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Originally Posted by CloudedYellow  I also found these yesterday, I think they are an Agrocybe possibly Agrocybe sphaleromorpha.    
Growing on grass with birch and willow close by. The lamellae and ring were very photogenic and I thought the obvious bulbous stipe would the easy to id but all I can come up with is Agrocybe sphaleromorpha as shown in Jordan (it is not in Phillips or FoS vol4). Several features differ from Jordan though eg it has a quite a strong mushroomy smell, almost meally. The spore size (9.2x6.1u) does fits and what I believe to be the germ pore at the blunt end (am I right?) is quite large. The cheilocystidium looks lageniform as opposed to utriform though.
I would appreciate any comments about my observations. |
I shall make no comment about the source of your identification Richard but would point out that there is actually no such thing as
Agrocybe sphaleromorpha.
It (the name) is a
nomen dubium i.e a dubious name, the reason being that there is no type material to compare with.
Bulliard, the French mycologist, who coined this epithet (as
Agaricus sphaleromorphus) and illustrated the collection (whatever it was) in 1792 left no herbarium specimen, just an illustration, from which it is unclear as to the exact identity of his fungus, hence the name
'sphaleromorpha' as an epithet in
Agrocybe means absolutely nothing and should not still be appearing in any modern literature as an extant taxon.
Your fungus may
'Agrocybe praecox' - or rather one of the complex of species related to it [which have yet to be worked out properly and given names] - the spore size you give is also too small for
Agrocybe molesta which resembles your image and is common in grassy areas at this time of the year.
Nick
Linear Mode
