ANALYTICAL TABLE.
Reading edition
The following compendious analytical table showing prominent characteristics of the leading genera and subgenera of the order Agaricini, according to Fries, Worthington Smith, and other botanists, which appears in Cooke's Hand Book, revised edition, will be found helpful to the collector in determining the genus to which a specimen may belong.
Order Agaricini
Spores white or very slightly tinted—Leucospori 1. Plant fleshy, more or less firm, putrescent (neither deliquescent nor coriaceous) 2. Hymenophore free 3. Pileus bearing warts or patches free from the cuticle (volvate) Amanita 3. Pileus scaly, scales concrete with the cuticle (not volvate) Lepiota 2. Hymenophore confluent 4. Without cartilaginous bark 5. Stem central 6. With a ring Armillaria 6. Ringless 7. Gills sinuate Tricholoma 7. Gills decurrent 8. Edge acute Clitocybe 8. Edge swollen obtuse CANTHARELLUS 7. Gills adnate 9. Parasitic on other Agarics NYCTALIS 9. Not parasitic 10. Milky LACTARIUS 10. Not milky 11. Rigid and brittle RUSSULA 11. Waxy HYGROPHORUS 5. Stem lateral or absent Pleurotus 4. With cartilaginous bark 12. Gills adnate Collybia 12. Gills sinuate Mycena 12. Gills decurrent Omphalia 1. Plant tough, coriaceous or woody 13. Stem central. 14. Gills simple MARASMIUS 14. Gills branched XEROTUS 13. Stem lateral or wanting 15. Gills toothed LENTINUS 15. Gills not toothed PANUS 15. Gills channelled longitudinally or crisped TROGIA 15. Gills splitting longitudinally SCHIZOPHYLLUM 15. Gills anastomosing LENZITES
Spores rosy or salmon color—Hyporhodii 16. Without cartilaginous bark 17. Hymenophore free 18. With a volva Volvaria 18. Without a volva 19. With a ring Annularia 19. Ringless Pluteus 17. Hymenophore confluent, not free 20. Stem central 21. Gills adnate or sinuate Entoloma 21. Gills decurrent Clitopilus 20. Stem lateral or absent Claudopus 16. With cartilaginous bark 22. Gills decurrent Eccilia 22. Gills not decurrent 23. Pileus torn into scales Leptonia 23. Pileus papillose, sub-campanulate. 24. Gills membranaceous, persistent Nolanea 24. Gills sub-deliquescent BOLBITIUS
Spores brownish, sometimes rusty, reddish or yellowish brown.—Dermini. 25. Without cartilaginous bark. 26. Stem central. 27. With a ring. 28. Ring continuous Pholiota 28. Ring arachnoid, like a spider's web filamentous or evanescent. 29. Gills adnate terrestrial CORTINARIUS 29. Gills decurrent, or acutely adnate, mostly epiphytal, Flammula 27. Without a ring. 30. With rudimentary volva Acetabularia 30. Without a volva. 31. Gills adhering to the hymenophore, and sinuate. 32. Cuticle fibrillose or silky Inocybe 32. Cuticle smooth viscid Hebeloma 31. Gills separating from the hymenophore, and decurrent, PAXILLUS 26. Stem lateral or absent Crepidotus 25. With cartilaginous bark. 33. Gills decurrent Tubaria 33. Gills not decurrent. 34. Margin of pileus at first incurved Naucoria 34. Margin of pileus always straight. 35. Hymenophore free Pluteolus 35. Hymenophore confluent Galera
Spores purple, sometimes brownish purple, dark purple, or dark brown.—Pratellæ. 36. Without cartilaginous bark. 37. Hymenophore free. 38. With a volva Chitonia 38. Without a volva Psalliota 37. Hymenophore confluent. 39. Veil normally ring shaped on the stem Stropharia 39. Veil normally adhering to the margin of the pileus Hypholoma 36. With cartilaginous bark. 40. Gills decurrent Deconica 40. Gills not decurrent. 41. Margin of pileus at first incurved Psilocybe 41. Margin of pileus at first straight Psathyra
Spores black or nearly so.—Coprinarii. 42. Gills deliquescent COPRINUS 42. Gills not deliquescent. 43. Gills decurrent GOMPHIDIUS 43. Gills not decurrent. 44. Pileus striate Psathyrella 44. Pileus not striate Panæolus
In the Friesian classification which, with modifications, has prevailed for many years among mycologists, the genus Agaricus included in its subgenera the greater part of the species of the order Agaricini. The subgenera, printed in the above table in italics, were included in this genus. The genera are printed in capitals. In the Saccardian system, all the subgenera of Agaricus having been elevated to generic rank, the term Agaricus is limited to a very small group which includes the subgenus Psalliota of Fries, the species being characterized by fleshy caps, free gills, ringed stem, and dark brown or purplish brown spores. As restricted, it naturally falls into the spore series Melanosporeæ.
In the white-spored section, Leucospori, the recorded edible species occur in the following genera: Marasmius, Cantharellus, Lactarius, Russula, Hygrophorus, Collybia, Pleurotus, Clitocybe, Tricholoma, Armillaria, Lepiota, and Amanita. The plants of Marasmius are usually thin and dry, reviving with moisture. Cantharellus is characterized by the obtuseness of the edges of the lamellæ, Lactarius by the copious milky or sticky fluid which exudes from the plants when cut or bruised. Russula is closely allied to Lactarius, and the plants bear some resemblance in external appearance to those of that genus, but they are never milky, and the gills are usually rigid and brittle. In Hygrophorus the plants are moist, not very large, often bright colored, and the gills have a waxy appearance. The Collybias are usually cæspitose, the stems exteriorly cartilaginous, in some species swelling and splitting open in the centre.
In Pleurotus the stem is lateral or absent. The plants are epiphytal, usually springing from the decaying bark of trees and old stumps.
In Clitocybe the plants are characterized by a deeply depressed, often narrow cap, with the gills acutely adnate, or running far down the stem, which is elastic, with a fibrous outer coat covered with minute fibers. Many of the species have a fragrant odor. The Tricholomas are stout and fleshy, somewhat resembling the Russulas, but distinguished from them by the sinuate character of the gills, which show a slight notched or toothed depression just before reaching the stem (represented in Fig. 4, Plate IV). Typical species of Armillaria show a well-defined ring and scales upon the stem, the remains of the partial veil, and the plants are usually large, and cæspitose. The Lepiotas are recognized by the soft, thready character of the fleshy portion of the cap, and the fringed scales formed by the breaking of the cuticle. The ease with which the ringed stem is removed from its socket in the cap is another characteristic which distinguishes the plants from those of other genera.
The Amanitas are distinguished by the volva, which sheathes the somewhat bulbous stem at its base and the ring and veil which in the young plant are very distinct features, the whole plant in embryo being enveloped in the volva.
The Amanita group, besides containing some very good edible species, is also credited with containing the most dangerous species of all the mushroom family, and some which are undoubtedly fatal in their effects.[A]
The Nyctali are minute mushrooms parasitic on other mushrooms.
In Omphalia, the plants are quite small, with membranaceous caps, gills truly decurrent, and cartilaginous stems.
The Myceneæ are generally very small, slender, and fragile, usually cæspitose, with bell-shaped caps, sinuate gills, not decurrent, and cartilaginous stems. In some species the plants exude a milky juice.
In the genera Panus, Lentinus, Lenzites, Schizophyllum, Xerotus, and Trogia, the plants are leathery or coriaceous, dry and tough, and though none are recorded as poisonous, they are too tough to be edible.
The mushrooms having pink or salmon colored spores, section Rhodosporii, form the smallest of the four primary groups of Agaricini, the number of known species not exceeding 400, and most of these are tasteless, or of disagreeable odor, while some are recorded as unwholesome.
The species are pink-gilled when mature, though often white or whitish when very young.
The recorded edible species are found in Volvaria, Clitopilus, and Pluteus. The Volvariæ are characterized by the very large and perfect volva which wraps the base of the stem in loose folds, the ringless stem, and the pink, soft, liquescent gills, which are free and rounded behind. The cap is not warted; in some species it is viscid, and in bombycinus, recorded by several authors as edible, and by some as doubtful, it is covered with a silky down.
In Clitopilus the odor of the edible species is more or less mealy. The cap is fleshy, and the margin at first involute. Two edible species which closely resemble each other—viz., Clitopilus prunulus, "Plum mushroom," and Clitopilus orcella, "Sweetbread mushroom,"—are highly recommended for their delicacy of flavor.
In Leptonia most of the species are small, thin, and brittle, corresponding with Mycena in the white-spored series, and with Psathyra and Psathyrella in the dark-spored series.
Eccilia corresponds with Omphalia. Claudopus corresponds with Pleurotus in its habit of growth and lateral stem, differing in the color of the spores.
Annularia includes only a few small species having a ringed stem, no volva, and free pink gills. Cooke says of this subgenus that no British species are known.
The recorded species of Pluteus have their habitat on tree stumps, sawdust, or upon fallen timber. One species, Pluteus cervinus, is recorded as edible, but not specially commended. Of Entoloma, Worthington Smith says, "It is allied to Tricholoma, though most of the species are thinner and often brittle. It agrees also in structure with Hebeloma and Hypholoma." None of the species are recorded as having value as esculents.
The genus Bolbitius is described by Cooke as a small genus intermediate between Agaricus and Coprinus on the one side, and Coprinus and Cortinarius on the other. The species are small and ephemeral. Saccardo places Bolbitius in his division Melanosporæ, although the spores are ochraceous.
In the section Pratelli Psalliota and Hypholoma contain mushrooms which are of exceptionally fine flavor. In the first of these is found the common field mushroom Agaricus campester and its allies.
The black-spored section Coprinarii contains two genera which include a few recorded edible species, viz., Coprinus and Gomphidius. The Psathyrellas correspond in size to the Mycenas in the white-spored series and to the Psathyras in the purple-spored section; the gills are free or adnate and turn black when mature. None of the species are edible.
In Paneolus the plants are somewhat viscid when moist, the gills are described as "clouded, never becoming purple or brown." They are usually found on manure heaps near cities. None are edible.
Saccardo in his Sylloge combines the Pratellæ and Coprinarii, making of them one section which he calls Melanosporeæ.
G. Massee, the British mycologist, makes of the black-spored and the purple and purplish-brown spored series two divisions, calling them, respectively, Porphyrosporeæ and Melanosporeæ.
The recorded edible species of the spore section Dermini are found in Pholiota, Cortinarius, and Paxillus. The larger proportion of the Pholiotas grow upon tree stumps. They have a fugacious, persistent friable ring, and are liable to be confused with the Cortinarii, unless attention is paid to the spidery veil and the iron-rust tint of the spores of the latter. Only a few of the species are recorded as edible, but none are known to be poisonous. Cortinarius is a large genus. It contains a larger proportion of edible species than Pholiota, and none are recorded as poisonous. The cobweb-like veil which extends from stem to margin of cap in the young species, and the rust-colored spores which dust the gills as the species mature, distinguish the genus from all others.
A characteristic feature of Paxillus, and one which makes it easily distinguishable from others of the same group, is the ease with which the gills as a whole can be separated from the substance or fleshy portion of the cap. There is an exception to this in the species Paxillus involutus, recorded by Peck as edible.