Unidentified Mycenoid-type mushroom

[NickCantle]

Hallo!

Presuming this belongs to Mycena Excuse the terrible fusion of two images- I've learned my lesson now; Don't expose the same shot twice at different apertures



No noticeable smell and the specimen exuded clear latex/moisture when pressured.

Any help appreciated,

Nick

[Chris Yeates]

hi Nick

somehow don't think its a Mycena - it appears to have a cellular cap cuticle and free gills

any micro-characters? spore print? . . . why not Pluteus ?

cheers

Chris

[NickCantle]

I just assumed, I'm rubbish with Mycena and the tiddlers

I didn't retain any material because I thought the rim of the cap may be significant enough for an ID.

I should probably add that the cap was no larger than 10mm in diameter.

[flaxton]

I'm with you on that Chris it dosen't look like a Mycena to me.

Mal

[mollisia]

Hello,

have a look at the gills, they are distinctly free! Additionally that velvet cap structure, then you are for sure in the genus Pluteus, in the sections with a trichoderm.

best regards,
Andreas

[NickCantle]

I didn't know that no Mycena had free gills! I'm learning too you know

Luckily for me, I've opened my collection box and it's in it

[mollisia]

Originally Posted by NickCantle

I didn't know that no Mycena had free gills!

Hello Nick,

free gills is a very important character for identifyling genera. There are not many that share this feature:

Free gills +
spore print brown: Agaricus
spore print pinkish: Pluteus (without volva) and Volvariella (with volva)
spore print white: Amanita except A. strobiliformis and A. solitaria (with universal veil) and Lepiotaceae except Chamaemyces (without universal veil)

That's all.

In Lepiota the free gills are often hard to recognise. Be careful also, because when fruitbodies begin to dry out sometimes the connection from the gills to the stipe interrupts and the gills seem to be free. In this case you usually can see the former point of attachement with a lens.

best regards,
Andreas

[solus]

Originally Posted by mollisia

free gills is a very important character for identifyling genera. There are not many that share this feature:

Free gills +
spore print brown: Agaricus
spore print pinkish: Pluteus (without volva) and Volvariella (with volva)
spore print white: Amanita except A. strobiliformis and A. solitaria (with universal veil) and Lepiotaceae except Chamaemyces (without universal veil)

Nick - I hope you don't think I'm trying to hijack your topic but I (think!) I found something similar today and from Mollisia's post above I have concluded (probably wrongly) that it could well be a Pluteus.

There was only the one specimen, growing out of the wood of an old stump of what was probably Beech [Fagus] It seemed firmly 'fixed' in the wood and the stipe broke near the base when I attempted to remove it. There was a slight smell, not really 'mushroomy' but what it resembled otherwise I can't say. The stem was quite brittle and full (stuffed?) and was thicker towards the base. *Hides* - I didn't bring it home so no spore print. As far as I can judge, the gills were free (but I could have that wrong too.)





Any/all help would be much appreciated please!

[mollisia]

Hello solus,

definitely a Pluteus, yes.
I use to call those Pluteus semibulbosus and am not lucky about the big list of synonyms that Else Vellinga produced under the name P. plautus. In my opinion this semibulbosus is a species well characterized by the always small to fairly medium fruitbodies, very thin flesh, so that sometimes the pink colour of the gills shines through the cap surface, a striate margin and the (sometimes slightly) bulbose stipe. It often grows solitary, it's rare to find more than one or two in the same spot. The micros are not different from the P. plautus (which for me is a big fungus, like P. cervinus e.g.).

best regards,
Andreas

[solus]

Thanks Andreas!