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Entoloma luridum

by Michael Kuo, 19 March 2024

This eastern North American entolomatoid mushroom is found under conifers from the Great Lakes region to the Appalachians and the Maritime Provinces. Like other entolomatoids it features a brownish pink spore print and gills that are attached to the stem—but it separates itself with a combination of features: the gills are yellow before being covered with spore dust; the mature cap is pale yellow and bell-shaped, with a broadly wrinkled margin; the flesh is thick and firm; the odor is not distinctive; and, under the microscope, the spores are thin-walled, angular, and vaguely 7-sided.

Look-alikes include Entoloma subsinuatum, with a white, more convex cap and gills that are only pale yellow when young, before fading to whitish and then picking up pink spore dust; Entoloma whiteae, with a pale brown cap, pale yellow gills, and a strong, foul odor; and Entoloma flavifolium, with a smaller, convex cap, fragile flesh, and thick-walled spores. Outside of Entoloma, Tricholoma equestre is similar, but features a white spore print, a mealy odor, and very different microscopic features.

Thanks to Charlotte Lukes for collecting, documenting, and preserving Entoloma luridum for study; her collection is deposited in The Herbarium of Michael Kuo.

Description:

Ecology: Saprobic (possibly mycorrhizal?); growing alone or gregariously under conifers; late summer and fall; originally described from Tennessee (Hesler 1967); distributed in eastern North America from the Great Lakes region to the Appalachians and the Maritime Provinces. The illustrated and described collection is from Wisconsin.

Cap: 5–8 cm across; broadly conic to broadly bell-shaped; bald; moist or dry; the margin becoming broadly wrinkled; pale creamy yellow; hygrophanous.

Gills: Narrowly attached to the stem; close; short-gills frequent; fairly bright yellow, becoming brownish pink as spores mature.

Stem: 6–10 cm long; 1–2 cm thick; equal or slightly tapered to apex; dry; bald; whitish to yellowish; basal mycelium white.

Flesh: Thick; white; unchanging when sliced.

Odor: Not distinctive.

Spore Print: Brownish pink.

Microscopic Features: Spores 5–10 x 5–7 µm; angular; predominately 7-sided; subglobose to ellipsoid overall, with a large apiculus; smooth; thin-walled; hyaline in KOH; inamyloid. Basidia 35–40 x 6–10 µm; clavate; 4-sterigmate. Hymenial cystidia not found. Pileipellis an ixocutis; elements 4–8 µm wide, smooth, hyaline in KOH; subcutis of inflated elements. Clamp connections present.

REFERENCES: L. R. Hesler, 1967. (Hesler, 1967; Noordeloos, 1988; Roody, 2003; Binion et al, 2008; Morgado et al., 2013; Baroni, 2017.) Herb. Kuo 09072301.

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Spore print

Spores

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Cite this page as:

Kuo, M. (2024, March). Entoloma luridum. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/entoloma_luridum.html