Crepidotus stipitatus

[ Basidiomycota > Agaricales > Inocybaceae > Crepidotus . . . ]

by Michael Kuo

What saves this tiny Crepidotus from the oblivion of mind-numbing dullness that characterizes the bulk of the genus is the presence of a tiny little stem that attaches the mushroom to its substrate. Of course, the stem is on the underside of the mushroom, and the mushroom maxes out at 3 cm across, so the odds that you will actually see the diminutive stem in order to say "Hey, that's not your average Crepidotus," are pretty low. In fact the only likely scenarios that would lead you to observe the stemlet already involve you bending over to closely inspect a Crepidotus--which means, let's go ahead and face it, you are a mushroom geek. Which means you would have been interested in the thing regardless of the stem-ette. The stem-ito.

Under the microscope Crepidotus stipitatus features round, finely spiny spores, clamp connections, and cheilocystidia. A similar species, Crepidotus nyssicola, features a somewhat larger, deeply depressed (rather than convex) cap that can develop creamy to purplish shades.

Description:

Ecology: Saprobic; growing scattered, gregariously, or in overlapping clusters on the well-rotted, barkless deadwood of hardwoods; summer and fall; widely distributed from the Great Plains eastward. The illustrated and described collection is from Illinois.

Cap: 4-10 mm across; convex, becoming broadly convex; semicircular to shell-shaped or fan-shaped in outline; bald; white to whitish; the margin finely translucent-lined.

Gills: Beginning to run down the stem; close; short-gills frequent; rather thick; white, becoming dull brownish in maturity.

Stem: 2-3 mm long; 1-2 mm thick; attached near the edge of the cap but not quite lateral; bald above, but with a fuzzy base; watery white.

Flesh: Soft; thin; whitish.

Odor and Taste: Not distinctive.

Spore Print: Brown.

Microscopic Features: Spores 4.5-5.5 µ; globose to subglobose or roundly lacrymoid; very finely spiny with spines well under 0.5 µ high; brownish yellow in KOH; yellowish in Melzer's reagent. Pleurocystidia not found. Cheilocystidia 25-35 x 5-7.5 µ; cylindric-contorted to subclavate or utriform. Pileipellis a cutis; elements 2.5-5 µ wide, hyaline, smooth. Clamp connections present.

REFERENCES: Kauffman, 1918. (Hesler & Smith, 1965.) Herb. Kuo 08070907.

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Spores

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Kuo, M. (2015, May). Crepidotus stipitatus. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/crepidotus_stipitatus.html