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Gymnopilus luteus

[ Basidiomycetes > Agaricales > Cortinariaceae > Gymnopilus . . . ]

by Michael Kuo

Gymnopilus luteus is a member of the Gymnopilus junonius (also known as "Gymnopilus spectabilis") species group. Like the other species in the group it grows on wood and has a medium sized or large cap, a partial veil that usually leaves a ring or ring zone on the stem, an orange to orange-brown spore print, and a bitter taste. Unlike the others, however, it is apparently limited to the hardwood forests of eastern North America, and features yellow colors as well as a slender stem.

Description:

Ecology: Saprobic on the dead wood hardwoods (and perhaps on the wood of conifers); growing alone, gregariously, or in small clusters; summer and fall; widely distributed in eastern North America.

Cap: 2-10 cm; convex or nearly flat; dry; silky or finely hairy (occasionally with minute scales over the center); yellow to orange-yellow.

Gills: Broadly attached to the stem; close; yellow, becoming rusty with maturity.

Stem: 2-8 cm long; up to 1.5 cm thick; more or less equal, or club-shaped when young; not typically swollen in the middle at maturity; colored like the cap but developing rusty stains when handled or with age; finely hairy; usually with a fragile ring or ring zone near the apex.

Flesh: Pale yellow.

Odor and Taste: Taste usually bitter; odor not distinctive.

Spore Print: Rusty brown to orange-brown.

Chemical Reactions: KOH red on cap surface.

Microscopic Features: Spores 6-9 x 4.5-5.5 µ; warty; elliptical; dextrinoid. Pleurocystidia infrequent and inconspicuous. Cheilocystidia usually abundant; fusoid-ventricose, rostrate, capitate, or lecythiform. Caulocystidia absent.


REFERENCES: (Peck, 1898) Hesler, 1969. (Hesler, 1969; Phillips, 1991/2005; McNeil, 2006.) Herb. Kuo 09220609, 10101002.


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


 

Gymnopilus luteus

Gymnopilus luteus

Gymnopilus luteus
KOH

Gymnopilus luteus
Spores

Gymnopilus luteus
Cheilocystidium



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Kuo, M. (2012, June). Gymnopilus luteus. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/gymnopilus_luteus.html