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Flammulina velutipes [ Basidiomycetes > Agaricales > Marasmiaceae > Flammulina . . . ]
by Michael Kuo Also known as the "Velvet Foot," or, in the case of desperate mushroomers, the "At Least Something's Out in January" Mushroom, Flammulina velutipes is one of the few mushrooms that can be found in winter (outside of coastal California and the Gulf Coast). Before you strap on your snowshoes and go tearing off for the woods, however, let me add that this little mushroom is rather nondescript and, um, boring--with the possible exception of its dark, velvety stem. Honestly, now: Since when did you decide that a dark, velvety stem was interesting? The answer is that you have months left until spring, and you are not yourself. Maybe you should buy a nice new mushroom book instead. Anyway, Flammulina velutipes is only likely to fruit during warm spells, so if there is snow covering the ground you're not likely to find it. Flammulina velutipes is edible, though not very good--and it should be avoided by all but the most experienced mushroom hunters, since the deadly Galerina marginata can look very similar. A spore print is essential; Flammulina velutipes makes a white print, while Galerina marginata makes a rusty brown print. Additional distinguishing features for Flammulina velutipes include its fuzzy, brown stem; its sticky cap surface; and its growth in clusters on wood. The "enoki mushroom," also called the "enokitake," is a cultivated form of Flammulina velutipes, and is often found in grocery stores and restaurants. It looks nothing like the wild mushroom, however; it is pale, long-stemmed, and tiny-capped (see the illustration). Description: Ecology: Saprobic on the stumps, logs, roots, and living wood of hardwoods (but not poplars in western North America; see Flammulina populicola, below); sometimes appearing terrestrial; fall to spring; widely distributed in North America. Cap: 1-7 cm; convex, becoming broadly convex to flat; moist and sticky when fresh; smooth; color fairly variable--dark orange brown to yellowish brown, often fading with maturity. Gills: Attached to the stem; whitish to pale yellow; crowded or close. Stem: 2-11 cm long; 3-5 mm thick; equal or larger towards base; tough; pale to yellowish brown or orange brown when young; becoming covered with a dark, rusty brown to blackish velvety coating as it matures. Flesh: Whitish to yellowish; thin. Spore Print: White. Microscopic Features: Spores 6.5-9 x 3-5 µ; smooth; more or less elliptical; inamyloid. REFERENCES: (Curtis, 1782) Singer, 1951. (Smith, Smith & Weber, 1979; Weber & Smith, 1985; Arora, 1986; States, 1990; Phillips, 1991/2005; Lincoff, 1992; Horn, Kay & Abel, 1993; Evenson, 1997; Barron, 1999; Petersen, Hughes & Redhead, 2001.) Herb. Kuo 11199401, 04299501. |
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Flammulina velutipes is one of four North American species of Flammulina, according to Petersen, Hughes & Redhead's 2001 Monograph. Two species are known only from limited areas (Flammulina mexicana, from high altitudes in Mexico, and the white-capped Flammulina rossica, from coastal British Columbia and Alaska). Flammulina populicola is widespread in western North America; it has shorter spores (6-7.5 µ long) and grows on/under Quaking Aspen. Flammulina in Orbit In 1993 cultures of Flammulina velutipes were flown on the Space Shuttle Columbia in order to determine how the mushrooms would handle low gravity. Like many wood-inhabiting mushrooms, Flammulina velutipes typically bends its stem near the base, then grows straight up, resulting in a cap that is more or less parallel to the ground--presumably so that spores will fall easily from the gills. Aboard the space shuttle, however, the mushrooms got confused, growing out of a simulated tree trunk at all angles. They lost their balance. Whether or not this result might have been predicted by any tenth grader, and whether or not funding for this experiment came from public sources, are questions I will leave to the reader. I will simply point out that, at about the same time, the United States decided to "end welfare as we know it," because it was too expensive. See David Moore et al. (Mycological Research 3: 257-273).
Recent DNA research by Hughes et al. (1999) indicates that "Flammulina velutipes is a pan-North Temperate species, extending from Europe east through Asia and from the west coast of North America to the Appalachian Mountains. The well-supported F. velutipes clade confirms that the various varieties and forms of this species are closely related" (978). Further research by Methven et al. (2000) isolates three "haplotypes" of the species (Asian, European, and North American; see map below), postulating that "the species may have originated in Asia and may have migrated to North America via the Bering land bridge," and that eastern North American and European haplotypes "may represent the remnants of a Tertiary distribution connected by the North Atlantic land bridge" (1068-1069).
Hughes, K. W., et al. (1999). Patterns of geographic speciation in the genus Flammulina based on sequences of the ribosomal ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 area. Mycologia 91: 978-986. Methven, A. et al. (2000). Flammulina RFLP patterns identify species and show biogeographical patterns within species. Mycologia 92: 1064-1070. Further Online Information: Flammulina study: Petersen, Hughes & Redhead Cite this page as: Kuo, M. (2006, February). Flammulina velutipes. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/flammulina_velutipes.html |
