Inocybe with blueing stem

[SheffieldLass]

This was in a suburban garden in lawn and flower bed close to a beech hedge. (I didn't have my camera with me, so these were taken later.) The stem blue/greened readily when handled. The gills seemed to bruise pinkish. Smell slight but pleasant.



Spores - well they looked a bit warty but it might just have been tricks of the pigment. (8.4) 9.2 - 11 (12.4) x (5.9) 6.2 - 7.3 (8.2) um Qav = 1.5



Pleurocystidia 12-21 x 58-84um


Cystidia clavate 8-17 x 24-63um.


I can only find 3 blue staining ones in Funga Nordica. Only one is listed in Britain, I. calamistrata, and I'm not convinced ... these were quite big with many at least 60mm across. I've looked at images on the internet, but they don't quite look the same. Spores of mine were broader, though I'm doing a spore print so should get more accurate figures. I've only got Funga Nordica for Inocybe so can't check other details. Inocybe subhirsuta fits a bit better, spore sizes and cheilocystidia any rate, but I've only found one image of that which looked very like I.calamistrata, having a darker brown cap and stem. And that one was smaller still. So any ideas on this?

There I was thinking that this would be an easy Inocybe to id ....

Melanie

Well it isn't either I calamistrata or I subhirsta as they don't have pleurocystidia .....
Oh, and the flesh doesn't redden unduly, seems to go slightly blue at the stem base and up near the gill junction, though that seems to fade, and then near the base becomes a little reddish.

[Chris Yeates]

hi

try: (with apologies for line truncations - done in a rush

description of Inocybe aeruginascens Babos from Kuyper's monograph - I don't have the latest (is it Stangl?) I'll email details of whom you can send this to

Pileus 10-44 mm, at first conical, soon plano-convex, with pronounced obtuse umbo, when
oung with inflexed margin, sordid buff to sordid ochraceous brown [2.5 Y 8/4, 10 YR
/4, 6/4, 5/6], around umbo sordid grey, sometimes mixed with greenish tinges, radially
brillose, but fibrils hardly diverging, at margin not rimulose, around umbo somewhat
ubtomentose because of velipellis. Lamellae normally crowded, to 7 mm broad, subventricose,
arrowly adnate to almost free, pale grey-brown to clay-brown, with minutely fimbriate,
whitish edge which sometimes discolours greenish on bruising. Stipe 22-50 x 3-7 mm,
ylindrical to subbulbous, but without marginate bulb, solid, whitish at first, slowly
iscolouring to blue-green from base upwards, but sometimes even in old specimens rather
nconspicuously so, finally even dark blue-green at base, pruinose at apex, downwards slightly
ongitudinally fibrillose. Cortina present in young specimens, soon disappearing. Context
whitish in pileus, pale blue-green in stipe, especially in lower part. Smell sweetish with a
isagreeable component, reminding of cheap soap. Taste as smell or indistinct.
Spores (7.5-)8.0-10.0 x 4.0-5.5(-6.0) /an, on average 8.3-9.6 x 4.6-5.5 /xm, Q = 1.5-2.0,
Q = 1.6-1.9, smooth, subamygdaliform, with subconical, but sometimes almost obtuse, apex.
leurocystidia (37-)41-66(-71) x (12-)13-22(-24) /xm, slenderly to broadly fusiform, subu-
iform or subclavate, thick-walled, with up to 1.5-2.0 colourless to faintly yellowish-tinged
wall, crystalliferous at apex, frequent. Cheilocystidia similar to pleurocystidia, rather inxe
requent. Paracystidia (slenderly) clavate, thin-walled, colourless, numerous. Basidia 23-34
7-10 /xm, 4-spored. Caulocystidia only present in apical zone, descending to l/6th of
tipe, similar to cheilocystidia, mixed with cauloparacystidia, downwards with a narrow
ntermediate zone of cylindrical, rather undifferentiated caulocystidioid hairs.
HABITAT & DISTRIBUTION. — Under frondose trees on sandy soil. Associated with Populus
nd Salix. Widespread in West and Central Europe, but probably overlooked. Known in
he Netherlands from two localities in the dunes. June-Oct.

[SheffieldLass]

The spores of that are too small. But I think I've possibly cracked it ... Inocybe haemacta - though mine had a bit of a bulbous base. I found a good Italian website with all the microscopic details, and it seems to match pretty well, though mine has not quite as tufty a cap as the one shown, but mine will have had their hair washed and blow dried a few times, so may be a bit sleeker ....

Inocybe haemacta ( Berk. & Cooke) Sacc. , Forum Natura Mediterraneo | Forum Naturalistico

I'd better get it off to Kew, pronto .. it was the other recent post that reminded me where too look for possibilities - a pdf file on the BMS website ...

Melanie