ID help needed please. Galerina sp.??

solus · #1 (**permalink**) 27-07-2011, 04:34 PM

I found these growing out of a drainage hole near the base of a plastic plant pot and thought they'd be fairly easy to ID.

The hole is only about half an inch across and the pot was planted up about 15 months ago (strawberry plants) using a multi-purpose reduced-peat compost from the garden centre. I have noticed this stuff is not the best quality (but it's not the most expensive, either!

) and contains pieces of wood up to about an inch long amongst the compost. The point being, I suppose, that the fungus may be growing from either the soil or one of the wood fragments, which of course could be anything, from anywhere. Not a lot of help!

Clearly the size is related to the hole the fungus is emerging from so probably not relevant as far as "average" sizes go for whatever species this is.

I did, however, manage a spore print

which is a rusty-brown. That plus the ring on the stipe led me towards Galerina but I'm really not sure so am (yet again) asking for your help, please.

Just as a point of interest, this was how the fungus looked 5 days earlier when I first noticed it: very small and I didn't even see it had a ring....

mollisia · #2 (**permalink**) 28-07-2011, 08:34 PM

Hello,

in my opinion definitely a Galerina of the marginata-complex. Due to the greasy cap surface, this could well be G. autumnalis.
The sporeprint alone is not a very significant character, but when the spores show to be dextrinoid, then it should be definitely one of the marginata-group.

best regards,
Andreas

solus · #3 (**permalink**) 28-07-2011, 10:38 PM

Thanks Andreas!

'Sfunny - 3 of my thumbnail pics seem to have disappeared from the post - they were there earlier when I looked...

Anyway, the full size piccies are there when I click on the box.

Sorry, but I don't have access to a microscope so the spore print is the best I can do. (And that's a major step up for me, doing a sporeprint! I was quite pleased with the way they turned out.

)

Um... just one thing I'm confused about (it doesn't take much, I am easily confused!) I thought G. marginata was now regarded as being the same as G. autumnalis??