Gills turn dusky purple. The stem is cartilaginous, hollow or
stuffed. No veil is visible. They grow on the ground.
+PSATHYRA = friable.+
The cap is conical and soft, the margin at first straight, and then
pressed to the stem. The plants are slender, fragile and moist. Gills
become purple. They grow on the ground, or on trunks of trees.
+COPRINUS = dung.+
In this genus the spores are black. It has two distinctive features:
one, that the gills cohere at first, and are not separated when young;
and the other, that they dissolve into an inky fluid. The gills are also
scissile, that is, they can be split, and are linear and swollen in the
middle. The plants last but a short time. Some are edible.
ORDER 2. POLYPOREI, OR TUBE-BEARING FUNGI.
We now pass to the next order, the Polyporei. We will mention four
genera:
+BOLETUS.+
The name is that of a fungus much prized for its delicacy by the Romans,
and is derived from a Greek word meaning a clod, which denotes the round
figure of the plant.
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