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EDIBLE AND POISONOUS MUSHROOMS OF CANADA
glutinous, colored like the pileus, cottony at the base, solid, annulus slight,
evanescent, glutinous-fibrillose. spores white, subglobose, 4-6 X 4-5 ^i.
Usually singly or scattered on ground in woods. Aug. -Oct.
The rather bright colored, thick gluten covering both pileus and stipe,
together with the white spores and free lamellae characterize this species.
L. glioderma (Fr.) Earle is also brown but is darker and the stipe is not viscid.
LIMACELLA ILLINITA (Fr.) Earle
Figure 148, page 89
PILEUS 1 %-2)/2 in. broad, at first ovoid becoming campanulate to plane or
subumbonate, glutinous, viscid, glabrous, white, sometimes yellowish on the
disk. FLESH white, thin, soft, no taste, lamellae free, close, moderately broad,
white. STIPE 2-31/2 in. long, V^-V^ in. thick, equal or tapering upward slightly,
white, glutinous below annulus, silky above, stuffed to hollow, annulus
fibrillose, evanescent, spores white, subglobose to broadly elHpsoid, smooth,
5-6 X 4-5.5 11.
Singly to gregarious on the ground in woods. Sept.-Oct.
The very glutinous white pileus and stipe, and the free lamellae distin-
guish this species. Sometimes the gluten is so copious that it drips from the
pileus. A form is sometimes found in which the gluten on the stipe becomes
pinkish or red and this has been described as L. illinita var. rubescens H. V.
Smith.
LEPIOTA
The genus Lepiota contains a great many species including some of the
largest and most important edible species. It has white spores and lamellae
free from the stipe. An annulus is present, but the volva is lacking. The stipe is
a different texture from the flesh of the pileus and separates readily from it. An
exception to the spores being white is found in Lepiota molybdites where they
are greenish.
It is an important genus for those who are interested in mushrooms as
food. L. procera is one of the finest edible species we have and L. brunnea and
L. americana are also very good. However, the occurrence of the poisonous
L. molybdites, which might be mistaken for either L. procera or L. brunnea if
spore prints are not taken, makes it important that the characters of the
species be examined closely.
Careful identification is particularly important in the case of L. naucina.
This beautiful white species, which occurs commonly in lawns and meadows,
is edible itself but has probably been indirectly responsible for many deaths
from mushroom poisoning because of people mistaking the deadly poisonous
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