The North American species of Pholiota, by Alexander H. Smith and L. R. Hesler.

Smith ~ Hesler

47

3. Clamp connections absent; known from Jamaica.................................................................................................................. S tirp s C in c h o n e n sis
3. Not as above-clamps readily demonstrated................... 4
4. Pleurocystidia present........................................ Stirps Corticola
4. Pleurocystidia absent.................................... 5
5. Hyphae of pileus epicutis mostly thick-walled......... Stirps Erinacea
5. Hyphae of pileus epicutis not as above...................... Stirps Curcuma
Stirps Curvipes
The epicutis of the pileus consists of hyphae becoming cinnamon in
KOH, but the cells are less inflated than those in the other stirpes and
the walls are not as coarsely or extensively incrusted or ornamented. The
gradations between species in this stirps are such that one might regard
it as a single variable taxon. A critical study of the behavior in culture
of these variants is badly needed because the apparent introgression is
of a pattern common to the fleshy fungi generally often in groups not
readily culturable. Lacking this approach, we present here the taxa as
we can recognize them in nature. The color of the veil, Singer to the
contrary notwithstanding, does not distinguish this stirps from the others
(except for stirps Cinchonensis).
Key
1. Stipe about 2 mm diam; pileus ferruginous and finely squamulose.................................................................................................. P. s q u a m u lo s a
1. N ot as above.......................................................................... 2
2. Taste mild; lamellae broad and at maturity subdistant............................................................................................................... P. c u r v ip e s
2. Taste of raw context distinctly bitter.................... 3
3. Stipe (3) 4-10 (12) mm. thick; lamellae narrow and crowded.................................................... P. m u ltifo lia
3. Stipe 2.5-3 mm. thick; cespitose; lamellae broad and subdistant.............................................................................................. P. subsulphurea
6. Pholiota multifolia (Pk.) comb. nov.
Flammula multifolia Peck, Bull. Torrey Club 32: 79. 1905.
Gymnopilus multifolius (Pk.) Murrill, North Amer. Fl. 10: 204. 1917.
Illustrations: Text figs. 1-2; pls. 2-3.
Pileus 5-8 cm broad, convex, subumbonate, dry, "cadmium yellow"
(brilliant yellow) when young, then more tawny or "Xanthine orange"
when mature, sometimes paler on the margin and darker at the center,