When is a tree not a tree?

[Chris Yeates]

now the Amanita

in the field:




it was in shade and I think that the pink flush is not quite right, this scanned image two days after collecting is truer, but it has definitely darkened with time:


no evidence of a ring on any of them - rabbits (or some other creature) had knocked them over and it was impossible to get features of any volva - the base was exceptionally friable; these were not growing on the exposed tops shown in the first photo but were on a sparsely wooded slope in an open area dominated by Helianthemum, which I felt certain was the mycorrhizal partner - the nearest trees were (native) Tilia cordata and limes are not well-known mycorrhiza-formers (though I know there are exceptions like Scleroderma bovista which is often found with limes)

the spores were typical broadly ellipsoid to subglobose Amanita spores:


though at 7.3-9.2 x 6.8-7.3µm definitely on the small size

Amanita - away from the better-known ones - is not an area I feel confident in; the only one I know without a ring and with scales on the cap is A. ceciliae and I'm sure it isn't that

so . . . suggestions gratefully received

only the Cortinarius to go, but I think I'll leave that to tomorrow (I've got a Panaeolus and a Lactarius - from a different habitat on this site - and they seem strangely tempting, not to mention all my micro's); people who don't do the microscopy probably have very little idea of how much time and effort goes into this lark - the truth is mycology ain't easy - worlds apart from botany and birdwatching

[Chris Yeates]

ok

here comes the last one - definitely a mycorrhizal one again:




a Cortinarius - a genus I encounter relatively rarely and then usually the species of acidic habitats; here is the scanned image:


some years ago and a few miles east of this Carperby site, near Preston-under-Scar, I found what I was sure was Cortinarius anomalus in the self-same Helianthemum biotope:




it's a well-known Helianthemum partner, but this latest one showed only a hint of the lilac colour associated with C. anomalus - a slight flush on some of the caps but scarcely any on the stems

I know Andreas is very busy at the moment, but he has told me he'll weigh in with his opinions later in the week; but as ever anyone is free to comment

cheers

Chris

[Chris Yeates]

Originally Posted by RobSutton

I've just had a go at this with the provisional new Keys to Inocybe available from Penny Cullington (as advertised in Field Mycology a few issues ago). Assuming it smelt of marzipan it came down to I.hirtella. I tried following the key further assuming no smell of marzipan (or Pelargonium later on) and came to and stopped at I.mycenoides which they note as being from a single collection associated with Helianthemum and as having a "stipe with pink or reddish tinges in mid-region but whitish below". Spore sizes seem to fit length wise (8.5 - 10.5) but a bit narrow for their width (5.5 - 6.5)

Colleagues at work report a pleasant fungussy smell with a slight sweetish note but nothing like marzipan or Pelargonium - I've been in contact with Penny re: this, and have now posted the specimens to her

so I. mycenoides seems a possible here (Andreas has dismissed I. hirtella - and the absence of a distinct smell would support that)

cheers Rob

Chris

[Chris Yeates]

Originally Posted by Chris Yeates

OK they aren't getting any easier (actually Hygrocybe pratensis, meadow waxcap, and Clitopilus prunulus, the miller - after a quick check of the spores - and both from this same habitat were straightforward)

this is an Inocybe (a mycorrhizal genus, of course - unlike the two mentioned above):


the upper portion of the stem had a distinctive pale pinkish/lilaceous flush:


and scanned - to show cap colour (which was not unlike I. rimosa, I suppose) - stem minutely pruinose down its entire length (though the pinkish flush barely noticeable after two days in the fridge - this why one must note these fleeting characters in the field), and with an emarginate bulb:


under the microscope, the gills had abundant metuloids:


basidia were (all?) 4-spored - wish I'd checked when I first got them back, and not when most of the basidia had ripened - basidiospores were mostly almond-shaped and 8.3-10.5 x 4.3-5.6µm:


using Funga Nordica I have come up with a tentative ID of Inocybe hirtella, but as my sense of smell is pretty poor these days I am going to have to take it into work tomorrow and inflict it on my colleagues , as that seems to be an important character from here in. Imagine if you had to smell tiny discomycetes to identify them !)

hi

Andreas has been in contact and says that he discounts Inocybe hirtella based on the coloration of the stem - it would appear that Funga Nordica's "stem . . . .often slightly pink at the top" might indicate that they have a different concept of hirtella; in addition everyone I have asked to smell it has said slightly sweetish, pleasantly mushroomy, but without a hint of marzipan or Pelargonium . . . .

I have sent the collection to Penny Cullington who is making an in-depth study of Inocybe, and indeed has studied Inocybe species in this rock-rose habitat (and to whom I am very indebted for putting in a lot of time and effort on this)

she also has dismissed Inocybe hirtella, and then the more likely candidate Inocybe mycenoides (based on cystidium shape and measurements) . . . . the remaining options appear to be Inocybe muricellata - which should have a cap that soon breaks up into scales (which this one hasn't, though otherwise close - it's a species never recorded with Helianthemum as a mycorrhizal host, though that may not mean a lot) or quite possibly an undescribed species

watch this space

Chris