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 VIII
FAIRY RING CHAMPIGNON

Marasmius oreades

Pileus: Convex at first, becoming flat, with a mound at centre, at juncture of stem; texture, tough and pliable when moist, brittle in drying, alternating between these two conditions with rain and sun; color, reddish buff at first, becoming cream colored when old, when it is usually quite wrinkled.

Gills: Broad, and quite separated; about ten or twelve to the inch at rim in large specimens; unequal in length; deep cream color; clearing the stem as they curve upward towards cap.

Stem: Solid; equal diameter; tough and fibrous; naked and smooth at base.

Spores: White.

Taste: Sweet, "nutty," and appetizing.

Odor: Aromatic and pleasant.