Pale Blue Gills Fungi...

[juliejam]

found this one growing on a fallen piece of Oak ..Felt quite rubbery and firm..

Loved the colour of the gills .

Help with the ID would be appreciated..

Thanx

[flaxton]

Julie
I know this was posted some time ago but it could be Entoloma lazulinum.
Mal

[Fungus Ken]

The blue gills might have suggested one of the Entoloma species in the group around Entoloma chalybaeum (of which E. lazulinum is now considered a variety) but these do not grow on wood.

I think it is likely to be a Mycena but that's as far as I can go.

Ken

[flaxton]

Ken
I know there are one or two Mycena with a dark brown/violaceus caps but I don't know of any with blue lamella

[Leif]

Entoloma euchroum is blue and grows on wood, But the entire fungus is blue.

I agree with Ken on this and will not go further.

As an aside I have seen many ground fungi growing on wood. Examples include Collybia butyracea and Cantharellus tubaeformis (and I have pictures to prove it). So you cannot always rely on habitat.

[Fungus Ken]

I agree you can't always rely on habitat, but it would be highly unusual, for example, for a grassland species such as Entoloma chalybaeum to be found growing on wood, unless the wood was sufficiently rotted and colonised by grass species to represent a similar ecological niche. So habitat can sometimes be a good clue. It is much easier to find litter feeders such as species of Collybia growing on rotten wood because the substrate is closer to their normal food source.

As for Mycena species with blue gills, here's a link to a Mycena website with a relevant reference.

http://home.online.no/~araronse/Mycenakey/urania.htm

"Mycena urania belongs to sect. Filipedes, where it can be identified because of the bluish grey colours in both the pileus and the stipe (and even sometimes in the lamellae)."

I'm not saying this is Mycena urania - it probably isn't - but there are species of Mycena which can have bluish gills, although it depends on your interpretation of blue. Often translucent grey colours can look bluish.

The specimens in the photo have a mycenoid jizz rather than looking like one the species of Entoloma that used to be separated out as Leptonia.

Ken

[flaxton]

Thanks for that Ken
I have tried looking through Ern Emmetts key but for mycena growing on wood it needs micro rather than macroscopic details.