Major Groups > Gilled Mushrooms > Pale-Spored > Omphalinoid > Xeromphalina kauffmanii

MushroomExpert.Com

Xeromphalina kauffmanii

[ Basidiomycota > Agaricales > Mycenaceae > Xeromphalina . . . ]

by Michael Kuo

This tiny mushroom often fruits in stunning numbers on stumps and dead logs in hardwood forests. It has a white spore print, gills that run down the stem, and a wiry stem that is yellow above, and brownish below. On close inspection, the gills are often connected by many cross-veins—one of the defining features of the genus Xeromphalina.

The very similar Xeromphalina campanella appears on the wood of conifers and has slightly wider spores.

Description:

Ecology: Saprobic on the deadwood of hardwoods; growing in dense clusters (sometimes by the hundreds!) on stumps and logs, or occasionally growing in small clusters or even alone; spring through fall; widely distributed east of the Rocky Mountains. The illustrated and described collections are from Illinois, Arkansas, Michigan, and Québec.

Cap: 0.5–2 cm across; convex to broadly convex or flat overall, developing a deep central depression; bald; becoming lined or pleated, especially toward the margin; brownish yellow to brownish orange or orangish brown; paler towards the margin; fading.

Gills: Running down the stem; close or nearly distant; with many cross-veins; pale yellow; short-gills frequent.

Stem: 1–2.5 cm long; 1–2 mm thick; more or less equal, or tapered to the base; rusty yellow above, darker brown below; bald, or sometimes with orange basal mycelium; wiry.

Flesh: Insubstantial; yellowish.

Odor and Taste: Not distinctive.

Chemical Reactions: KOH bright red on cap surface.

Spore Print: White.

Microscopic Features: Spores 3–6 x 2–3 µm; ellipsoid; smooth; weakly to moderately amyloid. Pleuro- and cheilocystidia fusiform to narrowly clavate; up to about 30 x 10 µm. Caulocystidia clavate to fusiform; thin-walled. Pileipellis a cutis; elements 3–15 µm wide, encrusted, orangish, clamped at septa.


REFERENCES: A. H. Smith, 1953. (Miller, 1968; Smith, Smith & Weber, 1979; Arora, 1986; Bessette, Miller, Bessette & Miller, 1995; Halling & Mueller, 2005; McNeil, 2006.) Herb. Kuo 05169507, 05299502, 08270204, 10251307.


This site contains no information about the edibility or toxicity of mushrooms.


 

Xeromphalina kauffmanii

Xeromphalina kauffmanii

Xeromphalina kauffmanii

Xeromphalina kauffmanii

Xeromphalina kauffmanii
KOH on cap surface

Xeromphalina kauffmanii
Spores

Xeromphalina kauffmanii
Caulocystidia



© MushroomExpert.Com



Cite this page as:

Kuo, M. (2016, June). Xeromphalina kauffmanii. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/xeromphalina_kauffmanii.html