Lepista? Found on open downland....

[ohgreatstew]

This was growing on a hillside, chalk, open downland, nearest trees were Oak, but a good 50 yards away, troop of around 8 scattered up the hill, on seeing them the big one pictured below looked fantastic, all the signs of Lepista and I thought saeva, but the stem is not right, it has the fibrillose appearance but there is no purple tint, it is brown streaked with white in the fibres, spores appear white, but could be pale pink, at present I have only looked at them on the cap of another, I am doing a proper spore print now....

Appreciate advice.....

[Brent Leeks]

Try Lactarius inversa (Tawny Funnel Cap) most Lepista's are over now whereas the Lactarius thrive

[cybershot]

edited because of duplicated response

[cybershot]

Originally Posted by Brent Leeks

Try Lactarius inversa (Tawny Funnel Cap) most Lepista's are over now whereas the Lactarius thrive

Do you mean Lepista flaccida syn. Lepista inversa (Tawny Funnel)?

David

[ohgreatstew]

OK, So now I am slightly confused, yesterday I posted this......

This was identified as Lepista flaccida (Tawney funnel cap), the gills here are clearly decurrent, as all the books I have say they should be.

And now today I find this on open downland, it looks quite different, and the gills are clearly not decurrent.....


I am a little confused, if I compare these two specimens there are similarities, but colour, and gills are quite different..... is there that much variation within a specific species?

[cybershot]

Sorry about the confusion Stew; I wasn't suggesting it was L. flaccida, and concur with your original suggestion of L. saeva which is variously described as having a dull grey-brown cap and fibrous stem.

[flaxton]

Stew
With those almost free gills I would agree with Lepista but with the overall colour I would go for nuda even though there were no trees about.

Mal

[ohgreatstew]

Thanks everyone, L.Saeva or L.nuda this was a monster, the cap measured 16cm across, a really lovely sight walking up the hillside today.....

[fairplay]

For me, it's a toss up between nuda and sordida.

I don't know if it's me, but does anybody else think that there is just so much variation between the illustrations of L.sorida in the available literature, that some just have to have got it wrong. ?

Neil.

[ohgreatstew]

Despite being rather new to this and having looked again (at my now 5 books) I am included to agree Neil, although overall I am now leaning towards L.Sordida