Hypholoma capnoides

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by Michael Kuo

A very common mushroom, Hypholoma capnoides (also called Naematoloma capnoides) fruits in clusters on pine stumps and decaying pine wood. It is typically a fall or winter mushroom, but can be encountered in the spring as well.

Hypholoma capnoides is distinguished from many of its look-alikes by its purplish brown spore print, its lack of a persistent ring, and its dry cap. Two other common Hypholoma species are similar; the reportedly poisonous Hypholoma fasciculare has yellowish green gills when young, and a bitter taste--and Hypholoma sublateritium has a brick-red cap. Smith, Smith & Weber (1979) report the possibility of mushrooms intergrading between Hypholoma capnoides and Hypholoma sublateritium.

Description:

Ecology: Saprobic; growing in clusters on decaying conifer logs, especially on the wood of Douglas Fir; common in Michigan in Red Pine plantations after trimming operations; fall and winter, sometimes in spring; widely distributed in North America.

Cap: 2-7.5 cm; convex to broadly convex; sometimes with an incurved margin when young; sometimes with partial veil remnants on the margin; smooth; dry; orange-brown to cinnamon brown, but very variable in color; sometimes paler toward the margin.

Gills: Attached to the stem or pulling away from it; pale to pale gray at first, becoming darker gray and eventually nearly purple-brown; close.

Stem: 5-10 cm long; 30-100 mm thick; more or less equal, or more frequently tapering somewhat to base; more or less smooth, or with small partial veil fibrils in a ring zone near the cap; colored like the cap, or more pale.

Flesh: Pale; thin.

Odor and Taste: Not distinctive; mild.

Spore Print: Purple brown.

Microscopic Features: Spores 6-7.5 x 3.5-4.5 µ; eliptical; smooth; with a small pore. Pleurocystidia mucronate to subclavate; with refractive contents; to 30 x 10 µ. Cheilocystidia mostly fusoid-ventricose; to 24 x 9 µ.

REFERENCES: (Fries, 1818) Kummer, 1871. (Fries, 1821; Saccardo, 1887; Smith, 1949; Smith, 1951; Smith, 1975; Stamets, 1978; Smith, Smith & Weber, 1979; Weber & Smith, 1985; Arora, 1986; Phillips, 1991/2005; Lincoff, 1992; Barron, 1999; McNeil, 2006; Miller & Miller, 2006.) Herb. Kuo 05289501, 05170202.

Further Online Information:

Hypholoma capnoides at MykoWeb
Hypholoma capnoides at Roger's Mushrooms
Hypholoma capnoides at Fungi of Poland

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Cite this page as:

Kuo, M. (2002, May). Hypholoma capnoides. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/hypholoma_capnoides.html