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MARASMIUS
MARASMIUS OREADES Fr. Edible
Figures 231, 232, page 135; Figure 418, page 298
Fairy Ring
piLEUS %-2 in. broad, rather fleshy for this genus, pliant, at first bell-
shaped with slightly incurved margin, expanding to convex with or without a
broad obtuse umbo, finally broadly expanded with margin elevated and disk
plane or shghtly umbonate, varying from dull reddish to Hght brown or tan,
fading to yellowish buff" when dry, smooth to somewhat uneven or lumpy,
glabrous, margin more or less striate when moist, flesh thin at the margin,
thicker on the disk, palHd and watery when moist, whitish when dry, odor faint,
taste not distinctive, lamellae almost free, subdistant, somewhat interveined,
rather broad, rounded behind, very thick next to the pileus, paUid whitish buff.
STIPE tough, 1-2J4 in. long, about y^ in. thick, equal or tapering downward,
sometimes compressed at the apex, concolorous with the pileus or paler,
smooth to minutely scurfy, stuff*ed to hollow, spores smooth, white, somewhat
irregular in shape, mostly slightly subfusiform, prominently apiculate,
7-9 X 4-5.5 M.
On the ground in lawns and grassy places, often in rings or arcs, common.
May-Oct.
This is a good edible species and can be dried for winter use. However, the
collector should be careful to avoid getting fruiting bodies of the poisonous
Clitocybe dealbata (Figures 210, 21 1, p. 116) mixed in with his collection. The
two species are likely to be found growing together, and are sufficiently similar
in size and coloring to be accidentally included in the same collection. They
can be distinguished readily by the lamellae, which are broad and subdistant in
the Marasmius, and narrow and close to crowded in the Clitocybe. The Clito-
cybe is much whiter in color as a rule but it might be mistaken for faded specimens
of the Marasmius if color alone were relied upon.
M. oreades is commonly known as the fairy ring mushroom from its habit
of growing in circles on lawns or grassy places. The circles tend to increase in
size from year to year and the grass at the periphery of the circle is usually a
richer, darker green than the surrounding grass.
MARASMIUS ROTULA (Fr.) Kummer
Figures 234, 235, page 153
pileus 1/^-1/4 in. broad, thin, tough and pliant, hemispheric to convex,
unexpanded, umbilicate, radiately grooved from disk to margin in an umbrella-
hke fashion, dry, unpolished, white or whitish, darker in the depression of the
disk. FLESH whitish, membranous, odor and taste not distinctive, lamellae
distant or subdistant, broad, attached not to the stipe but to a free collar at
the apex of the stipe, concolorous with the pileus. stipe 1/2-2 in. long, fihform,
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