Schizophyllum is from two Greek words, meaning to split, and a leaf.
The pileus is fleshy and arid. The gills are corky, fan-like, branched, united above by the tomentose pellicle, bifid, split longitudinally at the edge. The spores somewhat round and white.
The two lips of the split edge of the gills are commonly revolute. This genus is far removed from the type of Agaricini. It grows on wood and is very common. _Stevenson._
_Schizophyllum commune. Fr._
[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 187.--Schizophyllum commune.]
This is a very common plant, growing in the woods on branches and decayed wood, where it can be found in both winter and summer.
The pileus is thin, adnate behind, somewhat extended, more or less fan-shaped or kidney-shaped, simple, often much lobed, narrowed behind to the point of attachment; whitish, downy, then strigose.
The gills are radiating, gray, then brownish-purple, and sometimes white, branched, split along the edges and rather deeply rolled backwards. The spores are nearly round, 5-6.
This is a very common species all over the world. I found it in the winter of 1907 on decayed shade-trees along the streets of Chillicothe.
It seems to be partial to maple timber. Some call this S. alneum. It is very easily identified from its purple gills being split.
_Trogia. Fr._
Trogia is so called in honor of the Swiss botanist, Trog.
The pileus is nearly membranaceous, soft, quite tough, flaccid, dry, flexible, fibrillose, reviving when moist.
The gills are fold-like, venose, narrow, irregular, crisped.
_Trogia crispa. Fr._
Crispa means crisp or curled. The pileus tough, cup-shaped, reflexed, lobed, villous, whitish or reddish toward the attachment, often tan-colored.
The gills are quite narrow, vein-like, irregular, more or less branched, blunt on the edge, white or bluish-gray, quite crisped, edge not channeled.
The caps are usually very much crowded and imbricated. It revives during wet weather and is found throughout the year, generally on beech limbs in our woods.
CHAPTER III.
THE ROSY-SPORED AGARICS.
The spores of this series are of great variety of color, including rosy, pink, salmon-color, flesh-color, or reddish. In Pluteus, Volvaria, and most of c.l.i.topilus, the spores are regular in shape, as in the white-spored series; in the other genera they are generally irregular and angular. There are not so many genera as in the other series and fewer edible species.
_Pluteus. Fr._
Pluteus means a shed, referring to the sheds used to make a cover for besiegers at their work, that they might be screened from the missiles of the enemy.
They have no volva, no ring on the stem. Gills are free from the stem, white at first then flesh-color.
_Pluteus cervinus. Schaeff._
FAWN-COLORED PLUTEUS. EDIBLE.
[Ill.u.s.tration: _Photo by C. G. Lloyd._
Plate XXVIII. Figure 188.--Pluteus cervinus.
Natural size.]
_Cervinus is from cervus, a deer._ The pileus is fleshy, bell-shaped, expanded, viscid in wet weather, smooth, except a few radiating fibrils when young, margin entire, flesh soft and white; color of the cap light-brown or fawn-color, sometimes sooty, often more than three inches across the cap.
The gills are free from the stem, broad, ventricose, unequal in length, almost white when young, flesh-colored when mature from the falling of the spores. The stem is solid, slightly tapering upward, firm, brittle, white, spread over with a few dark fibrils, generally crooked. The spores are broadly elliptical. The cystidia in the hymenium on the gills will be of interest to those who have a microscope.
This is a very common mushroom about Chillicothe. It is found on logs, stumps, and especially on old sawdust piles. Note how easily the stem is removed from the cap. This will distinguish it from the genus Entoloma.
You cannot get anything in the market that will make a better fry than Pluteus cervinus; fried in b.u.t.ter, it is simply delicious. Found from May to October.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 189.--Pluteus cervinus.]
_Pluteus granularis. Pk._
[Ill.u.s.tration: _Photo by C. G. Lloyd._
Figure 190.--Pluteus granularis.]
Pileus is convex, then expanded, slightly umbonate, wrinkled, sprinkled with minute blackish granules, varying in color from yellow to brown.
The gills are rather broad, close, ventricose, free, whitish, then flesh-colored.
The stem is equal, solid, pallid, or brown, usually paler at the top, velvety with a short, close pile.
The spores are subglobose, about .0002 inch in diameter. The plant is two to three inches high, pileus one to two inches broad, stem one to two lines thick. _Peck_, 38th Rep. N. Y. State Bot.
This is a much smaller species than P. cervinus, but its esculent qualities are quite as good. Found from July to October.
_Pluteus eximius. Smith._
_Eximius, choice, distinguished._ The pileus is fleshy, bell-shaped when young, expanded, beautifully fringed on the margin, larger than the cervinus.
The gills are free, broad, ventricose, white at first, then rose-colored, flesh white, and firm.
The stem is thick, solid, and clothed with fibers. Dr. Herbst, Fungal Flora of the Lehigh Valley.