Leucocoprinus cepaestipes

[ Basidiomycetes > Agaricales > Agaricaceae > Leucocoprinus . . . ]

by Michael Kuo

This little lepiota can be recognized by its powdery white cap, its lined margin, and its habitat in cultivated areas, especially on wood chips. It vies with several species of Agrocybe for the title "The Rest Area Mushroom," since traveling amateur mushroomers frequently find it in wood chips surrounding the ever-present planted trees at interstate rest stops. Some people, who shall remain nameless, obviously don't know when to quit--although their traveling companions often do, and may be more than a little irritated when Leucocoprinus cepaestipes decides a few hours later to go south instead of north, merrily decomposing in its sun-warmed, backseat paper bag.

Description:

Ecology: Saprobic; growing in groups or clusters in wood chips, cultivated soil, gardens, and so on (rarely in woods); summer; more common east of the Rocky Mountains but widely distributed in North America.

Cap: 2-8 cm, oval when young, becoming broadly conical or bell-shaped or nearly flat; dry; powdery with soft, white granules; sometimes becoming scaly in age; white to pale pink, often with a darker, yellowish or brownish center; the margin distinctly lined.

Gills: Free from the stem; white; crowded.

Stem: 4-14 cm long; 3-6 mm thick; more or less equal, but frequently swollen in places (reminiscent of scallions; the Latin name means "onion-stalked" and refers to the shape rather than the texture or color); with a swollen base; smooth or with white powder; often discoloring yellowish to brownish and/or bruising these shades; with a white ring on the upper stem that is fairly persistent but easily removed.

Flesh: White; very thin; sometimes bruising or discoloring yellowish to brownish.

Odor and Taste: Odor not distinctive or fragrant; taste not distinctive.

Chemical Reactions: KOH on cap surface negative.

Spore Print: White.

Microscopic Features: Spores 6-11 x 5-8 µ; smooth; elliptical; dextrinoid; with a small pore; thick-walled. Cheilocystidia to about 70 x 16 µ; clavate to bottle-shaped (with a long neck). Pleurocystidia absent.

REFERENCES: (Sowerby, 1797) Patouillard, 1889. (Saccardo, 1887; Kauffman, 1918; Kauffman, 1924; H. V. Smith, 1954; Smith, Smith & Weber, 1979; H. V. Smith, 1981; H. V. Smith & Weber, 1982; Arora, 1986; Phillips, 1991/2005; Lincoff, 1992; Metzler & Metzler, 1992; Roody, 2003; Miller & Miller, 2006.) Herb. Kuo 08230201, 08010302, 08160502, 07260701.

Lepiota cepaestipes is a synonym; "cepistipes" is an alternate (and probably the taxonomically correct) spelling of the species name; "cepastipes" is a misspelling.

Further Online Information:

Leucocoprinus cepaestipes at MykoWeb
Leucocoprinus cepistipes at Roger's Mushrooms

Spores

Cheilocystidia

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Cite this page as:

Kuo, M. (2007, October). Leucocoprinus cepaestipes. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/leucocoprinus_cepaestipes.html