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AGARICUS
the lamellae and usually fringed with veil remnants, flesh white, thick, firm,
not changing color when bruised, odor and taste pleasant, lamellae free,
crowded, rather narrow, at first pink, becoming gradually purple-brown and
finally black, stipe 1-2 in. long, Ys-Ys in. thick, equal or sometimes narrowed
below, white, silky above the annulus, becoming brownish below, slightly
fibrillose to glabrous, stuffed, annulus thin, single, sometimes evanescent or
remaining attached to the margin of the pileus. spores dark chocolate-brown,
elHpsoid, smooth, 5.5-7.5 X 3.5-4.5 fx; basidia four-spored.
It grows singly or in groups in grassy places, lawns, pastures, fields, etc.
It is usually found in the fall but sometimes occurs in the spring.
The meadow mushroom is probably the best known of all the wild species
and for some people it is the only true mushroom, all other species being
regarded as unsafe to eat. About the only danger in connection with this
mushroom is that the button stage may be collected carelessly and a young
Amanita virosa gathered by mistake. In most cases the habitat is suflftciently
different to prevent such errors, since the Agaricus is usually found in open
fields and the Amanita in the woods. Nevertheless the danger is sufficiently
great that button stages should not be used unless the collector is certain that
he can distinguish between Agaricus and Amanita at this stage and that no
universal veil is present.
The cultivated mushroom was for a long time considered to be a form or
variety of the meadow mushroom but it is now recognized as a distinct species,
Agaricus hortensis Cke. The spores, basidia, and cystidia are different in the
two species, and A. campestris grows in grassland and will not grow under the
same conditions as A. hortensis. However, the two species are so similar in
appearance that an acquaintance with the cultivated species will enable one to
recognize A. campestris in the field.
A. arvensis Fr., the field mushroom or horse mushroom, is a larger,
more robust species with a flatter pileus. The spores are larger also. Larger
specimens of A. campestris might be confused with it but this is unimportant
since both are edible, although Smith reported that specimens of what he
considered to be a variety of this species growing in a swamp and to which he
gave the name A. arvensis var. palustris, caused illness.
AGARICUS DIMINUTIVUS Peck Edible
Figures 288, 289, page 193
pileus %-1 1/4 in. broad, fragile, convex becoming plane, whitish or gray-
ish, more brownish on disk, silky-fibrillose, the fibrils more or less reddish or
pinkish to reddish brown, flesh thin, whitish, odor and taste mild, lamellae
free, close to crowded, moderately broad, at first whitish, finally dark purplish
brown, stipe 1-2 in. long, ^6"% in. broad, equal or sHghtly bulbous at base,
whitish, glabrous or somewhat fibrillose, stuffed, then hollow, annulus dehcate,
whitish, persistent, spores purple-brown, ellipsoid, smooth, about 5-6 X
3-3.5 M.
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