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EDIBLE AND POISONOUS MUSHROOMS OF CANADA
in Stropharia and it has also been placed in a distinct genus Anellaria where it
has been known as Anellaria separata (Fr.) Karst. However, it seems closely
related to other Panaeolus species and many of them also have a partial veil
which usually remains attached to the margin of the pileus rather than forming
an annulus. Thus in this instance the presence of an annulus does not seem to
be a character worthy of generic rank.
Panaeolus species are generally regarded as dangerous and this species is
not recommended.
PANAEOLUS SPHINCTRINUS (Fr.) Quel. Poisonous
Figure 308, page 213
PILEUS %-2 in. broad, fragile, at first bluntly conic or nearly ovoid,
becoming conic-campanulate, brownish gray or oHvaceous gray, glabrous,
moist or somewhat slippery when wet, sometimes more or less areolate when
dry, the margin shghtly incurved and appendiculate from fragments of the
veil. FLESH thin, colored hke the surface, odor and taste not distinctive, lamellae
ascending-adnate, seceding, subdistant, broad, at first grayish, becoming
mottled blackish, edges white-flocculose, shorter lamellae present, stipe 2J4-
5 in. long, ^6"!^ ^^- thick, equal, reddish brown with a grayish-pruinose cov-
ering, hollow, striate at the apex, spores black, more or less lemon-shaped,
smooth, 13-19 X 9-12 m-
It grows singly or in groups, usually on cow or horse dung in pastures.
May-Sept.
This species is fairly common and is known to be poisonous. It produces
symptoms of intoxication. It might be gathered by mistake for Coprinus
atramentarius and should be carefully distinguished from that species. It was
called P. campanulatus Fr. by Kauffman.
P. rctiru^is Fr. (Figure 424, page 302) is similar to P. sphinctrinus but has
a more wrinkled or reticulate pileus. It is also believed to be poisonous.
PSEUDOCOPRINUS
Pseudocoprinus includes a small group of thin, fragile species with plicate-
striate pilei and black spores. They are similar to delicate Coprinus species but
the lamellae do not dissolve. Because of their small size and deHcate texture,
they are of no value as food, but one species is included here because it some-
times appears in such abundance as to attract attention.
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