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EDIBLE AND POISONOUS MUSHROOMS OF CANADA
curved or twisted, tough and hard, solid, colored like the pileus or paler.
SPORES globose, echinulate, pale lilac in mass, 8-10 m in diameter.
Scattered to subcespitose in woods, open grassy places or bare soil.
Aug.-Oct.
The purple lamellae are characteristic and might suggest a Cortinarius
but there is no veil and the spores are pale lilac. It is not as common as L.
laccata.
XEROMPHALINA
The genus Xeromphalina includes a small group of species, most of which
were formerly put in Omphalia. However, the name Omphalia is illegitimate
under the International Code of Nomenclature and, furthermore, the species
formerly placed there are not regarded as a taxonomic unit by modern taxono-
mists. They have been divided among several genera of which Xeromphalina is
one. There is some disagreement as to the exact limits of this genus but the
type species is X. campanella (Fr.) Kiihner & Maire.
The species of this genus have white, amyloid spores. The lamellae are
adnate to decurrent and the stipes dark brown to blackish, horny in con-
sistency, and with a bright-colored tomentum at the base. There is no annulus
or volva. The amyloid spores provide the best character for separating Xerom-
phalina from Marasmius. The species are mostly small and of no value as food.
XEROMPHALINA CAMPANELLA (Fr.) Kuhner & Maire Edible
Figures 216, 217, page 133; Figure 415, page 297
PILEUS 1/4-% ii^- broad, fragile, convex, expanding, umbiHcate, rusty
orange-yellow, orange-brown, or reddish-tinged, glabrous or almost so, hygro-
phanous, fading on drying, margin slightly incurved, tending to remain so,
becoming striate, flesh membranous, yellowish, odor and taste not distinctive.
LAMELLAE dccurrcnt, close to subdistant, rather narrow, connected by veins,
yellowish, stipe slender, i/^-l I/2 in. long, ^6-^8 ii^- thick, smooth, cartilaginous,
even, straight or curved, hollow, dark reddish brown, yellowish at apex,
pruinose, with a hairy, orange, root-hke tuft at the base, spores smooth,
white, eUipsoid to long-elHpsoid, amyloid, 6-7.5 X 2.5-3.5 ju.
In clusters, often densely crowded, on decaying logs and stumps of conifers,
common. May-Oct.
This species has been reported as edible but is too small to be of much
interest as food although it sometimes occurs in very large clusters. Its abun-
dance, bright colors, and rather graceful stature make it a very attractive Httle
mushroom and it may be found throughout the growing season.
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