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Hygrocybe acutoconica

[ Basidiomycota > Agaricales > Hygrophoraceae > Hygrocybe . . . ]

by Michael Kuo

Hygrocybe acutoconica is a medium-sized waxy cap characterized by its pointed or conical cap, its yellow to orange colors, and the fact that it does not blacken with age or when bruised. The species was originally described from Nebraska, but European mycologists have applied the name to European material, as well, and have apparently relinquished use of the species name Hygrocybe persistens, which was a competing European name.

Hygrocybe cuspidata is virtually identical, but bright red.

Synonyms include: Hygrocybe persistens, Hygrocybe constans, Hygrocybe langei, and Hygrophorus rickenii.

Description:

Ecology: Precise ecological role uncertain (see Lodge and collaborators, 2013); growing alone or scattered under oaks and other hardwoods; late spring through fall (and over winter in warmer climates); apparently widely distributed in North America. The illustrated and described collections are from Illinois.

Cap: 1-4 cm; conical when young, becoming broadly conical, often with a central nipple; slimy or tacky; bald; yellow to orange; the margin often faintly lined, becoming uplifted and torn in age.

Gills: Free from the stem or narrowly attached to it; close; thick; yellow to pale yellow or pale orange.

Stem: 2-6 cm long; 3-12 mm thick; equal, or tapered slightly to apex; dry; bald when young but soon fibrillose; often twisted; often becoming grooved or split lengthwise; pale yellow to orange, with a whitish base.

Flesh: Yellowish; thin.

Odor and Taste: Not distinctive.

Chemical Reactions: KOH negative on cap surface.

Spore Print: White.

Microscopic Features: Spores 9-12 x 5-7 µ; smooth; ellipsoid; hyaline in KOH; inamyloid. Basidia mostly 4-spored; to about 55 µ long. Hymenial cystidia absent. Lamellar trama parallel. Pileipellis an ixocutis.


REFERENCES: (Clements, 1893) Singer, 1951. (Saccardo, 1895; Smith, 1947; Hesler and Smith, 1963; Smith, Smith & Weber, 1979; Largent, 1985; Arora, 1986; Barron, 1999; Boertmann, 2000; Lodge et al., 2013; Kuo & Methven, 2014.) Herb. Kuo 05310402, 06301104.


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Hygrocybe acutoconica

Hygrocybe acutoconica

Hygrocybe acutoconica

Hygrocybe acutoconica

Hygrocybe acutoconica
Spores



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Kuo, M. (2014, June). Hygrocybe acutoconica. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/hygrocybe_acutoconica.html