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Laccaria laccata [ Basidiomycetes > Agaricales > Hydnangiaceae > Laccaria . . . ] by Michael Kuo From an amateur mushrooming standpoint, Laccaria laccata is relatively easy to identify--at least, close enough--by its thick and almost waxy, flesh-colored gills, its orange brown (sometimes pinkish or cinnamon) cap that is often "hygrophanous," its white spore print, and its tough stem. From a more rigorous taxonomic standpoint, however, things aren't so simple. There are several species of Laccaria so closely resembling it that one needs a microscope to separate them definitively. The key to Laccaria demonstrates how difficult it can be to identify mushrooms in this species cluster using macrofeatures alone--though things are considerably easier if your specimens were clearly growing under hardwoods. Laccaria laccata is edible, though not particularly good by most accounts. Several authors recommend discarding the tough stems. I have not tried it. Description: Ecology: Mycorrhizal with hardwoods or conifers; growing alone or gregariously (sometimes clustered); common; spring, summer, and fall; widely distributed in North America. Cap: 1-4.5 cm; convex, becoming flat and sometimes uplifted; often with a central depression; the margin smooth and even or lined to grooved; smooth to finely hairy; orange-brown, fading to buff; changing color markedly as it dries out. Gills: Attached to the stem, or rarely beginning to run down it; distant or close; pinkish flesh color, sometimes developing a faint purplish cast. Stem: 2-6.5 cm long; up to 1 cm thick; equal or tapering to base; smooth to (more rarely) longitudinally grooved; colored like the cap; with white basal mycelium; becoming hollow. Flesh: Thin, colored like the cap. Odor and Taste: Taste mild to slightly radishlike; odor similar. Spore Print: White. Microscopic Features: Spores 7-10 x 7-10 µ; round or nearly so; ornamented with spines 1-2 µ long and about 1 µ wide at their bases. Basidia 4-spored. REFERENCES: (Peck) Peck, 1890. (Smith, Smith & Weber, 1979; Arora, 1986; States, 1990; Phillips, 1991/2005; Lincoff, 1992; Metzler & Metzler, 1992; Horn, Kay & Abel, 1993; Evenson, 1997; Mueller, 1997; Barron, 1999.) Herb. Kuo 11209401, 06129604, 06160203, 05260301, 07280605. Further Online Information: Laccaria laccata at Mueller's Laccaria |
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Cite this page as: Kuo, M. (2002, June). Laccaria laccata. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/laccaria_laccata.html |