Gymnopus luxurians

[ Basidiomycetes > Agaricales > Tricholomataceae > Gymnopus . . . ]

by Michael Kuo

Gymnopus luxurians, like Leucocoprinus cepaestipes, is almost always found in wood chips, where it grows in clusters. In fact, every time I have found Gymnopus luxurians, Leucocoprinus cepaestipes has been fruiting alongside it.

Aside from the wood chip habitat, identifying features include the smooth, reddish brown cap that soon fades to tan; the white young gills that become dingy pinkish buff with age; the tough, twisted stem; the absence of a partial veil; the white spore print; and microscopic features (see below).

I have no information on the edibility of Gymnopus luxurians. I doubt it is poisonous, but I do not recommend experimenting.

Description:

Ecology: Saprobic; growing gregariously or in tight clusters in wood chips, or on lawns (probably fruiting from dead, buried roots); summer and fall; widely distributed in eastern North America from Massachusetts to Alabama and Illinois, but not frequently collected. Given its ecology, it would not surprise me if it were to appear in the western states.

Cap: 2-12 cm, convex with an incurved margin when young, becoming broadly convex or flat; dry or tacky; smooth; dark reddish brown when young, fading to tan; often somewhat streaked-looking.

Gills: Attached to the stem, often by means of a notch; whitish when young, darkening with maturity to pinkish tan; close.

Stem: 4-10 cm long; up to about 1 cm thick; more or less equal, but often with an enlarged base; dry; tough; often twisted; somewhat longitudinally ridged; finely hairy or finely dusted; whitish above, buff to brownish below; darkening with age; often with whitish rhizomorphs attached to the base.

Flesh: Whitish to pale pinkish tan.

Odor and Taste: Odor not distinctive or slightly fragrant; taste not distinctive or slightly bitter.

Spore Print: Creamy white.

Chemical Reactions: KOH on cap surface negative to pale olive gray.

Microscopic Features: Spores: 6.5-10 x 3-5.5 µ; smooth; lacrymoid to elliptical; inamyloid. Pleurocystidia absent. Cheilocystidia up to 43 µ long; variously shaped; often with broad protrusions or branches. Pileipellis a tangled cutis of cylindric elements 2-7.5 µ wide, encrusted in KOH.

Collybia luxurians is a synonym.

REFERENCES: (Peck, 1897) Murrill, 1916. (Saccardo, 1899; Halling, 1983; Desjardin, Halling & Hemmes, 1999; Halling, 2004.) Herb. Kuo 08230202, 08190503, 09280504, 06300702.

Further Online Information:

Gymnopus luxurians at Roy Halling's Collybia site

© MushroomExpert.Com

Cite this page as:

Kuo, M. (2007, April). Gymnopus luxurians. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/gymnopus_luxurians.html