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VOLVARIELLA<br />
toward the disk, white, odor and taste mild to somewhat disagreeable, lamel-<br />
lae close, free, broad, rounded next to the stipe, soft, in youth whitish, then<br />
flesh-pink to flesh-tan. stipe 2-6 in. long, X^-Ys in. thick, shghtly enlarged<br />
downward, solid, smooth, whitish or tinged dingy yellow or brown, often<br />
bearing scattered appressed fibrils, apex at first pruinose. spores flesh-pink,<br />
smooth, broadly eUipsoid to ovoid, bluntly rounded or somewhat flattened on<br />
the ends, 5-8 X 4-6 ju, variable in size and shape, cystidia abundant, fusoid<br />
with long necks, about 60 X 14 m, bearing 2-4 short horns at the apex.<br />
Sohtary or in groups of several, on decaying stumps and logs or associated<br />
with buried wood, common, especially in hardwoods. May-Oct.<br />
This is the commonest species of the genus and is well known as a good<br />
edible mushroom. It varies considerably in size and color. P. salicinus Fr. is<br />
another brown species but usually smaller, with bluish or greenish tints<br />
toward the base of the stipe, and an unpleasant taste. P. tomentosulus Pk. may<br />
be as large as P. cervinus but is white and the pileus is floccose-tomentose. It<br />
can be distinguished microscopically by the cystidia which are not horned.<br />
P. aurantiorugosus (Trog) Sacc. is another fairly large but rare species. It is<br />
brilhantly colored, orange to reddish orange and is also known under the<br />
names P. coccineus Mass., P. aurantiacus Murr. and P. caloceps Atk.<br />
Singer (1956) discusses a large species, P. magnus McClatchie, described<br />
from Cahfornia but which he has also found in the eastern United States. This<br />
species would Hkely be mistaken for a pale P. cervinus unless examined micro-<br />
scopically. It diff'ers in the cystidia which, instead of being horned as in P.<br />
cervinus, are fusoid with a long conical point, sometimes with a few small<br />
spines along the side. So far as is known there are no Canadian records of this<br />
species but it is one that might be found in this country.<br />
VOLVARIELLA<br />
Volvariella includes species with a pink spore deposit, lamellae free from<br />
the stipe, and a volva, but no annulus. Thus it is comparable to Amanitopsis in<br />
the white-spored group. The stipe is readily separable from the pileus and the<br />
flesh is usually rather soft. These species may be found either on wood or on<br />
the ground. They were formerly placed in Volvaria but this name cannot be<br />
maintained under the International Code of Nomenclature.<br />
It is a relatively small genus and the species are not very frequently col-<br />
lected. In the Hterature there are conflicting reports as to their edibility. It<br />
seems to be established that V. bombycina is edible, but other species of the<br />
genus are best avoided.<br />
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