Lepiota lilacea

[ Basidiomycota > Agaricales > Agaricaceae > Lepiota . . . ]

by Michael Kuo

This small lepiotoid mushroom has a distinctive ring, which features a dark, scaly underside. Its stem is pink or lilac, and the cap color is quite variable, ranging from purplish to brown. Since there are many superficially similar species--including the more commonly encountered Lepiota cristata--microscopic features should be verified for positive identification; Lepiota lilacea has a hymeniform pileipellis and small ellipsoid spores.

Description:

Ecology: Saprobic; found in gardens and urban settings; summer and fall; North American distribution uncertain, but probably widespread. The illustrated and described collection is from Colorado.

Cap: 1.5-3 cm; convex, becoming broadly bell-shaped; dry; by maturity with a purple-brown to dark brown center and elsewhere with similarly colored scales over a whitish to pinkish ground color.

Gills: Free from the stem; close; short-gills frequent; white.

Stem: 2-4 cm long; 2-4 mm thick; more or less equal; fairly bald; pinkish to purplish when fresh; with a persisting, sheathing ring that features a brown, ragged underside.

Flesh: White; sometimes pinkish in stem; thin.

Odor: Fragrant, or not distinctive.

Spore Print: White.

Microscopic Features: Spores 4-5.5 x 2.5-3.5 µ; ellipsoid; smooth; hyaline in KOH; yellowish in Melzer's. Cheilocystidia 30-40 x 7.5-12.5 µ; clavate; hyaline; thin-walled. Pleurocystidia absent. Pileipellis hymeniform; terminal cells subclavate to clavate. Clamp connections present.

REFERENCES: Bresadola, 1892. (Saccardo, 1895; Kauffman, 1924; Moser, 1983; Hansen & Knudsen, 1992; Vellinga & Huijser, 1998; Vellinga, 2001h; Vellinga, 2003b; Vellinga, 2010b.) Herb. Kuo 08120702.

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Spores

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Kuo, M. (2015, November). Lepiota lilacea. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/lepiota_lilacea.html