A. phalloides_, _A.
verna_, or _A. virosa_, since the gills of these deadly plants are
white, and they do sometimes grow in lawns and other grassy places where
the smooth lepiota and the common mushroom grow. For this reason one
should study the descriptions and illustrations of these amanitas given
on preceding pages, and especially should the suggestions given there
about care in collecting plants be followed, until one is so certainly
familiar with the characters that the plants would be known "on sight."

[Illustration: PLATE 25, FIGURE 81.--Lepiota procera. Grayish brown to
reddish brown, gills and flesh white (3/4 natural size). Copyright.]

The pink color of the gills of this lepiota has led certain students of
the fungi into mistakes of another kind. This pink color of the gills
has led some to place the plant among the rosy spored agarics in the
genus _Annularia_, where it was named _Annularia laevis_ by Krombholtz
(vide Bresadola Funghi Mangerecci e velenosi, p. 29, 1899). It fits
the description of that plant exactly. The pink color of the gills, as
well as the fact that the gills turn brownish when dry, has led to a
confusion in some cases of the _Lepiota naucina_ with the chalky agaric,
_Agaricus cretaceus_. The external resemblance of the plants, as shown
in various illustrations, is very striking, and in the chalky agaric the
gills remain pink very late, only becoming brown when very old.

=Lepiota procera= Scop. =Edible.=--The parasol mushroom, _Lepiota
procera_, grows in pastures, lawns, gardens, along roadsides, or in thin
woods, or in gardens. It is a large and handsome plant and when expanded
seems not inappropriately named. It is from 12--20 cm. or more high, the
cap expands from 5--12 cm., while the stem is 4--7 mm. in thickness. It
occurs during summer and in early autumn.

The =pileus= is oval, then bell-shaped, convex and nearly expanded, with
usually a more or less prominent elevation (umbo) at the center.
Sometimes it is depressed at the center. It is grayish brown or reddish
brown in color on the surface and the flesh is whitish. As the cap
expands the surface layer ceases to grow and is therefore cracked, first
narrow chinks appearing, showing white or grayish threads underneath. As
the cap becomes more expanded the brown surface is torn into scales,
which give the cap a more or less shaggy appearance except on the umbo,
where the color is more uniform. The torn surface of the pileus shows