Our Edible Toadstools and Mushrooms and How to Distinguish Them / A Selection of Thirty Native Food Varieties Easily Recognizable by their Marked Individualities, with Simple Rules for the Identification of Poisonous Species

by W. Hamilton Gibson

PLATE V
"THE MUSHROOM"

Agaricus campestris

Pileus: At first globular, its edge connected to stem by the veil; then round convex, at length becoming possibly almost flat. Surface dry, downy, or even quite scaly, varying in color from creamy white to light brown. Diameter at full expansion, about three inches.

Gills: Unequal in length; pink when first revealed, becoming brownish, brown, purplish, and finally almost black.

Stem: Solid; of the color of the cap; paler and white in section, retaining the remnant of the veil in a permanent ragged ring.

Spores: Brown.

Taste: Sweet and inviting, and odor agreeable.

Habitat: Pastures, lawns, and open rich soil generally.

Season: Late summer and early autumn, occasionally in spring.