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AM A N ITA NIVALIS.
Alpine Amanita.
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CïAss AND O r d e r CRYPTOGAMIA FUNGI, Lmn.—-Rst. O r d . F V N G I, Juss.
De Cand. &c.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
Pikus stipitatus voluatus, subtus lamellis sporiferis rectis instructus. Stipes an-
nulatus aut nudus.
Cap furnished with a stem and volva (general covering from which the plant
bursts in an early stage as from an egg), and bearing on its inferior surface
straight, sporule-bearing lamellæ (gills). Stem furnished with a
ring-like veil, or naked.
SPEC IF IC CHARACTER.
A m a n ita n iv a h s ; tola alba. Pileus planus vel subumbonatus, ceniro sæpe di-
luto-ochraceo, margine striato-pectinato. Lamellis subdistantihus. Stipite
nudo, bulboso. Volva laxa.
A. whole plant white. Cap plane, or slightly umbonate, the dÉntre often
pale-ochraceous, margin striato-pectinate. LameUæ (gills) somewhat
distant. Stem naked, bulbous. Volva lax.
H ab. On the summits of the highest mountains in the Grampian range ; as
Brae Riach, Ben-ne-Bourd, Cairngorm, &c.
Plant wholly white, egg-shaped before the bursting of the volva. Pileus
2—3 inches broad, convex at first, graduaUy becoming plane, furnished
in some specimens with a slight umbo {boss of Withering), often somewhat
ochraceous in the centre, warty immediately after bursting from the
volva, afterwards quite smooth. Margin thin, striato-pectinate. Fksh
white, very thin at the margin. Gills somewhat distant, irregular, very
narrow where they are adnate with the stem, but rather ventricose towards
the margin of the pileus, edges entire. Stem 3—5 inches high,
3 4 lines thick, naked, equal, dilating within the volva, and containing
a mass of spongy fibres, completely filling up the centre. Volva loose,
flaccid, persistent. Root bulbous, but not of greater diameter than the
volva, between it and which, there is a slight contraction.
This elegant, and in appearance delicate. Amanita, is the
most alpine species of fungus I am acquainted with. It grows
on the bleak summits of the loftiest Grampians, and really envoi..
I.