Crepidotus crocophyllus

[ Basidiomycetes > Agaricales > Crepidotaceae > Crepidotus . . . ]

by Michael Kuo

This is probably our continent's most common species of Crepidotus--and it is, fortunately, one of the more interesting species in a genus full of lackluster brownish mushrooms. Crepidotus crocophyllus features brown fibrils or scales on its cap, and yellowish to orange (or sometimes whitish) immature gills. Microscopic features (see below) are also distinctive.

Crepidotus mollis is very similar, but features elliptical spores and consistently buff immature gills; additionally, it lacks clamp connections.

A recent study of Crepidotus crocophyllus (Bandala, Montoya & Mata, 2008) has done us all a big favor and synonymized a host of former species, separated on the basis of gill color and minor differences in microscopic features; Crepidotus dorsalis, Crepidotus fulvifibrillosus, Crepidotus appalachiensis, Crepidotus aureifolius, Crepidotus distortus, Crepidotus nephrodes, Crepidotus subaureifolius, and Crepidotus subnidulans are synonyms--accounting for almost the entire subsection Fulvifibrillosi in Hesler & Smith (1965).

Description:

Ecology: Saprobic; growing alone, scattered, or gregariously on the dead wood of hardwoods (and occasionally on the wood of conifers); widely distributed in North America.

Cap: 1-5 cm across; semicircular, shell-shaped, or fan-shaped; broadly convex and remaining so; whitish to dull brownish or yellowish underneath orangish brown to reddish brown fibrils that may become aggregated into small scales; the fibrils sometimes sparse; often with orangish fuzz near the point of attachment to the substrate.

Gills: Crowded, close, or nearly distant; when young whitish, yellowish, yellow, or orange; becoming brown with maturity.

Stem: Absent.

Flesh: Soft; thin; whitish.

Odor and Taste: Odor not distinctive; taste mild or slightly bitter.

Chemical Reactions: KOH on cap surface slowly reddish; on gills deep red.

Spore Print: Brown.

Microscopic Features: Spores 4.5-8 µ; globose or subglobose; very finely punctate or roughened (often hard to discern even with oil immersion). Pleurocystidia absent (but malformed, cystidium-like basidia sometimes present). Cheilocystidia clavate, cylindric, or subutriform; up to about 75 x 10 µ. Pileipellis a cutis of mostly repent, cylindric, septate elements 4-15 µ wide; some elements hyaline, others brown; walls smooth or encrusted; clamp connections present at septa.

REFERENCES: (Berkeley, 1847) Saccardo, 1887. (Kauffman, 1918; Hesler & Smith, 1965; Barron, 1999; McNeil, 2006; Miller & Miller, 2006; Bandala et al., 2008.) Herb. Kuo 05310703, 06090704, 06090705, 07020801, 07130801.

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Cite this page as:

Kuo, M. (2009, April). Crepidotus crocophyllus. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/crepidotus_crocophyllus.html