Hypholoma sublateritium

[ Basidiomycetes > Agaricales > Strophariaceae > Hypholoma . . . ]

by Michael Kuo

This fall mushroom can be found growing in tight clusters on hardwood stumps and logs. It is fairly easily recognized by its habitat, its brick-red cap with a paler cap margin, its purple-gray gills, and the way the stem often bruises and stains yellow. If you can catch Hypholoma sublateritium when it's still very young, you can see its partial veil, which mycologists call "submembranous," looking like a cross between a cortina and a more substantial veil (see the bottom illustration).

Hypholoma sublateritium is widely distributed, and in some areas is called the "Brick Cap." It is a popular edible, but I do not recommend it for beginning mushroomers since it could be confused with several poisonous species.

Description:

Ecology: Saprobic; growing in clusters on decaying hardwood logs and stumps; fall; widely distributed in North America but more common east of the Rocky Mountains.

Cap: 4-10 cm; convex to broadly convex, occasionally nearly flat or irregular in age; with an incurved margin when young; smooth; dry or moist; brick red, paler on the margin.

Gills: Attached to the stem; pale to pale gray at first, becoming purple-gray; close or crowded.

Stem: 5-10 cm long; .5-1.5 cm thick; more or less equal, but often twisted due to clustered growth pattern; more or less smooth or somewhat shaggy; sometimes with a faint ring zone near the top; whitish above, reddish below; sometimes bruising and staining yellow.

Flesh: Firm; cream colored.

Odor and Taste: Odor not distinctive; taste mild to bitter.

Spore Print: Purple brown.

Microscopic Features: Spores 6-7.5 x 3.5-4.5 µ; eliptical; smooth; with an obscure pore. Pleurocystidia fusoid-ventricose to mucronate; with refractive contents; up to 36 x 15 µ. Cheilocystidia fusoid-ventricose or irregular, with subcapitate apices; to 35 x 9 µ.

REFERENCES: (Schaeffer, 1774) Quélet, 1872. (Saccardo, 1887; Smith, 1949; Smith, 1951; Stamets, 1978; Smith, Smith & Weber, 1979; Arora, 1986; Phillips, 1991/2005; Lincoff, 1992; Barron, 1999; Roody, 2003; McNeil, 2006; Miller & Miller, 2006.) Herb. Kuo 09059508, 11060402.

Naematoloma sublateritium is a synonym.

Further Online Information:

Hypholoma sublateritium at Roger's Mushrooms
Hypholoma sublateritium at Fungi of Poland

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Cite this page as:

Kuo, M. (2003, January). Hypholoma sublateritium. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/hypholoma_sublateritium.html