Major Groups > Gilled Mushrooms > Pale-Spored > Waxy Caps > Gliophorus psittacinus

MushroomExpert.Com

Gliophorus psittacinus

[ Basidiomycota > Agaricales > Hygrophoraceae > Gliophorus . . . ]

by Michael Kuo

Sometimes called the "parrot mushroom," this little guy is unmistakable if you catch it in its early stages of development, when it is distinctively parrot-green (and decidedly slimy). But it quickly begins to change colors, turning yellow or orange, and then fading to a sort of dingy straw color. By the end of this transformation, the parrot mushroom has become a nondescript little thing, dirty yellowish and very difficult to identify. Ah, the splendors of youth!

Gliophorus psittacinus was previously known as Hygrocybe psittacina and as Hygrophorus psittacinus, but a recent paper (Lodge and collaborators, 2013) has resurrected the genus Gliophorus for it, along with closely related species. However, the researchers caution that Gliophorus psittacinus represents a species group: "[t]he extraordinarily high sequence divergence among collections identified as H. psittacinus indicates this is a species complex and is in need of further study."

In coastal California a blue-then-red version of Gliophorus psittacinus appears under conifers over winter; see the page for Gliophorus species 01. In central Illinois I have collected a reddish version under eastern red cedar; its spores are somewhat more broadly ellipsoid than the typical version.

Hygrophorus psittacinus and Hygrocybe psittacina are synonyms.

Description:

Ecology: Precise ecological role uncertain (see Lodge and collaborators, 2013); appearing in hardwood and conifer forests; growing scattered to gregariously; frequently found in moss, or on mossy embankments along wooded roadsides; spring through fall (or over winter in warmer climates); widely distributed in North America, at least as a species group. The illustrated and described collections are from Illinois, Michigan, and Québec.

Cap: 5-25 mm across; hemispheric to suboval, expanding to broadly convex or nearly flat; bald; slimy; variable in colors but frequently dark green at first, quickly fading to orangish yellow from the center outward (sometimes sometimes orange with a greenish margin, fading to orange); finally dull orangish yellow; the margin often thinly lined.

Gills: Narrowly attached to the stem; close or nearly distant; usually pale green at first, becoming yellowish--but sometimes orange-yellow throughout development; short-gills frequent.

Stem: 10-40 mm long; 2-3 mm thick; equal; bald; slimy; pale green above and orangish yellow below when young, fading to pale yellowish overall.

Flesh: Whitish; thin.

Odor and Taste: Odor not distinctive, or somewhat foul; taste of slime slightly acidic.

Spore Print: White.

Microscopic Features: Spores 6-9 x 3.5-4.5 µ; smooth; ellipsoid; hyaline and multiguttulate in KOH; inamyloid. Basidia 35-45 µ long; 4-sterigmate or, occasionally, 2-sterigmate. Hymenial cystidia absent. Lamellar trama parallel. Pileipellis an ixocutis.


REFERENCES: (Schaeffer, 1774) Herink, 1958. (Fries, 1821; Saccardo, 1887; Kauffman, 1918; Hesler and Smith, 1963; Bird & Grund, 1979; Smith, Smith & Weber, 1979; Largent, 1985; Arora, 1986; Lincoff, 1992; Barron, 1999; Boertmann, 2000; McNeil, 2006; Miller & Miller, 2006; Kuo & Methven, 2010; Lodge et al., 2013; Kuo & Methven, 2014.) Herb. Kuo 09039406, 06160208, 05120701, 05120702, 06080802.


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


 

Gliophorus psittacinus

Gliophorus psittacinus

Gliophorus psittacinus

Gliophorus psittacinus

Gliophorus psittacinus

Gliophorus psittacinus
Spore print

Gliophorus psittacinus
Spores



© MushroomExpert.Com




Cite this page as:

Kuo, M. (2014, March). Gliophorus psittacinus. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/gliophorus_psittacinus.html