have often seen it growing in almost a straight line for over twenty feet, the caps so thoroughly crowded that they had lost their form. When young the cap is convex and quite firm, with the margin minutely downy or adorned with mealy particles, and incurved. In the mature plant it is softer, broadly convex, or nearly plane, with the thin margin spreading and more or less turned upward and wavy. When young it is pale lilac in color, but with advancing age it changes to a tawny or rusty hue, especially in the center. Sometimes the cap is white, whitish or gray, or of a pale violaceous color.