of a shield; applied to the central elevation of the
cap of some mushrooms.

_Umbonate_, having a central boss-like elevation.

_Uncinate_, hooked.

_Unequal_, short imperfect gills interspersed among the others.

_Universal_, used in relation to the veil or volva which entirely
envelops the mushroom when young.

_Variety_, an individual of a species differing from the rest in
external form, size, color, and other secondary features, without
perpetuating these differences only under exceptional circumstances.

_Veil_, in mushrooms a partial covering of the stem or margin of the
pileus.

_Veliform_, a thin veil-like covering.

_Venate_, _Veined_, intersected by swollen wrinkles below and on the
sides.

_Ventricose_, swollen in the middle.

_Vernicose_, shining as if varnished.

_Verrucae_, warts or glandular elevations.

_Verrucose_, covered with warts.

_Villose_, _villous_, covered with long, weak hairs.

_Virescent_, greenish.

_Virgate_, streaked.

_Viscid_, covered with a shiny liquid which adheres to the fingers when
touched.

_Viscous_, gluey.

_Volute_, rolled up in any direction.

_Volva_, a substance covering the mushroom, sometimes membranous,
sometimes gelatinous; the universal veil.

_Walnut brown_, a deep brown like that of some varieties of wood. (Raw
umber, and burnt sienna and white.)

_Wart_, an excrescence found on the cap of some mushrooms; the remains
of the volva in form of irregular or polygonal excrescences, more or
less adherent, numerous, and persistent.

_Zone_, a broad band encircling a mushroom.

_Zoned_, furnished with one or more concentric circles.

Although some writers apply the terms spore, sporidia, sporophore,
sporules, and conidia somewhat indiscriminately to all spore bodies, in
order to avoid confusion, it is now recommended by the best authorities
that certain distinctive limitations should be adhered to in the use of
these terms. Saccardo, in defining the terms which he employs, accepts
the term spores as applicable exclusively to the naked spores supported
on basidia, as found in the Basidiomyceteae. The term sporidia he limits
to spores produced or enclosed in an ascus, as in the Ascomyceteae. The
term sporules he applies to the spores of imperfect fungi, where they
are enclosed in perithecia (microscopic cups or cells), such as the
Sphaeropsidea. The term conidia he uses to designate the spores of
imperfect fungi without perithecia or a