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EDIBLE AND POISONOUS MUSHROOMS OF CANADA<br />
AGARICUS<br />
Agaricus is one of the most important genera for those who are interested<br />
in mushrooms as food. It includes both the common cultivated mushroom and<br />
the meadow mushroom, which is probably the wild mushroom most frequently<br />
eaten, at least in English-speaking countries.<br />
The genus is characterized by the purple-brown spores, presence of an<br />
annulus, and free lamellae. The stipe is a different texture from the pileus and<br />
separates readily from it. The genus is relatively clear-cut and it is compara-<br />
tively easy to recognize an Agaricus but many of the characters used to dis-<br />
tinguish species seem to intergrade and some of the species are difficult to<br />
identify.<br />
Agaricus is usually regarded as one of the safest genera to use as food, and<br />
critical identification of the species is not very important from this standpoint.<br />
However, A. xanthodermus Genev. has been reported to cause illness in some<br />
people, and Smith reported that a form of A. arvensis Fr. found growing in a<br />
swamp in Michigan caused illness. A. placomyces Pk. and A. hondensis Murr.<br />
have also been reported to cause illness on occasion. Hence, with Agaricus<br />
species as with any other mushroom, unfamiliar species should be tried cauti-<br />
ously at first.<br />
The name Psalliota has frequently been used for this genus but under the<br />
International Code of Nomenclature Agaricus is the correct name.<br />
According to Smith (1949) there are about 70 species o{ Agaricus in North<br />
America. There have been two recent studies of the European species by<br />
Moller (1950, 1952) and Pilat (1951) but they do not include all the North<br />
American species.<br />
Key<br />
1. Pileus small, less than Wi in. broad A. diminutivus<br />
1. Pileus mostly 2 in. or more broad 2<br />
2. Flesh quickly turning red when broken A. haemorrhoidarius<br />
2. Flesh not reddening when broken 3<br />
3. Growing in fields, pastures, open places or lawns 4<br />
3. Growing in the woods 5<br />
4. Annulus double, lamellae narrow A. edulis<br />
4. Annulus single A. campestris<br />
5. Pileus scaly with brown to black fibrils A. placomyces<br />
5. Pileus smooth, white, disk turning yellowish when bruised A. silvicola<br />
AGARICUS CAMPESTRIS Fr. Edible<br />
Figure 286, page 193<br />
Meadow Mushroom<br />
PILEUS 1 1/2-3 in. broad, fleshy, firm, convex, somewhat flattened, becom-<br />
ing nearly plane, white, sometimes tinged brownish when old, at first silky,<br />
becoming dehcately fibrillose-scaly or glabrous, the margin extending beyond<br />
200
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