Entoloma salmoneum

[Basidiomycetes > Agaricales > Entolomataceae > Entoloma . . . ]

by Michael Kuo

This bright, distinctive little mushroom is found east of the Rocky Mountains, usually in conifer woods. When fresh, its colors are bright salmon, but it fades with age; older specimens can be confused with the similar, but yellow, Entoloma murraii.

Entoloma salmoneum is poisonous, and should not be collected for the table.

In many field guides this mushroom is called the "Unicorn Mushroom." In technical literature, the name is variously represented as Entoloma salmoneum, Nolanea salmonea, and Nolanea quadrata; see the comments below.

Description:

Ecology: Saprobic; growing alone or scattered in leaf litter under hardwoods, or in moss under conifers; frequently on rotting, moss-covered conifer logs; summer and fall; widely distributed in eastern North America, documented in Costa Rica.

Cap: 1-4 cm; conical or bell-shaped, with a pointed center; smooth; salmon pink or salmon orange, fading to dirty yellowish; sticky when fresh.

Gills: Attached to the stem; almost distant; colored like the fresh cap and remaining so longer than the cap.

Stem: 4-10 cm long; 2-6 mm thick; hollow; fragile; smooth; colored like the cap, or with a greenish tinge; with white mycelial threads at the base.

Flesh: Thin; fragile; colored like the cap.

Spore Print: Pink.

Microscopic Features: Spores 10-12 x 10-12 µ; angular, nearly square (see the link below to Macrofungi of Costa Rica for an electron microscope illustration).

REFERENCES: (Peck, 1871) Saccardo, 1887. (Saccardo, 1887; Kauffman, 1918; Hesler, 1967; Smith, Smith & Weber, 1979; Arora, 1986; Phillips, 1991/2005; Lincoff, 1992; Barron, 1999; Halling, 2003; Halling & Mueller, 2005; McNeil, 2006; Miller & Miller, 2006.) Herb. Kuo 09029506, 09040201.

Entoloma salmoneum is one of the few members of the Entolomatacae that is easy to identify in the field. Deciding what name to give the mushroom, however, is not easy--in the field, or anywhere else. I follow the current Dictionary of the Fungi, which folds Nolanea into Entoloma. See also my comments for Entoloma murraii.

Further Online Information:

Entoloma salmoneum at Roger's Mushrooms
Nolanea quadrata at Macrofungi of Costa Rica

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Cite this page as:

Kuo, M. (2004, July). Entoloma salmoneum. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/entoloma_salmoneum.html