Clavulinopsis umbrinella

[SheffieldLass]

Well I was very lucky to find Clavulinopsis umbrinella (C cinereoides) on Monday ... it is possibly a red data species, well its on the 1st provisional list, whatever that means.





Spore size 5.3-6.8 x 4.9-6.3um, basidia length 66-99um, sterigmata length average 10.1um.

The habitat is almost right, in association with Crataegus, in moist, unimproved grassland, though this area is generally acid grassland. However I've found Hygrocybe intermedia very close to where this was, which is also supposed to be one found on basic soil. As it is just onto the shales and at the point where wet flushes develop, I suspect there must be more basic patches which are providing the right conditions.

Melanie

[NickCantle]

Nice find Mel, I have to confess that I am absolutely useless with these Ramaria/Clavaria/Clavulinopsis grassland species. Give me a Cortinarius any day

[mollisia]

Hello Melanie,

Congratulations! This is one of the (few) grassland species I'm still searching for ...
I think that it is most often found in grassland, which has not been grazed by sheep or cattle for a year or two. means it is just becoming to be filthy again. In these little bit filthy unimproved grass lands you find e.g. many species of the genus Pseudobaeospora and also many Camarophyllopsis species. But you have to kneel down and search at the base of the grass tuffs. Very strange way of searching fungi, but a biotop which is nearly never searched for and nevertheless quite rich of fungi. The corticiaceous fungi Lindtneria trachyspora also is often grwoing in these biotops.

I have found no difference between unimporved grassland on acid vs. on calcareous soil. There are only two species I remember to have found only on calcareous soil: Hygrocybe/Camarophyllus colemannianus and Hygrocybe calciphila. All others occure on either soil. I have a very rich and vast Hygrocybe meadow in my course excursions and we have found in a three years time now 26 species of Hygrocybe/Camarophyllus and up to 18 species on one excursion. Plus Porpoloma metapodium and many Clavulinopsis/Clavulina species. So most of the things that occure 10 kilometers further on the Juniperus heath on lime stomne also occurses on this acid mountainous meadow (very extensively grazed by a few cattles).

best regards,
Andreas

[SheffieldLass]

Originally Posted by mollisia

Hello Melanie,

Congratulations! This is one of the (few) grassland species I'm still searching for ...
I think that it is most often found in grassland, which has not been grazed by sheep or cattle for a year or two. means it is just becoming to be filthy again. In these little bit filthy unimproved grass lands you find e.g. many species of the genus Pseudobaeospora and also many Camarophyllopsis species. But you have to kneel down and search at the base of the grass tuffs. Very strange way of searching fungi, but a biotop which is nearly never searched for and nevertheless quite rich of fungi. The corticiaceous fungi Lindtneria trachyspora also is often grwoing in these biotops.

I have found no difference between unimporved grassland on acid vs. on calcareous soil. There are only two species I remember to have found only on calcareous soil: Hygrocybe/Camarophyllus colemannianus and Hygrocybe calciphila. All others occure on either soil. I have a very rich and vast Hygrocybe meadow in my course excursions and we have found in a three years time now 26 species of Hygrocybe/Camarophyllus and up to 18 species on one excursion. Plus Porpoloma metapodium and many Clavulinopsis/Clavulina species. So most of the things that occure 10 kilometers further on the Juniperus heath on lime stomne also occurses on this acid mountainous meadow (very extensively grazed by a few cattles).

best regards,
Andreas

Hi Andreas

If you haven't found it yet, it must be very rare in Germany ...

The grassland is grazed almost all year round by sheep, but is actually quite rough as you can see, with a lot of Deschampsia cespitosa, which Hygrocybe punicea and H aurantiosplendens seem to favour, growing right at/in the base of the tufts. It has been fantastic for fungi this year whilst other normally good sites, much more closely grazed, have not been up to their usual productivity.



I'll keep my eye out for the Pseudobaeospora and Camarophyllopsis species, and Lindtneria trachyspora. I'll have to do a bit of research to find out what they look like first! Though one of the Camarophyllopsis does look at first glance rather like something I failed to identify last year, but unfortunately didn't keep ... Thanks for the tip ....

I've not found any Porpoloma metapodium yet, but some Dermoloma, and possibly Dermoloma magicum, the blackening ones.

Melanie

[mollisia]

Originally Posted by SheffieldLass

I've not found any Porpoloma metapodium yet, but some Dermoloma, and possibly Dermoloma magicum, the blackening ones.

Melanie

Dear Melanie,

I'm just preparing a publication about Dermoloma magicum and comparism to other blackening greenland species. Dermoloma magicum has been found in 2007 and 2008 on three locations in Bavaria and East Germany. It shows a quite interesting distribution pattern up to now: Netherlands, Belgium and Great Britain, so that you could think of a atlantic species. But now the German finding are just the opposit. Hard to believe that the species does not occure inbetween the western Europe collections and ours in Eastern Germany. That's why we want to make a publication (in Zeitschrift für Mykologie possibly).
So of course I would be very interested in knowing something from your finding, perhaps per PM? Or do you intend to publish something on your finding?

best regards,
Andreas

[SheffieldLass]

Originally Posted by mollisia

Dear Melanie,

I'm just preparing a publication about Dermoloma magicum and comparism to other blackening greenland species. Dermoloma magicum has been found in 2007 and 2008 on three locations in Bavaria and East Germany. It shows a quite interesting distribution pattern up to now: Netherlands, Belgium and Great Britain, so that you could think of a atlantic species. But now the German finding are just the opposit. Hard to believe that the species does not occure inbetween the western Europe collections and ours in Eastern Germany. That's why we want to make a publication (in Zeitschrift für Mykologie possibly).
So of course I would be very interested in knowing something from your finding, perhaps per PM? Or do you intend to publish something on your finding?

best regards,
Andreas

Hi Andreas

I'm not intending to publish anything .... or wasn't anyway!
If you think these are D magicum then I'll give you what details I can. Just ask. I was not sure whether the blackening was due to weathering or truly blackening that indicates D magicum. I've seen a photo taken of some in the UK, where the blackening has a very strong demarcation, and the gills appear to be spotted black. These ones seemed to blacken more gradually, and the gills go brown first.

The first photo was taken in 2007, no specimens kept. The rest were from the same spot in 2008. A few feet away was a D cuneifolium, picked on the same day, but had a different feel, much more fragile and brittle, and I didn't even recognise it as first as a Dermoloma as it looked and handled so differently from these. A friend did the Melzer's test on that one so was able to confirm the id as D cuneifolium. These haven't had Melzer's test done, though I've got a slide of spores still sitting waiting ... Chris said that Lugol's iodine will do the job just as well, so I must get that before that gets banned too .... I have dried and kept those two.

2007
2008 in situ
2008 gill shot
2008

Melanie

[mollisia]

Hello Melanie,

Originally Posted by SheffieldLass

If you think these are D magicum then I'll give you what details I can. Just ask. I was not sure whether the blackening was due to weathering or truly blackening that indicates D magicum. I've seen a photo taken of some in the UK, where the blackening has a very strong demarcation, and the gills appear to be spotted black. These ones seemed to blacken more gradually, and the gills go brown first.

Sorry, but I don't think that it is D. magicum. This should redden before it shows a blacvkening, and the reddening is quite obviouse. Far more than in Porpoloma metapodium. At least like in Hygrocybe ovina, but easier to recognize because the fruitbodies are not that dark.
Look at the foto in Field Mycologie 4(1), there you see the reddening in the gills on just a touch.

A friend did the Melzer's test on that one so was able to confirm the id as D cuneifolium. These haven't had Melzer's test done, though I've got a slide of spores still sitting waiting ... Chris said that Lugol's iodine will do the job just as well, so I must get that before that gets banned too ....

What a Melzers test did he do? On the spores? There are Dermolomas which are amyloid and others which are not. josserandii and pseudocuneifolium are amyloid, cuneifolium ss.l ato is not amyloid. This cuneifolium is in the areas I looked for grassland fungis the by far most common Dermoloma, which also can be found in some pioneer forests.

I would be sceptic using Lugol instead of Melzers. I think that it is the combination of Melzers + chloral hydrate anyway, that gives best results in amyloidity.
In inoperculate ascomycetes you MUST not use Melzers instead of Lugol, or you will recieve in many cases wrong results in the porus reaction (negative in Melzer instead of red in Lugol).

best regards,
Andreas

[SheffieldLass]

Originally Posted by mollisia

Hello Melanie,



Sorry, but I don't think that it is D. magicum. This should redden before it shows a blacvkening, and the reddening is quite obviouse. Far more than in Porpoloma metapodium. At least like in Hygrocybe ovina, but easier to recognize because the fruitbodies are not that dark.
Look at the foto in Field Mycologie 4(1), there you see the reddening in the gills on just a touch.



What a Melzers test did he do? On the spores? There are Dermolomas which are amyloid and others which are not. josserandii and pseudocuneifolium are amyloid, cuneifolium ss.l ato is not amyloid. This cuneifolium is in the areas I looked for grassland fungis the by far most common Dermoloma, which also can be found in some pioneer forests.

I would be sceptic using Lugol instead of Melzers. I think that it is the combination of Melzers + chloral hydrate anyway, that gives best results in amyloidity.
In inoperculate ascomycetes you MUST not use Melzers instead of Lugol, or you will recieve in many cases wrong results in the porus reaction (negative in Melzer instead of red in Lugol).

best regards,
Andreas

Thanks Andreas ... I wasn't sure, so now need to find out which Dermoloma they are!

And yes the Melzer's was done on the spores, some were dextrinoid, but not all (for the fungus shown below). And the caulocystidia were encrusted which suggests, along with spore size, that it was D cuneifolium.



Melanie