Involutus means rolled inward. The pileus is two to four inches broad, fleshy, compact, convex, plane, then depressed; viscid when moist, the cap being covered with a fine downy substance, so that when the margin of the cap unrolls the marks of the gills are quite prominent; yellowish or tawny-ochraceous, spotting when bruised.
The gills are decurrent, branched; anastomosing behind, near the stem; easily separating from the hymenophore.
The stem is paler than the pileus, fleshy, solid, firm, thickened upward, brown spotted.
The flesh is yellowish, changing to reddish or brownish when bruised. The spores are rust-colored and elliptical, 8-10µ. It is found on the ground and decayed stumps. When found on the side of a decayed stump or a moss-covered log the stem is usually eccentric, but in other cases it is generally central.
It will be found around swampy places in an open woods. I found quite large specimens around a swamp in Mr. Shriver's woods near Chillicothe, but they were too far gone to photograph. It is edible but coarse. It appears from August to November. Some authors call it the Brown Chantarelle.
[Illustration: Figure 233.--Paxillus atrotomentosus.]
Atrotomentosus is from _ater_, black, and _tomentum_, woolly or downy.
The pileus is three to six inches broad, rust-color or reddish-brown, compactly fleshy, eccentric, convex then plane or depressed, margin thin, frequently minutely rivulose, sometimes tomentose in the center, flesh white, tinged with brown under the cuticle.
The gills are attached to the stem, slightly decurrent, crowded, branched at the base, yellowish-tawny, interspaces venose.
The stem is two to three inches long, stout, solid, elastic, eccentric or lateral, rooting, covered except at the apex with a dark-brown velvety down. The spores are elliptical, 5-6×3-4µ.
I found the specimen in Figure 233 at the foot of an old pine tree on hillside at Sugar Grove, Ohio. I found the plant frequently at Salem, Ohio. It grows where the pine tree is a native. It is not poisonous. I do not regard it as very good. Found during August and September.
[Illustration: Figure 234.--Paxillus rhodoxanthus. Two-thirds natural size. Cap reddish-yellow or chestnut-brown. Gills yellow.]