Dendrocollybia racemosa

[ Basidiomycetes > Agaricales > Tricholomataceae > Dendrocollybia . . . ]

by Michael Kuo

For me, Dendrocollybia racemosa was kind of a let-down. In field guides this species looks fascinating, with its many-branched stem, and I had wanted to see it for many years. So when someone brought it in to the collection tables at this year's SOMA Mushroom Camp, I was excited . . . but look at the picture. Granted, this wasn't the freshest, most pristine specimen of Dendrocollybia racemosa ever collected, but I was expecting something dramatic, like the specimen you can see by following the link to Roy Halling's site, below.

Still, it is an interesting mushroom. Until very recently it was known as Collybia racemosa, and, like Collybia tuberosa, it arises from a sclerotium--a knot of tissue (not illustrated)--buried in the decayed remains of other mushrooms. Unlike Collybia tuberosa, however, its stem develops little branches that produce asexual spores ("conidia," in Mycologese), giving the mushroom two reproductive avenues: one through the "normal" sexual process of spores produced on gills--and another through asexual cloning, by means of conidia.

Description:

Ecology: Saprobic; growing on the remains of decayed mushrooms or occasionally on humus; under hardwoods or conifers; fall and winter; apparently limited to the Pacific Northwest.

Cap: Up to 1 cm across; convex or somewhat conical at first, becoming broadly convex or flat; smooth; gray to grayish brown, often with a paler margin.

Gills: Attached to the stem; close; whitish or grayish.

Stem: Up to 8 cm long and 3 mm thick; equal; smooth; grayish or brownish; often with a substantial portion buried; usually arising from a small black knot of tissue; with projecting side-branches over the lower half or nearly overall.

Flesh: Insubstantial; pale.

Spore Print: White.

Microscopic Features: Spores 4-5.5 x 2-3 µ; smooth; more or less elliptical.

REFERENCES: (Persoon, 1797) Petersen & Redhead, 2001. (Saccardo, 1887; Smith, 1975; Lennox, 1979; Smith, Smith & Weber, 1979; Halling, 1983; Arora, 1986; Barron, 1999; Hughes et al., 2001.)

Further Online Information:

Dendrocollybia racemosa photo at Roy Halling's Collybia site
Collybia racemosa at MykoWeb

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Cite this page as:

Kuo, M. (2005, March). Dendrocollybia racemosa. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/dendrocollybia_racemosa.html