The more I look at these the more confused / puzzled I get. I can't decide if they are all Hygrocybe irrigata, or whether some are Hygrocybe nitrata, or even if a couple are Hygrocybe ingrata forma minor. Or whether the one I thought was the most typical H irrigata is actually not H irrigata ... I know they can vary a great deal in appearance depending on their state of dessication ... some I've thought were Dermoloma until I looked more closely.
Starting with what should be the easy ones, #1and #2, classic looking H irrigata.
#1, gathered 2007, no specimen kept, just photos and notes taken.
Obvious gloopy stem and cap. However I checked back on my notes on this today and noticed that I'd written that it had a 'noticeable nitrogenous smell'. Spores at the time agreed with H irrigata.
#2, gathered 27 Oct 2008, the same day as #5, so was directly compared with in the fresh state, and they seemed rather different.
With an obvious gloopy cap, though stem not obviously gloopy. Notes say 'no smell or taste'. This would appear to be a fairly typical H irrigata.
#3 and #4. These looked pretty similar macro and microscopically. Cap and stem not gloopy. Moist cap however.
#3. Collected same day (07/11/2008) as #6, and growing a foot or two away to it so I assumed at first that they were the same species, but then doubt set in as I compared them.
Smell was nitrogenous, intensifying on cutting and when drying. Taste slightly nitrogenous. Stem did not change colour when handled. No obvious reddening.
#4 collected 21/11/2008.
Again, not that obvious a smell when fresh, but very strong nitrous when cut and when drying.
#5 and #6. These had much more of a reddish look than the others. Cap and stem not gloopy.
#5. This one was particularly dark. This was collected same time as #2, in same field but not close by. No field pictures kept as they were badly out of focus.
Again, very strong nitrous smell when cut, getting stronger when drying (like fox spray), and nitrous taste.
#6. Note the very reddish small ones that were growing with it, that had been damaged by something.
Again these had a strong nitrous smell when cut and on drying.
#3-#6 gills all dried darker than #2, with #5 very dark.
#3-#6 did not have an obvious gelatinised pileipellis, basidia were very similar, 30-38um long, regular, tidy club shaped. #4 had noticeably longer gill trama hyphae to 320um long, whereas the others were up to 160um.
I rechecked #3-#6 from the dried specimens, and rechecked the micro photos of the fresh photos and apart from the much longer gill trama in #4, they weren't remarkably different.
I then went and checked #2 from the dried specimen .. I didn't have microphotos from the fresh, only notes and drawings (as they were collected before I got my microcam). I was amazed how very different the gill trama squash was, and the spores were much bigger and differently shaped. Basidia were much longer, thin, wiggly-woggly, looked almost gelatinised. The spore stalks were very long, the gill squash seemed to have a lot of gelatinised elements. Then on checking Boertman he mentioned Bon had described H irrigata with gelatinised subhymenium and cheilocystidia which Boertman thought was closer to H laeta. So I then compared #2 with my microphotos of gill trama squashes of H laeta, and they were actually very similar (H laeta spores smaller though).
So I then thought that #2 was probably a different species from ##3-6. particularly as all those had a nitrogenous smell, and #2 did not. But #2 didn't seem to fit the typical H irrigata description. And the spores measured (8.2) 9.7-12.8 (14.3) x (3.7) 4.2-5.3 95.8), Qav = 2.4.
It was at that point I looked up my record of #1 which I remembered as looking classic H irrigata, and was surprised to notice that I'd commented that it had a noticeable nitrogenous smell. Spore sizes were typical H irrigata, but I'd not got any other micro notes.
So anyway I'm more confused than ever ...
BTW, has anyone else noticed a nitrogenous smell and taste on typical gloopy H irrigata?
Melanie
Linear Mode
