Leucopholiota decorosa

[ Basidiomycetes > Agaricales > Tricholomataceae > Leucopholiota . . . ]

by Michael Kuo

Beautiful and distinctive, Leucopholiota decorosa looks a lot like a species of Pholiota--but it features a white, rather than brown, spore print, and differs microscopically. It appears to be most frequently found from Ohio to New York, but its range includes much of northeastern North America.

Description:

Ecology: Saprobic on the deadwood of hardwoods, often in forests of beech, hemlock, and sugar maple; growing alone, gregariously, or in clusters; late summer and fall; fairly widely distributed in eastern North America.

Cap: 2.5-7 cm; round at first, becoming convex, broadly convex, or nearly flat; dry; covered with conspicuous, brown to rusty brown, pointed scales; the margin inrolled and hairy.

Gills: Attached to the stem by a notch; close; white; at first covered by a partial veil of rusty brown fibers.

Stem: 2.5-8 cm long; up to 1.5 cm thick; dry; bald and white at the apex; sheathed below with rusty brown scales and hairs; with a folded-over ring zone at the top of the sheath.

Flesh: White; unchanging when sliced.

Odor and Taste: Odor not distinctive; taste not distinctive, or bitter.

Chemical Reactions: KOH negative to slowly pinkish on cap.

Spore Print: White.

Microscopic Features: Spores 5.5-6 x 3.5-4 µ; smooth; ellipsoid; amyloid. Cheilocystidia clavate to rostrate or fusiform. Pleurocystidia absent. Pileipellis a trichoderm. Clamp connections present.

REFERENCES: (Peck, 1873) O. K. Miller, Volk & Bessette, 1996. (Smith & Walters, 1947; Bessette, Miller, Bessette & Miller, 1995; Miller, Volk & Bessette, 1996; Roody, 2003; Vellinga, 2004; Miller & Miller, 2006; Harmaja, 2010.) Herb. Kuo 10101003.

Armillaria decorosa is a former name.

Leucopholiota lignicola (Karsten) Harmaja is the only other recorded species in the genus Leucopholiota; it is associated with birch in boreal Eurasia, and features nearly free gills; it is otherwise very similar.

Further Online Information:

Leucopholiota decorosa at Tom Volk's Fungi

Spores

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Cite this page as:

Kuo, M. (2012, September). Leucopholiota decorosa. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/leucopholiota_decorosa.html