The North American species of Psathyrella.

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MEMOIRS OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN

[VOL. 24

material revived very poorly and consequently much important information is still
lacking. However, from the information available the species clearly belongs in
this group.
Type locality. Santiago de las Vegas, Cuba.
Habit and habitat. Cespitose on red clay soil under a house.
Distribution. Cuba (type studied).
Observations. Murrill stated that the species resembled the annulate form of
Drosophila appendiculata (P. candolleana of this work), and the comparison is
very appropriate. The range in size of the typical spores distinguishes the two
at once. Psathyrella microlepidota Orton is close to this species, but grows on
wood, and very likely has a northern distribution.
41. Psathyrella floccosa (Earle) A. H. Smith, comb. nov.
Stropharia floccosa Earle, Inf. An. Estac. Centr. Agron. Cuba 1: 241. 1906.
Illust. 1. c., pl. 40, fig. 2. Text Figs. 115, 116.
Pileus 2-4 cm broad, thin, convex to plane or depressed, brownish ochraceous,
tinged brownish purplish because of the spore powder, densely woolly-squamulose
when dry, not striate. Context thin and delicate, cinereous, odor and taste mild.
Lamellae more or less adnate, close, almost narrow, equal, concolorous
becoming brownish purple.
Stipe 4-6 cm long, 2-4 mm thick, cylindric or attenuated above, densely villose,
white, hollow; veil well developed, white, forming a conspicuous annulus 2 cm
from the cap.
Spores 6-7 x 4 a, pale chocolate-color in KOH, ellipsoid to ovate in face view,
obscurely bean-shaped to subelliptic in profile, the apical pore distinct. Pileus
cuticle a layer of vesiculose cells 1-2 deep.
Note. The type was studied but the tissue revived so poorly that data on other
characters could not be reliably obtained.
Type locality. Santiago de las Vegas, Cuba.
Habit and habitat. Clustered on the ground.
Distribution. Cuba.
Observations. This species features a very prominent funnel-like annulus and
is clearly a Psathyrella of the annulate group.
Psathyrella subg. Candolleana (Romagnesi) A. H. Smith, comb. nov.
Drosophila sect. Candolleana Romagnesi, Bull. Soc. Linn. Lyon 13: 51-54. 1944.
Note that Psathyrella subg. Hypholoma (Fr.) Singer, Lilloa 22: 466. 1951
cannot be accepted because Fries (1821) p. 296, included Agaricus candollianus
in Psathyra (as a "tribe" of Agaricus), and in the same publication (p. 287) where
"tribe" Hypholoma is described, A. candolleanus is not mentioned. Thus the latter
species simply is not available as the type of "Hypholoma."
As treated here this subgenus includes only those species with veil remnants
appendiculate on the margin of the pileus and in which pleurocystidia are absent.
The fact that the veil remnants readily fall away causes some difficulty in identifying mature pilei in this group. In such an instance greatest emphasis should be
placed on the absence of pleurocystidia and the fact that the stipe typically is
more than 2.5 mm thick. This group is continued in section Subatratae of
Psathyrella.
Type species. Psathyrella candolleana.2
2 Note that the species epithet is spelled with an e instead of an i as Fries spelled it.