Gill (fungus)

“ The Gills.—Those vertical plates on the under surface of the mushroom, which radiate from the centre to the circumference, like the spokes of a wheel, are called Gills (lamellæ) ; they are not formed, as some have supposed, of layers of the reduplicated seed-membrane alone, but by a prolongation of the fibres of the pileus, which these merely invest. The fibrous structure is most apparent in Agarics with thick gills; in those where the flesh changes colour when bruised; or where, the interposed flesh remaining white, the hymenium is tinged with the colour of the ripening spores. ”

“ The Gills.—On the under side of the pileus are radiating plates, the gills, or lamellæ (sing. lamella) . These in shape resemble somewhat a knife blade. They are very thin and delicate. When young they are pink in color, but in age change to a dark purple brown, or nearly black color, due to the immense number of spores that are borne on their surfaces. The gills do not quite reach the stem, but are rounded at this end and so curve up to the cap. ”

“ In the common mushroom you will notice the gills are pliable; the flesh also can be bent without breaking. The milk-mushrooms and the Russulæ are very brittle; the gills do not mat down like the horse-mushroom, or the elm-tree mushroom; they break into small pieces, while the whole fungus snaps suddenly on being bent. If milk or juice comes, I advise the amateur to reject the specimens. A novice should not attempt to cook them. ”

“ The species is a variable one in its minor markings. When moisture is prevalent the caps of all are viscid. Both young and old are often cracked. Stems frequently not squamulose at apex, frequently rosy when young, often flattened. The fibrous interior of the stem and its fibrous connection with the flesh of the cap are very marked. Gills emarginate in youth as well as in age. It is solitary, gregarious, occasionally bunched.
An excellent fungus, a free late grower, meaty, easily cooked, and of fine flavor. ”

“ Veil none. Stem even, smooth or fibrillose, not rough with points. Pileus firm, opaque, moist after rain, not viscid. Gills distant, arcuate.
* Gills deeply and at length obconically decurrent.
** Gills ventricose, sinuately arcuate or plano-adnate.
Hygrocybe (Gr—moist; Gr—the head) . Page 155. Veil none. Whole fungus thin, watery, succulent, fragile. Pileus when moist viscid, shining when dry, rarely floccoso-scaly. Stem hollow, soft, without dots. Gills soft. Most of the species are brightly colored and shining. This tribe is the type of the genus. ”

“ Pastures, autumn; colour, white or pale brown; gills, salmon, at length black; diameter, 3 to 6 inches. The spores are magnified 700 diameters.
There is scarcely any one in England who does not feel himself competent to decide on the genuineness of a mushroom; its pink gills easily distinguish it from a kindred fungus, Ag. arvensis, the gills of which are of a flesh-coloured grey, and out of the pickings of ten thousand hands, a mistake is of rare occurrence; and yet no fungus presents itself under such a variety of forms, or such singular diversities of aspect! ”

“ As the cap expands the cottony or cobwebby filaments are stretched and either disappear entirely or may collapse to form a ring-like zone of filaments on the stem. In some species a second completely enveloping veil is also found, and this veil is viscid in one distinct group of which C. pseudosalor already described is a member. The gills in the genus are variable in colour when young although constant for a single species; they may be lilaceous purple, orange, brown, red, yellow-ochraceous or tan, but ultimately in all members at maturity they become rust-colour. ”

“ Gills. Broad, wide apart, of the same color as pileus, or a little paler.
Stem. Solid, of equal circumference; tough, not breaking easily if bent or twisted.
Volva and ring, none.
Spores white.
Taste and smell musky, rather strong, but nutty and agreeable.
Grows in rings or groups in rich lawns or roadsides.
TO COOK. For serving with meat or fish, cut the tops clear from the stems just below the gills. To a pint of mushrooms, if moist, add about a gill of water, pepper and salt to the taste, and a piece of butter half the size of an egg. ”

“ Transmutans means changing, from changes of color in both stem and gills in different stages of the plant. This species has a cap two to four inches broad, viscid or sticky when moist. It is at first tawny-brown, especially with advancing age. The flesh is white and has a decided farinaceous odor and taste.
The gills are crowded, rather narrow, sometimes branched, becoming reddish-spotted with age. ”

“ The form of the gills, their mode of attachment to the stem, their colour, and more especially the colour of the spores, are all very important features to be attended to in the discrimination of species, since they vary in different species. ”

“ Gills crowded, linear, decurrent, whitish or yellowish. Stem compressed, sometimes channeled above, grayish-tomentose. Spores elliptical, 7.6×4–5μ broad; odor and taste farinaceous.
Ground. Sandlake. June. Edible.
It grows singly or in tufts and is an inch or more in height. The margin is thin and sometimes striatulate and reflexed. Toward the base the flesh is thicker than the breadth of the gills. The cuticle is tough and separable. The flesh is said by Gillet to be tender and delicate. Persoon describes the disk as spongy-squamulose, but in our specimens it is merely pubescent or tomentose. ”

“ The pileus is fleshy, corky, tough, hard and dry, reviving when moist.
The stem is central or lateral and often wanting, but when present is continuous with the cap.
The gills are tough, unequal, thin, normally toothed, decurrent more or less, margin acute. The spores are smooth, white, orbicular.
All the species, so far as I know, grow on wood. They assume a great variety of forms. This genus is very closely related to Panus in the dry, coriaceous nature of the pileus and the gills, but it can be readily recognized by the toothed margin of the gills. ”

“ Marasmius. Tough, drying up and reviving when moistened; gills often connected by veins.
+++ Gills decurrent.
Lactarius. Gills and flesh exuding milk when broken. (In some sp. the gills are adnate.)
Hygrophorus. Gills thick at the base, edge acute, rather waxy, often branched; pileus often hygrophanous. (In some sp. the gills are adnate or even free.)
Clitocybe. Gills thin, pliant, sometimes powdered with the spores; stem fibrous outside.
Omphalia. Gills thin, pliant, stem cartilaginous outside.
Pleurotus. Growing on wood. Stem lateral or excentric when present. ”

“ Cap about 3 inches broad, whitish-gray color, at first bell-shaped, then expanded, smooth, even, but afterward broken up into fibrils, margin entire; flesh soft, white. Stem 3 to 6 inches long, nearly equal and solid, whitish, striate with black fibrils. Gills rounded behind, free, crowded, ventricose, white, then flesh color as the spores mature. This is a common species, appearing early in the season—April 106 to November. It usually grows from stumps and old logs. It can be easily known by its gills, being quite free from the stem, where it joins the pileus. ”

“ The gills, with rare exceptions, are all of the same length, white or creamy in color, firm and thick, but very brittle, easily broken into fragments by a rude touch, a characteristic of all the group; spores, white. The stem is short, stout, and solid, and usually tapers towards the base. There is no vestige of a cup or veil at any stage of growth.
A fine specimen of the green Russula should measure five inches in diameter when fully open, but three inches is probably the average size. ”

“ The pileus is flesh-color, sometimes red; flesh white; bell-shaped, then convex; expanded, with a viscid covering, growing pale; slightly depressed; even; margin inclined to be thin, striate.
The gills are broad, ventricose, free, thick, somewhat distant, equal, yellow, then ochraceous.
The stem is stout, solid, even; white, though parts of the stem are red, sometimes purple; wrinkled lengthwise; spongy. The spores are yellow.
The taste is mild and [Pg 187] pleasant when young, but quite acrid when old. Alutacea will be known mostly by its mild taste, broad, and yellow gills. ”

“ The fir tree russula is closely related to the youthful russula, R. puellaris Fr., from which it is separated by the viscid cap, the gills rather widely separated from each other and nearly free, the stem never yellowish nor becoming yellow where wounded, and the spores having an ochraceous hue. They are much brighter and more highly colored in the mass than the mature gills. The cap varies much in color, but the 719center is generally darker than the rest. ”

“ The pileus is thin, ovate, broadly spreading, fragile, whitish, margin often wavy and often adorned with fragments of the woolly white veil, opaque when dry, transparent when moist.
The gills are thin, narrow, close, fastened to the stem at their inner extremity, white at first, then purplish-brown, edges often uneven.
The stem is equal, straight, hollow, white, slender, at least one to three inches long. The spores are purplish-brown and elliptical. It is found in lawns, gardens, pastures, and thin woods. It is small but grows in such profusion that one can obtain quantities of it. ”

“ Gills: Broad and crowded, not adhering to stem at top; creamy white in young species, becoming pinkish gray, and at length black.
Stem: Firm; white; hollow.
Spores: Black; shed in liquid drops.
Taste: Sweet, as is also the odor, which applies to its early stage only.
Habitat: About old decaying stumps and rotten wood, gardens, rich lawns, and barn-yards; usually growing in clusters, often very dense.
Diameter of pileus, young state, two inches. ”

“ In Schizophyllum alneum, a small whitish plant very common on dead sticks, the gills are split lengthwise along the edge with the halves revolute, i. e., rolled back. In Coprinus the gills and often a large part of the pileus melt at maturity into a dark, inky fluid.
Figure 249.—Section of portion of gill of Marasmius cohærens. t, trama of gill; sh, sub-hymenium; h, hymenium layer. The long, dark cells are brown cystidia, termed spicules by some to distinguish them from the colorless cystidia. The long cells bearing the oval spores are the basidia. ”

“ The "Agarics," as already described on page 79, are distinguished by the feature of the gills, or thin laminated curtains—the hymenium—upon which the spores are produced, and from which they are shed beneath the mushroom. These gills vary in thickness and number in the various species, and in one genus are so short, thick, swollen, and branched as to give rather the effect of turgid veins than gills, as shown in the accompanying sectional drawing. We occasionally come upon one of these mushrooms in our walks, usually in the woods. ”

“ The convex part of its bowl was below, and the great head, as an inverted toadstool, stood upright on a short, stem-like pedestal. The gills within were of a deep green color, and curved out from the center in the form of a spiral. This form, however, was not the distinguishing feature, for I had before observed specimens that were spiral in structure. The extraordinary peculiarity was that the gills were covered with fruit. This fruit was likewise green in color, each spore, or berry, being from two to three inches in diameter, and honeycombed on the surface, corrugated most beautifully. ”

“ Veil large, at first covering the gills and connecting the margin with the stem, white, externally floccose. Gills crowded, very thin, not ventricose, free, brown when young, then darker brown, at length almost black like the dark part of a bean flower. A fine species allied to A. arvensis. When young it has a peculiar but not unpleasant smell. On the ground, amongst dead leaves in open woods. ”

“ The pure pink gills running considerably down the ringless stem, and the fresh and fragrant smell of meal, at once distinguish this species from all others. It grows in and near woods in the autumn, evidently giving a preference to the open places and borders; the solid stem and the very fleshy top are white, or some shade of very pale grey. ”

“ The pileus is white, thin, resupinate—that is the plant seems to be on its back, the gills being turned upward toward the light, quite downy, even, being fastened in the center to a short downy stem.
The gills are at first white, then of the color of the spores.
It is found on decaying limbs and branches in the woods. It is quite common everywhere. ”

“ In very dry weather the odor is often obsolete. The margin is more broadly membranaceous and hence marked with longer furrows than in any other species. It differs from all the preceding ones in the gills at the first exuding watery drops. The gills become obsoletely light yellow, and dingy when bruised. Fries.
Pileus fleshy, with a wide thin margin, hemispherical or convex, then expanded or depressed, viscid when moist, widely striate-tuberculate on the margin, dull pale yellow or straw color. Lamellæ rather broad, close, venose-connected, some of them forked, whitish. ”

“ In the determination of species a great deal depends, too, upon the colour of the spores, or seeds. These are readily obtained by removing the stalk of the species to be examined, and placing the top gills lowermost on a piece of glass. In a few hours the spores will be deposited in a thick dust, and will vary (according to the species) from pure white to pink, yellow, red, brown, purple, or jet black. The gills often take their colours from the spores. It is a very great mistake to imagine that the “Sudden Mushroom” grows in a single night. ”