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Entoloma bloxamii

[Basidiomycota > Agaricales > Entolomataceae > Entoloma . . . ]

by Michael Kuo

Entoloma bloxamii is a large, sticky, bluish gray to purplish gray entolomatoid mushroom, reminiscent of a Tricholoma in stature. The version of Entoloma bloxamii featured here is from the West Coast of the United States; it is a woodland species appearing in coastal redwood forests or, inland, with oaks, madrone, or tanoak. It features a sturdy white stem that sometimes develops grayish to bluish hues, a mealy odor, and spores measuring 7–10 µm across.

First described from Great Britain in the nineteenth century, Entoloma bloxamii has been confusing mycologists ever since: Is it the same as Entoloma madidum (a similar species named from France)? Does it actually occur in North America? Are bloxamii-like collections from the southeastern United States the same as West-Coast collections? How did I get here? How do I work this? Where is that large automobile? This is not my beautiful house! . . . and so on. Not content with letting the days go by, Mogrado and collaborators (2013) sequenced the DNA of bloxamii-like collections from across the globe and determined, among other things, that Entoloma bloxamii and Entoloma madidum are distinct, European species, separable by spore size—and that five West-Coast North American collections appeared to represent a separate, unnamed species. Collections from the southeastern United States were not included in the study. The West-Coast species, described and illustrated here, has since been given a name in an online venue without peer review (see discussion), but I will defer using it until the hypothesis is supported in a scientific publication.

Description:

Ecology: Saprobic; growing alone, scattered, or gregariously in coast redwood forests, or under madrone, tanoak, or oak; distributed along the West Coast; fall and winter. The illustrated and described collections are from California.

Cap: 5–10 cm across; convex or broadly conical, becoming broadly convex, broadly bell-shaped, or nearly flat; sticky when fresh; bald or nearly so; bluish gray to purplish gray or nearly black.

Gills: Attached to the stem by a notch; close; short gills frequent; whitish, eventually becoming pinkish to brownish pink.

Stem: 5–7 x 1–2 cm; equal above a slightly tapered base; solid and firm; silky or nearly bald; whitish, sometimes tinged with grayish to purplish hues.

Flesh: Thick; white, unchanging when sliced.

Odor and Taste: Mealy.

Spore Print: Pink.

Microscopic Features: Spores 7–10 x 6–9 µm; isodiametric, with shallow angles; 5- or 6-sided; smooth; hyaline in KOH. Lamellar trama parallel. Basidia 4-sterigmate. Hymenial cystidia not found. Pileipellis an ixocutis; elements 2–6 µm wide, smooth, hyaline in KOH; with abundant clamp connections.


REFERENCES: (Berkeley & Broome, 1854) Saccardo, 1887. (Arora, 1986; Noordeloos, 1988; Largent, 1994; Noordeloos, 2008; Mogrado et al., 2013; Desjardin, Wood & Stevens, 2015; Siegel & Schwarz, 2016.) Herb. EIU ASM 373. Herb. Kuo 01191302.


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


 

Entoloma bloxamii

Entoloma bloxamii

Entoloma bloxamii
Spores



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Cite this page as:

Kuo, M. (2014, January). Entoloma bloxamii. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/entoloma_bloxamii.html