North American species of Lactarius / L. R. Hesler, Alexander H. Smith.

490

North American Species of Lactarius

Lamellae crowded, adnate to decurrent, finally becoming broad,
staining reddish cinnamon and finally discolored over all, basic color
of young gills a pale pinkish cinnamon.
Stipe 3-6 cm long, 3-7 mm thick, equal, fragile, concolor with
pileus below and with gills above, dry, gradually darkening to reddish
cinnamon from the base up.
Spore deposit white. Spores from sections 7-8 X 5-6 i, ellipsoid,
with a distinct plage; ornamented with a broken to partial reticulum
and scattered isolated warts and short ridges; prominences of ornamentation 0.5 pu high ~.
Basidia 4-spored. Pleurocystidia: macrocystida 52-75 X 9-10.5,u,
fusoid, acute, with granular content (in KOH); pseudocystidia not observed. Cheilocystidia readily collapsing (apparently smaller than
macrocystidia). Gill trama appearing cellular in sections or of interwoven hyphae, no rosettes seen; lactifers inconspicuous. Pileus trama
heteromerous, lactifers inconspicuous. Pileus cuticle a compact ixolattice in which the cells (many of them) inflate to produce an ixo-Russulares-type structure, slime matrix KOH-soluble, basal zone not
gelatinous and no zone of isodiametric cells present; a rudimentary
epicutis of ~ repent hyphae present. Stipe cuticle dry, of hyphae 2-3,u wide, most of them longitudinally arranged, some hyphal ends projecting as caulocystidia.
Habit, habitat, and distribution.-Gregarious at edge of woodland
pool, Winnawana Lake, Washtenaw County, Michigan, Smith 86053.
Observations.-L. splendens is at once distinct by its overall brilliant colors. L. sublacustris and L. areolatus differ in the structure of
the cuticle of the pileus. For L. sublacustris the distinctive package of
characters includes: the reddish cinnamon to vinaceous-red pileus,
mild taste, latex staining white paper yellow, white spore deposit, reddish cinnamon stains of the lamellae and medium-small spores.
183. Lactarius hepaticus Plowright
In Boudier, E., Icones Myc. IV: 28. 1905
Lactarius nitidus Burlingham, Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 34: 89. 1907.
Lactaria nitida Burlingham, Mem. Torrey Bot. Club 14: 63. 1908 (a variant spelling).
Illus. Boudier, I.c., pl. 56. Pls. 127b, 128a, 129; fig. 243.
Species of medium size, from 3-7 cm tall, about 2.5-6 cm broad,
slightly browner than the color of chestnuts. Pileus at first convex,
then becoming plane and depressed at the center, barely paler toward
the margin which is neither ochraceous nor striate. Stipe cylindric, of