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Galerina sphagnorum

[ Basidiomycota > Agaricales > Strophariaceae > Galerina . . . ]

by Michael Kuo

As its name suggests, Galerina sphagnorum is fond of sphagnum, so it is found primarily in bogs and swamps. It develops a proportionally long stem in order to raise its small caps high enough over the sphagnum to release spores that will be caught by air currents. Several species of Galerina are very similar—and also occur in sphagnum—so a microscope will be required for certain identification: Galerina sphagnorum has pale, virtually smooth spores, no pleurocystidia, and lageniform cheilocystidia that do not feature dramatically swollen tips.

Description:

Ecology: Saprobic; growing gregariously in sphagnum in marshes, bogs, and so on; summer and fall; northern and montane North America. The illustrated and described collection is from New Jersey.

Cap: 10–25 mm; conic at first, becoming broadly conic to convex with a sharp central bump; dry; bald; pale yellow to golden brownish; fading markedly as it dries out, creating a two-toned appearance; the margin lined, adorned with whitish veil fibrils when very young, but soon becoming naked.

Gills: Broadly or narrowly attached to the stem; close; short-gills frequent; whitish to yellowish at first, becoming brownish to rusty brown as the spores mature; not bruising; in very young buttons covered by a whitish partial veil.

Stem: 50–75 mm long; 1–2 mm thick; more or less equal; dry; bald or with a few tiny fibrils; whitish to yellowish; basal mycelium white.

Flesh: Insubstantial; brownish; unchanging when sliced.

Odor: Not distinctive.

Spore Print: Rusty brown.

Microscopic Features: Spores 8–10.5 x 5–6 µm; subamygdaliform; practically smooth; yellowish to brownish in KOH; dextrinoid. Basidia 4-sterigmate. Pleurocystidia absent. Cheilocystidia 35–50 x 7.5–10 µm; cylindric to narrowly lageniform, with a long neck and a rounded, subclavate, or subcapitate apex; smooth; thin-walled; hyaline in KOH. Pileipellis a cutis. Clamp connections present.


REFERENCES: (Persoon, 1801) Kühner, 1935. (Saccardo, 1887; Murrill, 1917; Smith & Singer, 1964; Breitenbach & Kränzlin, 2000; McNeil, 2006; Gulden, 2010.) Herb. Kuo 10101518.


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Galerina sphagnorum

Galerina sphagnorum

Galerina sphagnorum
Spores

Galerina sphagnorum
Cheilocystidia



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Kuo, M. (2016, July). Galerina sphagnorum. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/galerina_sphagnorum.html