umbo, never completely flattened, smooth, greyish, pale sepia or dirty
white and striate with darker lines from the margin to the centre.
Stem: similarly coloured to the cap, smooth, shiny, tough and usually
noticeably downy at base.
Gills: at first white flushed distinctly pale pink with age, uncinate,
rather distant and sometimes with interconnecting veins.
Flesh: white with little or no distinctive smell.
Spore-print: white.
Spores: medium-sized, hyaline, broadly ellipsoid, smooth, about 10 × 7
µm in size (9-12 × 6-8 µm) and staining bluish grey when mounted in
solutions containing iodine.
Marginal cystidia: club-shaped but the apex ornamented with blunt
hairs of varying lengths.
Facial cystidia: absent.
_Habitat_ & _Distribution_: Commonly found, in all but the coldest
months, in woods, parks or gardens, often in dense clusters on stumps
and fallen trunks of broad-leaved trees.
_General Information_: This is one of our commonest members, and one
of the largest in the genus _Mycena_; many species in this genus are
quite small yet are nevertheless very important components of the
woodland flora decomposing leaves, twigs, etc., and contributing in
this way to the recirculating of organic matter.
The name _Mycena_ is derived from the same Greek word as that which
refers to the country around the ancient city of Mycenae in the plain
of Argos, and from whence Agamemnon came and gathered his forces to
invade Troy to reclaim Helen his wife. It has been suggested that this
similarity in name came about through the necessity for an army
stationed in Argos, early in the history of Ancient Greece, to rely on
the mushrooms found on the plains about to save the soldiers from
starvation.
_Illustrations_: F 17a; Hvass 119; LH 109; NB 133⁸; WD 26³.
[Illustration: Plate 14. Fleshy fungi: Spores white and borne on gills]
~Pluteus cervinus~ (Fries) Kummer
Fawn pluteus
_Cap_: width 40-100 mm. _Stem_: width 10-15 mm; length 75-125 mm.
_Description_:
Cap: conical, rapidly expanding and then becoming plano-convex or
flattened with only a slight but persistent umbo, dark brown, umber or
vandyke brown, viscid when wet and often with radiating fibrils.
Stem: white, streaked to varying degrees with dark brown fibrils,
cylindrical or slightly swollen towards the base, where it is attached
to the substrate.
Gills: remote, very crowded, thin, at first white then distinctly
salmon-pink.
Flesh: with pleasant smell, white and soft.
Spore-print: dull salmon-pink.
Spores: medium-sized, very faintly buff under the microscope, broadly
ellipsoid and 7-8 × 5-6 µm in size.
Marginal cystidia: flask-shaped, the majority with three or four hooks
at the distinctively thick-walled apex.
Facial cystidia: similar to marginal cystidia but sometimes intermixed
with those lacking hooks.
_Habitat_ & _Distribution_: This fungus grows singly or in groups on
old stumps and fallen trunks throughout the year except for the most
wintry months; it is commonest in autumn.
_General Information_: This fungus may also grow on old sawdust heaps,
a habitat which is often very worth while examining in detail by the
interested amateur during wet seasons. In summer sawdust heaps dry out
but after a good soaking, which, of course, can be applied
artificially by frequent watering with a hose or watering-can, many
interesting fungi develop. On sawdust heaps containing conifer debris
a larger species with black or dark brown edge to the gills is
found--_P. atromarginatus_ Kühner.
The peculiar pointed cystidia found on the gill-edge and on the
gill-face of _P. cervinus_ were thought by some early mycologists to
stop mites and insect larvae from crawling up between the gills and
damaging the developing spores. There is no evidence that this
actually takes place in nature; the real purpose of these obscure
structures is unknown and has been little studied.
_Illustrations_: Hvass 127; LH 121; NB 135¹; WD 50².
[Illustration: Plate 15. Fleshy fungi: Spores pinkish and borne on
gills]
~Gymnopilus penetrans~ (Fries) Murrill
_Cap_: width 20-50 mm. _Stem_: width 4-7 mm; length 20-50 mm.
_Description_:
Cap: convex then becoming flattened at maturity, dry, slightly scaly,
golden tawny, or rusty yellow and when young with the remnants of a
rapidly disappearing yellow cortina hanging from the margin.
Stem: yellow above and red-brown or orange-tawny below and darkening
on bruising; veil forming a delicate fibrillose zone in the upper part
of the stem which is soon lost on excessive handling.
Gills: adnate to slightly decurrent, thin and crowded, at first golden
yellow, but soon spotted rust colour.
Flesh: yellow and lacking distinctive smell.
Spore-print: rich orange-tawny.
Spores: medium-sized, ellipsoid, finely roughened and deep yellow
brown under the microscope, less than 10 µm in length (7-8 × 5-4 µm).
Marginal cystidia: hyaline, flask-shaped with long often slightly
irregular neck.
Facial cystidia: similar to the marginal cystidia, but often broader.
_Habitat_ & _Distribution_: This fungus is found on sticks or twigs or
chips of coniferous wood, particularly in plantations.
_General Information_: Although it has only comparatively recently
been recognised in Britain it is very wide-spread. It has been
confused with, indeed described under, the name of the less-common
fungus _Gymnopilus sapineus_ (Fries) Maire which also grows in conifer
woods; it is easily distinguished, however, by its spotted gills. Both
the fungi above can be found in books under the old name _Flammula_,
from the bright colour of the caps of many of its constituent members,
but _Flammula_ has been used for a genus of flowering plants also and
this has precedence.
_Illustrations_: F 29a; Hvass 152 not very good; LH 175 not very good;
NB 109⁶.
[Illustration: Plate 16. Fleshy fungi: Spores rust-brown and borne on
gills]
Notes on the artificial family group ‘_Pleurotaceae_’--the Oyster
mushrooms
One of the common features of lignicolous fungi is the fact that they
lack a distinct stem or if one is present it is attached to one side of
the cap, i.e. lateral. However, in the past the correlation of the
habitat with lack of stem has induced mycologists to define a single
family to include all these forms. After studying the anatomy and
microscopic characters this grouping has been found to be entirely
artificial and simply reflects how the morphology is tied up intimately
with the ecology of a species.
In this one family members of the genera _Panus_, _Panellus_,
_Lentinus_, _Lentinellus_, _Crepidotus_, _Pleurotellus_, and _Pleurotus_
have all been grouped together, but some of the genera are more related
to the polypores referred to later (p. 135); many of those with brown
spores are better placed with _Cortinarius_ and some of those with white
or cream-coloured spores are better placed close to _Mycena_ and
_Tricholoma_. This leaves as a residue the genus _Pleurotus_, a genus
which although rather heterogeneous contains one familiar member, i.e.
the common Oyster mushroom, _Pleurotus ostreatus_.
~Pleurotus ostreatus~ (Fries) Kummer
Oyster mushroom
Grows up to 150 mm across.
Cap: flattened, shell-shaped, smooth or slightly cracked, deep bluish
grey, gradually becoming brownish with age and finally dark buff.
Stem: absent or very short, passing gradually into one side of the
cap.
Gills: white flushing dirty yellow with age, rather distant and deeply
decurrent.
Flesh: white, soft and with very pleasant smell.
Spore-print: pale lilac.
Spores: long, hyaline, oblong under the microscope and 10-11 × 4 µm in
size.
Marginal and facial cystidia: absent.
_Habitat_ & _Distribution_: Common, clustered in tiers on stumps,
trunks, posts, etc.
_General Information_: This fungus is not infrequent on old
telephone-poles and forms white sheets of mycelium immediately under
the bark of fallen trees. Although frequent in autumn it may be found
throughout the year and is easily recognised by its size and
bracket-like, shell-shaped caps. It surprisingly has a pale lilac
spore-print and not as might be expected a white spore-print. In the
var. _columbinus_ Quélet the young caps are a beautiful peacock-blue;
this variety frequently grows on poplars.
_Illustrations_: F 125²; Hvass 109; LH 107; NB 125²; WD 31¹.
[Illustration: Plate 17. Wood-inhabiting, fleshy but leathery fungi:
Spores whitish or brownish and borne on gills--‘Pleurotaceae’]
~Panus torulosus~ (Fries) Fries is a tough, funnel-shaped, yellowish
cinnamon fungus with oblong-ellipsoid, small, hyaline spores measuring
5-6 × 3 µm and changing yellowish not bluish grey in iodine solutions.
~Panellus stipticus~ (Fries) Karsten forms tiers of pale
cinnamon-brown, more or less kidney-shaped, scurfy caps on old wood
and has egg-shaped, hyaline, small spores measuring 4 × 2-3 µm which
become bluish grey in iodine solutions.
~Lentinellus cochleatus~ (Fries) Karsten forms irregular lobed and
twisted, flattened or funnel-shaped dirty brownish caps with a
fragrant smell, toothed gill-edges and almost spherical, small,
hyaline spores measuring 5 × 4 µm which become bluish grey in iodine
solutions.
_Lentinellus_ apparently has very close affinities to _Auriscalpium_,
‘the Ear pick fungus’, (p. 158) both in the structure of the spores
and the anatomy of the fruit-body.
~Lentinus lepideus~ (Fries) Fries forms very tough fruit-bodies with
convex or flattened, pale yellowish caps and stems ornamented with
dark tawny or brown scales. The stem is often eccentric and buried in
cracks or soft rotten wood on which it grows; the spores are
non-amyloid. It grows on pine stumps but also on decaying or
unprotected railway sleepers and wooden paving blocks, joists, etc.,
made of conifer wood. When the fungus fruits in a darkened
environment, such as a cellar, the mushroom-like fruit-bodies are not
produced but are replaced by slender branched structures similar to
the ‘Stag’s horn’ or ‘Candle-snuff fungus’ (p. 206), or to certain of
the Fairy Club fungi (p. 172). Similar growths have been recorded for
_Polyporus squamosus_ which grows on hard wood timber and is described
in detail later (p. 140).
~Crepidotus mollis~ (Fries) Kummer
Soft slipper toadstool
Cap: up to 45 mm across and in tiers, sessile, shell-shaped or
kidney-shaped, smooth, rubbery and brownish ochre in colour.
Gills: pale buff then cinnamon-brown and finally flushed snuff-brown,
thin and crowded.
Flesh: watery, gelatinous beneath the skin of the cap and whitish
buff.
Spore-print: warm brown.
Spores: ellipsoid, smooth, medium-sized, pale buff under the
microscope and 8-9 × 5-5·5 µm in size.
Easily recognised by the soft elastic cap which can be stretched
without breaking, the brown gills and pale buff spores. (See Plate 49,
p. 153.)
_Illustrations_: LH 177; NB 145³; WD 69¹.
The artificiality of classifying all those agarics with both a
spoon-shaped or bracket-shaped fruit-body, and a reduced (or lacking)
stem is further exemplified by the presence of similar genera in other
groups of fungi. For instance _Claudopus_ is typified by pink, angular
spores (Plate 28) and _Clitopilus_ is characterised by longitudinally
ridged spores, i.e. they are not angular in all optical sections but
only when seen end on (see p. 101). An example of the former is _C.
parasiticus_ (Quélet) Ricken which grows on dead remains of woody
fungi, and of the latter _C. passackerianus_ (Pilát) Singer which may
invade mushroom beds. Both species are quite small though the last
fungus is similarly coloured to the more familiar _Clitopilus
prunulus_ (Fries) Kummer, ‘The Miller’, so common in woods and fields.
Thus in the British Isles agarics with eccentric stems may be found,
in the white, brown and pink-spored groups--and in the tropics and
subtropics the picture is completed by the existence of the genus
_Melanotus_ in the black-spored agarics. _M. bambusinus_ Pat. grows on
bamboos and _M. musae_ (Berk. & Curt.) Singer grows on dead leaves and
debris of bananas; the latter is also a probable agent in the decay of
fibres in the tropics.
(d) Saprophytes--terrestrial agarics
~Melanoleuca melaleuca~ (Fries) Murrill
_Cap_: width 40-110 mm. _Stem_: width 50-80 mm; length 50-90 mm.
_Description_:
Cap: dark brown, umber or vandyke when moist, hygrophanous and
becoming very much paler on drying almost tan, convex then flattened
sometimes umbonate, smooth or wrinkled.
Stem: white or whitish covered in brownish fibrils which increase in
number with age or after handling; solid, rather elastic and slightly
swollen towards the base.
Gills: white, broad, crowded and as if cut out from behind before
joining the stem.
Flesh: with pleasant smell, soft, white, becoming brownish with age,
particularly in the stem.
Spore-print: very pale ivory-colour.
Spores: medium-sized, ellipsoid, hyaline under the microscope and
roughened by distinct dots which become blue-black when mounted in
solutions containing iodine, 8 × 4-5 µm.
Marginal cystidia: spear- or sword-shaped, roughened with crystals at
the top and appearing as if barbed like fish-spines.
Facial cystidia: numerous and similar to marginal cystidia.
_Habitat_ & _Distribution_: Common in autumn in woods; also found in
pastures.
_General Information_: A very common fungus which is rather confusing
to the beginner because of its variation in colour, brought about by
the change in colour with change in content of water. However, this
fungus can be easily recognised by the unusually ornamented cystidia
found on the gill-faces and gill-margins. This character and the fact
that the spores possess amyloid ornamentation define in part the genus
_Melanoleuca_. In many books this common fungus is found under the
genus _Tricholoma_; however, members of this latter genus have neither
amyloid ornamented spores nor barbed cystidia.
_Illustrations_: LH 103; WD 13¹.
[Illustration: Plate 18. Fleshy fungi: Spores white and borne on gills]
~Clitocybe infundibuliformis~ (Weinm.) Quélet
Common funnel-cap
_Cap_: width 20-60 mm. _Stem_: width 8-13 mm; length 35-75 mm.
_Description_:
Cap: yellowish ochre flushed slightly pinkish buff or cinnamon but
later pale tan on ageing or drying, funnel shaped.
Stem: colour like cap or slightly darker, flexible but firm and solid.
Gills: white or faintly flushed buff, decurrent and crowded.
Flesh: with pleasant slightly floral smell, white, soft and fairly
thin.
Spore-print: white.
Spores: medium-sized, hyaline, tear-drop shaped, smooth, 6-7 × 3-4 µm
and not blueing when mounted in solutions containing iodine.
Marginal cystidia: little different from young basidia in dimension
and shape, although some may have a short apical prolongation.
Facial cystidia: absent.
_Habitat_ & _Distribution_: Woods, copses, heaths and hill-pastures
from summer to autumn.
_General Information_: An easily recognisable fungus because of its
graceful stature, thin, funnel-shaped pinkish buff cap and
tear-drop-shaped spores. Several _Clitocybe_ species grow in
woodlands, many of them appearing later in the season when colourful
agarics are rarer.
The genus _Clitocybe_ is characterised by the fleshy cap with incurved
margin when young, fibrous, fleshy stem and decurrent gills. _C.
clavipes_ (Fries) Kummer has a smoky brown, top-shaped cap, fragile
stem which also has a distinct swelling at its base, and strong rather
unpleasant smell. _C. nebularis_ (Fries) Kummer is similar, but is
pale cloudy grey, has a less fragile stem and a fairly pleasant smell.
This species if often covered in a bloom which develops further as the
fruit-body deteriorates. The agaric _Volvariella surrecta_ (Knapp)
Singer is a rare parasite of _C. nebularis_ (see p. 247) and it has
been suggested that this bloom may in fact belong to this species.
However, I have on several occasions tried to encourage the bloom to
reproduce by keeping hoary looking fruit-bodies of _C. nebularis_ in a
damp-chamber, but as yet I have never been successful.
Nevertheless, it is an exercise which would be of great interest to
continue and a source of great excitement if the small pink-spored
agaric were produced. _C. fragrans_ (Fries) Kummer is a small, sweetly
aromatic-smelling species found in frondose woods, and _C. langei_
Hora, is a mealy-smelling species of conifer plantations.
_Illustrations_: F 16a; Hvass 55; LH 95; WD 16².
[Illustration: Plate 19. Fleshy fungi: Spores white and borne on gills]
~Hebeloma crustuliniforme~ (St Amans) Quélet
Fairy-cake mushroom
_Cap_: width 40-80 mm. _Stem_: width 8-12 mm; length 38-85 mm.
_Description_:
Cap: pale yellow buff or pale tan with a distinct reddish buff or
cinnamon-brown tint, darkening only slightly with age; smooth, at
first tacky to the fingers, but then dry and shiny at centre, convex
and hardly expanding.
Stem: cylindrical or slightly swollen towards the base, whitish and
with a flush of pinkish buff at apex, and covered all over in small,
white scales.
Gills: sinuate, crowded, pale clay-colour or buff, but finally dull
dark yellow ochre except for the distinct white margins which are
beaded in wet weather with droplets of liquid.
Flesh: whitish with a very strong smell of radishes.
Spore-print: dark clay-colour.
Spores: long, slightly almond-shaped, pale brown under the microscope,
distinctly warted and about 11 × 6 µm in size (10-12 × 6-7 µm).
Marginal cystidia: cylindrical to skittle-shaped with slightly to
distinctly swollen apex.
Facial cystidia: absent.
_Habitat_ & _Distribution_: Common in autumn on the ground by
pathsides and in woodland clearings.
_General Information_: Recognisable by the uniform cinnamon or pinkish
buff cap, white woolly scales on the stem and distinctive, strong
smell of radish. There is some evidence that this species may on
occasions be mycorrhizal; further field studies are required.
There are several closely related fungi which are difficult for the
amateur to differentiate from _H. crustuliniforme_; there is no doubt
that there are several species present in the British Isles which do
not appear in the Check List of British Agarics & Boleti; in fact, it
would appear that there are several yet to be described as new to
science. Although individual species are fairly difficult to delimit,
the genus _Hebeloma_ itself is easily recognised, most members being
medium sized with brown sinuate gills, whitish, yellowish, or pinkish,
i.e. pale, caps and white-powdered stems. The word ‘crustulin’ which
appears in the Latin name of _H. crustuliniforme_ is itself from the
Latin and means small cake, referring to the cap-shape, which remains
fairly constant throughout the fungus’ growth. The common name is
derived from this also.
[Illustration: Plate 20. Fleshy fungi: Spores dull brown and borne on
gills]
~Inocybe geophylla~ (Fries) Kummer
Common white inocybe
_Cap_: width 10-25 mm. _Stem_: width 3-6 mm; length 30-50 mm.
_Description_:
Cap: conical with incurved margin then bell-shaped and retaining a
distinct umbo even when mature, silvery white then ivory and finally
pale tan particularly centrally and silky fibrillose throughout.
Stem: slender, cylindrical but for a small swelling at the base, silky
and shining with a few fibrils from a former cortina which may be
brownish due to spores adhering to it at maturity.
Gills: adnexed to free, crowded, pale ochraceous becoming
clay-coloured.
Flesh: white with smell of newly dug potatoes, strong when fresh.
Spore-print: clay-colour.
Spores: medium sized, ellipsoid or slightly French-bean-shaped,
smooth, yellow-brown under the microscope and 9-11 × 4-5 µm in size.
Marginal and facial cystidia: flask- to spindle-shaped with distinctly
thickened walls and frequently ornamented with crystals apically.
_Habitat_ & _Distribution_: Common in troops in woodland clearings, by
pathsides or on the edges of ditches bordering woods.
_General Information_: This fungus is easily recognised by the very
pale uniform colour, the colour of the spore-print, silky umbonate cap
and small size. The cortina connects the cap-margin and the stem and
consists of a cobwebby structure which collapses at maturity.
A violet coloured variety, var. _lilacina_ Gillet is frequently found,
in fact, even accompanying var. _geophylla_; it differs only in the
lilac-colour of the cap and stem. _I. geophylla_ is a member of the
very large genus _Inocybe_, further members of which will be dealt
with later (see p. 238).
The genus is well defined with dull-yellow spore-print, well
differentiated sterile cells on the gill-edge (and often on the
gill-face) and the cobweb-like veil, or cortina, stretching from the
cap-margin to the stem and easily observed in young specimens. The
genus is split into three distinct groups: those with smooth spores,
those with nodulose spores and those with subglobose spores ornamented
with long projections. _I. geophylla_ is included in the first group.
The group which includes the nodulose-spored members has been elevated
to the rank of genus by some authors, i.e. _Astrosporina_--a name
referring to the spore-shape eg., _I. asterospora_.
_Illustrations_: F 13a (too blue); LH 155; NB 139⁵; WD 65⁴.
[Illustration: Plate 21. Fleshy fungi: Spores dull brown and borne on
gills]
~Laccaria laccata~ (Fries) Cooke
Deceiver
_Cap_: width 12-28 mm. _Stem_: width 4-8 mm; length 15-60 mm.
_Description_:
Cap: hygrophanous, reddish brown or brick-colour becoming ochraceous
on drying, but can be rapidly returned to the original colour by
placing on the top a drop of water which is rapidly absorbed; fragile,
convex at first then flattened or depressed about centre, smooth or
surface scaley, striate at margin when moist.
Stem: similarly coloured to the cap, fibrous, cylindrical, tough and
usually with white woolly base.
Gills: adnate with or without a decurrent tooth, thick, distant and
pinkish or pale reddish-brown, powdered with white when mature.
Flesh: red-brown, soft in the cap and fibrous in the stem.
Spore-print: pure white.
Spores: medium sized, hyaline under the microscope and spherical, 7-8
µm in diameter and beautifully spiny.
Marginal and facial cystidia: absent.
_Habitat_ & _Distribution_: Common in troops in woodland, copses, on
heaths; in fact it may be found in nearly all possible habitats.
_General Information_: This is a very common agaric which in the
future will probably be split into several distinct species;
unfortunately it is as variable as it is common, hence the common name
‘deceiver’; it is often mistaken at first glance for many other
species quite unrelated. I have seen even the most experienced
mycologist pick up rather unfamiliar specimens of _Laccaria laccata_
in mistake for a species of _Lactarius_ or a species of _Collybia_,
etc. I would hate to say more because I have been ‘deceived’ myself on
more than one occasion. _L. laccata_ appears to be a composite
species, but because of the difficulty in defining some of the
characters the splitting of the species has not as yet been
satisfactorily solved. The smell, however, may well give a clue for
some specimens smell very strongly of radish whilst others are
odourless.
~L. proxima~ (Boudier) Patouillard, differs in having ellipsoid
spores; it is larger in stature and is common in wet places.
~L. amethystea~ (Mérat) Murrill, differs in the deep violet or
amethyst-colour of the fruit-body and commonly grows in shaded woods.
~L. bicolor~ (Maire) P. D. Orton, which is less frequent, has
lilaceous gills and violaceous mycelium at the base of the stem.
_Illustrations_: Hvass 66; NB 133¹; WD 20².
[Illustration: Plate 22. Fleshy fungi: Spores white and borne on gills]
~Mycena sanguinolenta~ (Fries) Kummer
Small bleeding mycena
_Cap_: width 10-17 mm. _Stem_: width 2-4 mm; length 50-80 mm.
_Description_:
Cap: bell-shaped or conical expanding only slightly with age and so
remaining umbonate, reddish-brown, striate to the margin from the
darker apex and blotched age with red-brown spots.