The Mushroom, Edible and Otherwise Part 25

The stem, is short, slender, incurved, glabrous or minutely scurfy, somewhat paler than the pileus. The spores are elliptical, 5-63; cystidia obtusely fusiform, 50-608-10.

These plants are found on the bark of living trees. After rains I have seen the bark on the shade trees along the walks in Chillicothe, literally covered with these beautiful little plants. The plants in Figure 93 were taken from a maple tree the 4th of December. They are very close allied to M. hiemalis but can be distinguished by the broad, ovate gills bearing cystidia, and smaller spores.

_Mycena hiemalis. Osbeck._

THE WINTER MYCENA.

Hiemalis, of, or belonging to, winter. The pileus quite thin, bell-shaped, very slightly umbonate, margin striate; pinkish, rufescent, white, sometimes pruinose.

The gills are adnate, linear, white or whitish.

The stem is slender, curved, base downy, whitish, pinkish-red. The spores are 7-83.

This is a more delicate species than M. corticola and differs from it in its narrow gills, and striate, not sulcate, pileus, also in the color of the stem. Found on stumps and logs. October and November.

_Mycena Leaiana. Berk._

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 94.--Mycena leaiana. Natural size. Caps bright orange and very viscid.]

Leaiana named in honor of Mr. Thomas G. Lea, who was the first man to study mycology in the Miami Valley. This is a very beautiful plant growing on decayed beech logs in rainy weather. The pileus is fleshy, very viscid, bright orange, the margin slightly striate as will be seen in the one whose cap shows.

The gills are distant, not entire, broad, notched at the stem, attached, the edge a dusky orange, or vermilion, the short gills beginning at the margin.

The stem is in most cases curved, attenuated toward the cap, smooth, hollow, rather firm, quite hirsute or strigose at the base. The spores are elliptical, apiculate, .0090.0056 mm.

They are caespitose, growing in dense tufts on logs somewhat decayed. It is extremely viscid, so much so that your hands will be stained yellow if you handle it much. It grows from spring to fall but is usually more abundant in August and September. Very common.

_Mycena iris. B._

Pileus is small, convex, expanded, obtuse, slightly viscid, striate, quite [blue?] when young, growing brownish with blue fibrils.

The gills are free, tinged with gray.

The stem is short, bluish below, tinged with brown above, somewhat pruinose. Found in damp woods after a rain, in August.

_Mycena pura. Pers._

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Photo by Prof. G. D. Smith._

Figure 95.--Mycena pura.]

Pura means unstained, pure.

The pileus is fleshy, thin, bell-shaped, expanded, obtusely umbonate, finely striate on the margin, sometimes having margin upturned, violet to rose.

The gills are broad, adnate to sinuate, in older plants sometimes free by breaking away from the stem, connected by veins, sometimes wavy and crenate on the edge, the edge of the gills sometimes almost or quite white, violet, rose.

The stem is even, nearly naked, somewhat villous at the base, sometimes almost white when young, later a.s.suming the color of the cap, hollow, smooth.

The spores are white and oblong, 6-83-3.5. M. Pelianthina differs from this in having dark-edged gills. It differs from M. pseudopura and M. zephira in having a strong smell. M. ianthina differs in having a conical cap.

This plant is quite widely distributed. Our plants are light-violet in color, and the color seems constant. I have found it in mixed woods. It is found in September and October.

_Mycena vulgaris. Pers._

Vulgaris means common.

The pileus is small, convex, then depressed, papillate, viscid, brownish-gray, finely striate on the margin.

The gills are subdecurrent, thin, white; the depressed cap and decurrent gills make the plant resemble an Omphalia. Spores, 52.5.

The stem is viscid, pale, tough, fibrillose at the base, rooting, becoming hollow. It differs from M. pelliculosa in not having a separable cuticule and the fold-like gills.

This plant will be recognized by its smoky or grayish color, umbilicate pileus, and viscid stem. It is found in woods on leaves and decayed sticks. August and September.

_Mycena epipterygia. Scop._

[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 96.--Mycena epipterygia.]

Epipterygia is _Epi_, upon, and _Pterygion_, a small wing.

These are small, the pileus being one-half to one inch broad, membranaceous, bell-shaped, then expanded, rather obtuse, not depressed, striate, the cuticule separable in every condition and viscid in damp weather, gray, often pale yellowish-green near the margin often minutely notched when young.

The gills are attached to the stem with a decurrent tooth, thin, whitish or tinged with gray.

The stem is two to four inches long, hollow, tough, rooting, viscid, yellowish, sometimes gray or even whitish. The spores are elliptical, 8-104-5.

These plants have a wide distribution and [are?] found on branches, among moss and dead leaves. They are found in cl.u.s.ters and solitary.

They resemble in many ways M. alcalina but do not have the peculiar smell.

The plants in Figure 96 were photographed by Prof. G. D. Smith of Akron.

_Omphalia. Fr._

Omphalia is from a Greek word meaning the navel; referring here to the central depression in the cap.

The pileus from the first is centrally depressed, then funnel-shaped, almost membranaceous, and watery when moist; margin incurved or straight. Stem cartilaginous and hollow, often stuffed when young, continuous with the cap but different in character. Gills decurrent and sometimes branched.

They are generally found on wood, preferring a damp woody situation and a wet season. It is easily distinguished from Collybia and Mycena by its decurrent gills. In some of the species of the Mycena where the gills are slightly decurrent, the pileus is not centrally depressed as it is in corresponding species of Omphalia. There are a few species of Omphalia whose pileus is not centrally depressed but whose gills are plainly decurrent.