| Major Groups > Gilled Mushrooms > Pale-Spored > Collybioid > Xeromphalina tenuipes |
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[ Basidiomycota > Agaricales > Mycenaceae > Xeromphalina . . . ] Xeromphalina tenuipes by Michael Kuo, 11 May 2025 Xeromphalina tenuipes is a late-spring, early-summer species from the hardwood forests of eastern North America, ranging southward into Mexico, Central America, and South America. It is easily overlooked--especially since its caps are fairly small and orangish to yellowish brown, like the caps of many boring little mushrooms. But close examination in this case reveals a gorgeously fuzzy stem surface (a lens may be required), along with cool and distinctive microscopic features: pileocystidia and, on the surface of the stem, a dense turf of caulocystidia. Similar mushrooms include Callistosporium luteo-olivaceum (appearing on conifer wood, with a smooth yellow stem and different microfeatures), and Tricholomopsis decora (also on conifer wood, featuring small brownish scales on the cap and, again, different microfeatures). Description: Ecology: Saprobic on the deadwood and woody debris of hardwoods; growing scattered to gregariously, or in loose clusters; often appearing not only on fallen logs but also in terrestrial troops alongside the logs and woody debris; late spring and early summer; originally described from Pennsylvania (Schweinitz 1832); widely distributed in North America east of the Rocky Mountains and southward through Mexico; also reported from the Caribbean, Central America, South America, Africa, and eastern Asia. The illustrated and described collections are from Indiana and Ohio. Cap: 2.5–4.5 cm across; convex to broadly convex or flat; finely granular-velvety, or nearly bald; dry; becoming finely lined; brownish yellow to brownish orange, often with a darker center. Gills: Notched at the point of attachment to the stem; close; often forked and cross-veined; whitish to yellowish; short-gills frequent. Stem: 1.5–7.5 cm long; 2–4 mm thick; more or less equal; dry; densely and finely fuzzy (best seen with a lens, or after specimens have been dried); golden orangish, darkening to reddish brown or brown from the base upward; fairly tough. Flesh: Insubstantial; watery yellowish to brownish; unchanging when sliced. Odor and Taste: Odor not distinctive; taste bitter. Chemical Reactions: KOH purple to dark reddish brown on cap surface. Spore Print: White. Microscopic Features: Spores 5–8 x 3.5–5 µm; ellipsoid; smooth; faintly to moderately amyloid; hyaline in KOH. Basidia 28–35 x 5–7 µm; clavate; 4-sterigmate. Cheilocystidia inconspicuous and not projecting; irregularly cylindric; hyaline in KOH. Pleurocystidia inconspicuous and not projecting; fusiform; smooth; hyaline in KOH. Stem surface a turf of caulocystidia; individual cystidia 4–5 µm wide, 100+ µm long, cylindric to narrowly fusiform with rounded or slightly narrowed apices, smooth, walls 0.5 µm thick, reddish brown in KOH. Pileipellis a poorly defined cutis, with reddish brown pileocystidia in fascicles; individual cystidia 3–6 µm wide, smooth, walls 0.5 µm thick, orangish brown in KOH. Clamp connections present. REFERENCES: (Schweinitz, 1887) A. H. Smith, 1953. (Saccardo, 1887; Miller, 1968; Smith, Smith & Weber, 1979; Phillips, 1991/2005; Bessette, Miller, Bessette & Miller, 1995; Barron, 1999; Roody, 2003; McNeil, 2006; López & García, 2013; Ramírez et al., 2013; Kuo & Methven, 2014; Campi et al., 2017; Sturgeon, 2018.) Herb. Kuo 05121203, 05032501. This site contains no information about the edibility or toxicity of mushrooms. |
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Cite this page as: Kuo, M. (2025, May). Xeromphalina tenuipes. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/xeromphalina_tenuipes.html |