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LEPIOTA
to buff or leather color, smooth, dry, glabrous, or occasionally with the cuticle
cracking into scales, flesh soft, white, thick, thinning toward the margin,
odor and taste not distinctive, lamellae free, close, rather broad, often
rounded behind, white, gradually taking on a pinkish tinge with age, finally
darkening to pinkish brown, stipe stout, 2-4 in. long, up to J/2 in. in diameter,
subequal or tapering upward from the swollen base, smooth, glabrous, pruinose
above the ring, white, stuffed to hollow, easily separable, annulus
median to superior, thick, white, rolling back upon itself to form a stiff, collar-
hke ring on the stipe, persistent, becoming movable in age. spores smooth,
white, oval to ellipsoid, shghtly inequilateral, 7-9 X 5-6 m-
In scattered colonies on the ground in grassy places, common. Aug. -Oct.
This species is edible, but is not recommended for food because of the
danger of confusing it with the deadly Amanita virosa. In A. virosa the annulus
is pendent and skirt-like. In Lepiota naucina the annulus is rolled and collar-
Hke. If Amanita virosa is carelessly collected, the volva may be left behind and
its presence overlooked, thus increasing the danger of mistaking it for a
Lepiota. The two species can be distinguished with certainty by the spores.
LEPIOTA PROCERA (Fr.) S. F. Gray Edible
Figures 161, 162, 163, page 92
Parasol Mushroom
pileus 3-9 in. broad, or sometimes larger, at first subglobose or egg-
shaped, becoming campanulate, then plane, umbonate, cuticle reddish tan
except on the disk, soon breaking up into more or less concentric rings of
scales which are larger and more scattered toward the margin and tend to
disappear, exposing the finely fibrillose, white surface beneath, flesh soft,
white, thick, thinning toward the margin, lamellae free, remote from the
stipe, close to crowded, broad, ventricose, white, floccose on the edge, stipe
tall and slender, 6-12 in. or more long, tapering upward from a bulbous base,
Va-Vi
iri- thick at the apex, white, silky-fibrillose, covered with fine, brown,
floccose or fibrillose scales, sometimes with several brown rings of scaliness
near the annulus, hollow, easily separable from the pileus. annulus large and
flaring, thick, soft, movable, spores smooth, white, oval, 14-18 X 9-12 /x.
Sohtary or in groups, on the ground in grassy places and open woods.
July-Sept.
L. procera is taller and more slender in stature than either L. brunnea or
L. molybdites. Its nonstriate, floccose stipe will separate it from L. brunnea and
its white spore print from L. molybdites.
L. procera is one of the largest of our mushrooms and is frequently called
the Parasol Mushroom. As long as care is taken to distinguish it from the
green-spored L. molybdites, it is not likely to be confused with any other
poisonous species and it is one of the most desirable mushrooms for the
table.
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