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EDIBLE AND POISONOUS MUSHROOMS OF CANADA
equal, solid or stuffed, white or grayish, spores smooth, white, broadly ovoid,
6-7.5 X 3.5-5.5 m-
In groups, or clusters of several, on the ground, in open woods. July-Oct.
There are a number of closely related forms in the T. terreum group that
are puzzling to distinguish from one another. Just how many species or forms
are involved in this complex is uncertain. The species described above is fairly
common and is characterized by the gray color and fibrillose to scaly pilei.
T. myomyces (Pers.) Lange is similar in appearance but has a farinaceous odor
and taste and slightly smaller spores.
TRICHOLOMA VACCINUM (Pers. ex Fr.) Kummer Suspected
Figure 184, page 111
piLEUS 1 1/2-3 in. broad, convex to campanulate, sometimes subumbonate,
becoming expanded, dry, covered with cinnamon-brown to dark reddish
brown, appressed scales, margin tomentose, incurved at first, flesh thin
except at the disk, white, staining faintly reddish, taste sHghtly disagreeable.
LAMELLAE adncxcd or almost adnate, becoming sinuate, close, moderately
broad, dingy white, staining reddish brown, stipe 2-3 in. long, V^-Yi in. thick,
subequal, hollow, pale reddish brown, fading to whitish at the apex, fibrillose-
scaly with reddish brown scales, spores smooth, white, broadly ovoid to
subglobose, 5.5-6 X 4 m-
In groups or sHghtly clustered on the ground under conifers. Sept.-Oct.
T. vaccinum is a fairly common species, well characterized by the reddish,
scaly pileus, hollow stipe, and by the lamellae staining reddish brown. Other
species in which the lamellae also stain reddish brown are T. imbricatum (Fr.)
Kummer, which has a less scaly pileus and solid stipe, and T. transmutans
Peck, which is viscid with the surface tasting bitter. Both the latter species are
reported edible but there seems to be some doubt regarding T. vaccinum.
MELANOLEUCA
This genus includes a group of species formerly placed in Tricholoma.
The characters used to separate it from Tricholoma are mainly microscopic,
being the rough-walled, amyloid spores and the harpoon-shaped cystidia on
the edges of the lamellae. However, we can usually recognize a Melanoleuca in
the field by its stiff stature and the texture of the stipe, which is almost carti-
laginous as in Collybia.
The type of the genus, M. melaleuca (Pers. ex Fr.) Murr., is a fairly
common and widely distributed species. As far as is known, all the species are
edible but, as with all mushrooms, they should be tried cautiously at first.
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