Psathyrella delineata

[ Basidiomycetes > Agaricales > Coprinaceae > Psathyrella . . . ]

by Michael Kuo

Psathyrella delineata is a fairly distinctive species when it looks the way it's supposed to. The corrugated, reddish brown cap hung with partial veil remnants, the habitat in clusters on dead hardwood logs, the fairly large size, and the dark brown mature gills are its distinguishing features. However, no studies of Psathyrella delineata have found it is able to read mycological literature, which means it is ignorant of its "distinguishing features." Psathyrella delineata, therefore, sometimes winds up looking an awful lot like Psathyrella candolleana--which is to say that it can look like any number of brownish-capped, dark-spored, white-stemmed wood lovers.

The very similar Psathyrella rugocephala has a cap that is less reddish, but it is best separated with a microscope (see below).

While Psathyrella delineata is listed as edible in field guides, I do not recommend it--first, because it is difficult to identify, and second, because I have tried Psathyrella candolleana and it is terrible.

Description:

Ecology: Saprobic on the dead wood of hardwoods, growing scattered to gregariously, or in in clusters; summer and fall; widely distributed in North America but rare west of the Rocky Mountains.

Cap: 3-10 cm; more or less convex at fist, expanding to broadly convex or flat; usually finely corrugated and wrinkled (in mature caps the wrinkles acquire a stretched-out appearance reminiscent of a Xerula); sometimes covered with fine fibers when young; dark reddish brown, fading to brownish or tan; the margin typically hung with whitish partial veil remnants.

Gills: Attached to the stem; close; pale brownish at first, becoming dark brown.

Stem: 6-10 cm long; .5-1.5 cm thick; more or less equal; whitish; hollowing; smooth or with fibers; almost always without a true ring, but sometimes with loosely clinging partial veil remnants.

Flesh: Thin; fragile; white.

Taste: Not distinctive; odor not distinctive.

Spore Print: Purplish brown to purplish black.

Microscopic Features: Spores 6.5-9 x 4.5-5.5 µ; elliptical or "bean-shaped"; smooth. Cystidia 34-68 x 10-22 µ, with fingerlike projections.

REFERENCES: (Peck, 1911) Smith, 1941. (Smith, 1941; Smith, 1972; Smith, Smith & Weber, 1979; Phillips, 1991/2005; Lincoff, 1992; Barron, 1999; Roody, 2003.) Herb. Kuo 10020302.

Psathyrella rugocephala lacks the reddish colorations in the cap, and has minutely warted spores measuring 9-11 x 6-7.5 µ.

© MushroomExpert.Com

Cite this page as:

Kuo, M. (2003, October). Psathyrella delineata. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/psathyrella_delineata.html