rom two to five
inches long. It grows in woods and open places, on stumps and logs of
various kinds. Its edible quality is quite as good as the Oyster
mushroom. The only way by which it can be distinguished from the P.
ostreatus is by its lilac-tinted spores. It is found from June to
November.

[Illustration: _Photo by C. G. Lloyd._

Plate XX. Figure 123.--pleurotus Sapidus.]

_Pleurotus serotinoides. Pk._

THE YELLOWISH PLEUROTUS. EDIBLE.

[Illustration: Figure 124.--Pleurotus serotinoides. One-third natural
size.]

Serotinoides, like serotinus, which means late-coming; from its
appearing in the winter.

The pileus is fleshy, one to three inches broad, compact, convex or
nearly plane, viscid when young and moist, half-kidney-shaped, roundish,
solitary or crowded and imbricated, variously colored, dingy-yellow,
reddish-brown, greenish-brown or olivaceous, the margin at first
involute.

The gills are close, determinate, whitish or yellowish.

The stem is very short, lateral, thick, yellowish beneath, and minutely
downy or scaly with blackish points.

The spores are minute, elliptical, .0002 inch long, .0001 inch broad.

There is probably no difference between this and P. serotinus, the
European species. It is a beautiful plant. The color and size are quite
variable. I found it on Ralston's Run and in Baird's woods on Frankfort
Pike. It is found from September to January.

_Pleurotus applicatus. Batsch._

LITTLE GRAY PLEUROTUS.

[Illustration: Figure 125.--Pleurotus applicatus. Natural size.]

Applicatus means lying upon or close to; so named from the sessile
pileus. The pileus is one-third of an inch across, when young
cup-shaped, dark cinereous, somewhat membranaceous, quite firm,
resupinate, then reflexed, somewhat striate, slightly pruinose, villous
at the base.

The gills are thick, broad in proportion to the size of the cap,
distant, radiating, gray, the margin lighter, sometimes the gills are as
dark as the pileus.

Sometimes it is attached only by the center of the pileus; sometimes,
growing on the side of a shelving log, it is attached laterally. It is
not as abundant as some other forms of Pleurotus. It differs from P.
tremulus in absence of a distinct stem.

_Pleurotus cyphellaeformis. Berk._

Cyphellaeformis means shaped like the hollows of the ears. The pileus is
cup-shaped, pendulous, downy or mealy, upper layer gelatinous, gray,
very minutely hairy, especially at the base, mar