The spores as well as the entire
plant are ferruginous. The pileus, with an involute margin, gradually
unfolds. It may be symmetrical or eccentric. The stem is continuous with
the hymenophore. The gills are tough, soft, persistent, decurrent,
branching, membranaceous, usually easily separating from the
hymenophore.

The distinctive features of this genus are the involute margin and the
soft, tough, and decurrent gills which are easily separable from the
hymenophore. Some grow on the ground, others grow on stumps and sawdust.

_Paxillus involutus. Fr._

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

Figure 232.--Paxillus involutus.]

Involutus means rolled inward. The pileus is two to four inches broad,
fleshy, compact, convex, plane, then depressed; viscid when moist, the
cap being covered with a fine downy substance, so that when the margin
of the cap unrolls the marks of the gills are quite prominent; yellowish
or tawny-ochraceous, spotting when bruised.

The gills are decurrent, branched; anastomosing behind, near the stem;
easily separating from the hymenophore.

The stem is paler than the pileus, fleshy, solid, firm, thickened
upward, brown spotted.

The flesh is yellowish, changing to reddish or brownish when bruised.
The spores are rust-colored and elliptical, 8-10u. It is found on the
ground and decayed stumps. When found on the side of a decayed stump or
a moss-covered log the stem is usually eccentric, but in other cases it
is generally central.

It will be found around swampy places in an open woods. I found quite
large specimens around a swamp in Mr. Shriver's woods near Chillicothe,
but they were too far gone to photograph. It is edible but coarse. It
appears from August to November. Some authors call it the Brown
Chantarelle.

_Paxillus atrotomentosus. Fr._

[Illustration: Figure 233.--Paxillus atrotomentosus.]

Atrotomentosus is from _ater_, black, and _tomentum_, woolly or downy.

The pileus is three to six inches broad, rust-color or reddish-brown,
compactly fleshy, eccentric, convex then plane or depressed, margin
thin, frequently minutely rivulose, sometimes tomentose in the center,
flesh white, tinged with brown under the cuticle.

The gills are attached to the stem, slightly decurrent, crowded,
branched at the base, yellowish-tawny, interspaces venose.

The stem is two to three inches long, stout, solid, elastic, eccentric
or lateral, rooting, covered except at the apex with a dark-