is 5--10
cm. broad. The plant is well known by the green color of the pileus and
by the surface of the pileus being separated into numerous, quite
regular, somewhat angular areas or patches, where the green color is
more pronounced.

The =pileus= is first rounded, then convex and expanded, and when old
somewhat depressed in the center. It is quite firm, dry, greenish, and
the surface with numerous angular floccose areas or patches of usually a
deeper green. Sometimes the pileus is said to be tinged with yellow. The
=gills= are adnate, nearly free from the stem, and crowded. The =stem=
is white and firm.

The greenish Russula, _Russula virescens_, like a number of other
plants, has long been recommended for food, both in Europe and in this
country. There are several species of _Russula_ in which the pileus is
green, but this species is readily distinguished from them by the
greenish floccose patches on the surface of the pileus. =Russula
furcata= is a common species in similar situations, with forked gills,
and the cap very variable in color, sometimes reddish, purple, purple
brown, or in one form green. I know of the _Russula furcata_ having been
eaten in rather small quantities, and while in this case no harm
resulted the taste was not agreeable.

[Illustration: PLATE 40.

FIG. 1.--Russula virescens.
FIG. 2.--R. alutacea.
FIG. 3.--R. lepida.
FIG. 4.--R. emetica.
FIG. 5.--Yellow Russula.
FIG. 6.--R. adusta.
Copyright 1900.]

=Russula fragilis= (Pers.) Fr.--This plant is very common in damp woods,
or during wet weather from July to September. It is a small plant and
very fragile, as its name suggests, much more so than most other
species. It is 2--4 cm. high, the cap 2--5 cm. broad, and the stem about
1 cm. in thickness.

The =pileus= is convex, sometimes slightly umbonate, then plane, and in
age somewhat depressed. The cuticle peels off very easily. The color is
often a bright red, or pink, sometimes purple or violet, and becomes
paler in age. It is somewhat viscid when moist, and the margin is very
thin and strongly striate and tuberculate, i. e., the ridges between the
marginal furrows are tuberculate. The =gills= are lightly adnexed, thin,
crowded, broad, all of the same length, white. The =stem= is usually
white, sometimes more or less pink colored, spongy within, becoming
hollow. The taste is very acrid.

=Russula emetica= Fr. =Poisonous.=--This _Russula_ has a very wide
distribution an