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Entoloma mougeotii

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

by Michael Kuo

Here is a small entolomatoid mushroom with a gorgeous, grayish purple cap and stem. The cap is finely scaly, especially over the center, and its margin is not lined. The gills are white at first, later turning pinkish as the spores mature. The stem has a white apex, and white basal mycelium. Under the microscope Entoloma mougeotii features spores with many (often poorly defined) angles, and clavate to cylindric cheilocystidia. Similar species have either smaller or larger spores, and/or lack cheilocystidia. Entoloma mougeotii is a European species and, as is frequently the case with North American entolomas, our use of the European species name may simply represent a best-fit scenario.

Description:

Ecology: Saprobic; growing gregariously in moss and in disturbed ground, or grassy areas (path sides, road banks, and so on); summer; North American distribution uncertain (recorded from North Carolina and Tennessee by Hesler, 1967; the collection illustrated and described here is from Illinois--also, I wonder how many "Entoloma nigroviolaceum" collections in North American herbaria were identified with field guides and might represent Entoloma mougeotii once examined under the microscope).

Cap: 1-2 cm; planoconvex with a slightly incurved margin at first, becoming shallowly depressed, with or without a small umbo; dry; minutely fibrillose and scaly; dark purple-gray at first, fading slightly with maturity, or appearing paler due to the break-up of the cuticle.

Gills: Attached to the stem; close; white at first, becoming pink; short-gills frequent.

Stem: 2.5-5 cm long; 2-4 mm thick; equal; dry; bald or finely silky; white at the apex but colored like the cap overall; basal mycelium white.

Flesh: Thin; insubstantial; watery whitish to grayish.

Odor and Taste: Odor somewhat fragrant and spicy, or not distinctive; taste not distinctive.

Spore Print: Pink.

Microscopic Features: Spores 9-11 x 5-6 µ; 5- to 9-sided, but with irregular and often shallow angles, making precise determination of the outline difficult; heterodiametric; smooth; hyaline. Pleurocystidia absent. Cheilocystidia cylindric-flexuous with rounded, subclavate, clavate, or subcapitate apices; 35-65 x 5-7.5 µ; thin-walled; clearly differentiated. Pileipellis a cutis with frequent areas of ascending or trichoderm-like elements; terminal elements clavate or subcystidioid and inflated; brown to brownish in 10% ammonia, with intracellular pigment. Clamp connections present.


REFERENCES: (Fries, 1874) Hesler, 1967. (Saccardo, 1891; Hesler, 1967; Noordeloos, 1988; Breitenbach & Kränzlin, 1995; Noordeloos, 2008.) Herb. Kuo 06180401.


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Entoloma mougeotii

Entoloma mougeotii
Spores

Entoloma mougeotii
Cheilocystidia

Entoloma mougeotii
Pileipellis



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