Marasmius plicatulus

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by Michael Kuo

One of the West Coast's most beautiful mushrooms, Marasmius plicatulus can almost seem like a species of Mycena when its cap is particularly conical--but its stem is brittle and Marasmius-ish rather than pliant and Mycena-like.

Marasmius plicatulus is a decomposer of forest debris, found under conifers and hardwoods alike. Its cap and stem are purple-red when fresh (though less dramatic, browner specimens are not uncommon), and its well spaced gills are creamy. It is fairly large (for a Marasmius), and its cap surface is finely velvety.

Edibility for Marasmius plicatulus is not recorded; do not experiment.

Description:

Ecology: Saprobic on litter and debris under hardwoods or conifers; growing alone, scattered, or gregariously; fall and winter; along the West Coast.

Cap: 1-5 cm; conical or convex when young, usually expanding to broadly convex with a shallow central bump; dry; finely velvety, at least when fresh; sometimes developing radial wrinkles with age; purple-red to reddish brown.

Gills: Narrowly attached to the stem or free from it; distant; white to creamy or pinkish; sometimes developing pinkish to brownish edges.

Stem: 5-13 cm long; up to 3 mm thick; equal; dry; brittle; smooth; creamy or pinkish above, purple-red to reddish black or dark brown below; basal mycelium white and prominent.

Flesh: Thin; insubstantial.

Odor and Taste: Taste mild; odor not distinctive.

Spore Print: White.

Microscopic Features: Spores 11-16 x 5-6.5 µ; smooth; more or less elliptical. Cystidia absent on gill faces; broom cells present on gill edges, especially in younger specimens.

REFERENCES: Peck, 1897. (Saccardo, 1899; Smith, Smith & Weber, 1979; Arora, 1986; Lincoff, 1992; Murphy, 2005; Miller & Miller, 2006.)

Further Online Information:

Marasmius plicatulus at MykoWeb

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Cite this page as:

Kuo, M. (2006, October). Marasmius plicatulus. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/marasmius_plicatulus.html