ase.

This plant is quite common from September to November, growing in damp
weather on leaves in mixed woods. It has a mild taste. While I have not
eaten it I have no doubt of its edibility. The color of the pileus is
sometimes quite dark.

_Lactarius griseus. Pk._

GRAY LACTARIUS.

[Illustration: Figure 138.--Lactarius griseus.]

Griseus means gray.

The pileus is thin, nearly plane, broadly umbilicate or centrally
depressed, sometimes infundibuliform, generally with a small umbo or
papilla, minutely squamulose tomentose, gray or brownish-gray, becoming
paler with age.

The gills are thin, close, adnate, or slightly decurrent, whitish or
yellowish.

The stem is slender, equal or slightly tapering upward, rather fragile;
stuffed or hollow; generally villose or tomentose at the base; paler
than, or colored like, the pileus.

The spores are .0003 to .00035 inch; milk white, taste subacrid. Pileus
is 6 to 18 lines broad, stem 1 to 2 inches long, 1 to 3 lines thick.
_Peck._

It resembles L. mammosus and L. cinereus. It differs from the former in
not having ferruginous gills and pubescent stems, and from the latter by
its smaller size, its densely pubescent pileus, and its habitat. It
grows on mossy logs or in mossy swamps. The base of one of the plants in
Figure 138 is covered with the moss in which they grew. These plants
were found in Purgatory Swamp, near Boston, by Mrs. Blackford. They grow
from July to September.

_Lactarius distans. Pk._

THE DISTANT-GILLED LACTARIUS. EDIBLE.

Distans means distant, so called because the gills are very wide apart.

The pileus is firm, broadly convex or nearly plane, umbilicate or
slightly depressed in the center; with a minute, velvety pruinosity;
yellowish-tawny or brownish-orange.

The gills are rather broad, distant, adnate or slightly decurrent, white
or creamy yellow, interspaces veined; milk white, mild.

The stem is short, equal or tapering downward, solid, pruinose, colored
like the pileus.

The spores are subglobose, 9-11u broad. _Peck_, N. Y. Report, 52.

I frequently mistake this plant for L. volemus when seen growing in the
ground, but the widely separated gills distinguish the plant as soon as
it is gathered. The stem is short and round, tapering downward, solid,
colored like the pileus. The milk is both white and mild. I find it on
nearly every wooded hillside about Chillicothe. It is found from July to
September.

_Lactarius atroviridus