easily separated from the
pileus, though there are some species accredited to the genus that do
not seem to possess this character in a marked degree. The spores are
ochre or ochre brown. Often the gills are forked near the stem or
anastomose, or they are connected by veins which themselves anastomose
in a reticulate fashion so that the meshes resemble the pores of certain
species of the family _Polyporaceae_. The pileus may be viscid or dry in
certain species, but the plant lacks a viscid universal veil. The genus
is closely related to _Gomphidius_, where the gills are often forked and
easily separate from the pileus, but _Gomphidius_ possesses a viscid or
glutinous universal veil. Peck in the Bull. N. Y. State Mus. Nat. Hist.
2: 29--33, describes five species.

=Paxillus involutus= (Batsch.) Fr. =Edible.=--This plant is quite common
in some places and is widely distributed. It occurs on the ground in
grassy places, in the open, or in woods, and on decaying logs or stumps.
The stem is central, or nearly so, when growing on the ground, or
eccentric when growing on wood, especially if growing from the side of a
log or stump. The plants are 5--7 cm. high, the cap 3--7 cm. broad, and
the stem 1--2 cm. in thickness. The plant occurs from August to October.

[Illustration: FIGURE 159.--Paxillus involutus. Cap and stem gray,
olive-brown, reddish brown or tawny (natural size). Copyright.]

The =pileus= is convex to expanded, and depressed in the center. In the
young plant the margin is strongly inrolled, and as the pileus expands
it unrolls in a very pretty manner. The young plant is covered with a
grayish, downy substance, and when the inrolled margin of the cap comes
in contact with the gills, as it does, it presses the gills against this
down, and the unrolling margin is thus marked quite prominently,
sometimes with furrows where the pressure of the gills was applied. The
color of the pileus varies greatly. In the case of plants collected at
Ithaca and in North Carolina mountains the young plant when fresh is
often olive umber, becoming reddish or tawny when older, the margin with
a lighter shade. As Dr. Peck states, "it often presents a strange
admixture of gray, ochraceous, ferruginous, and brown hues." The flesh
is yellowish and changes to reddish or brownish where bruised. The
=gills= are decurrent, when young arcuate, then ascending, and are more
or less reticulated on the stem. They are grayish, then greenish yellow