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Hohenbuehelia mastrucata

[ Basidiomycetes > Agaricales > Pleurotaceae > Hohenbuehelia ... ]

by Michael Kuo

This rare and distinctive pleurotoid mushroom is found on the dead wood of maples and other hardwoods in eastern North America. Its rubbery, dark gray cap is adorned with thick, gelatinous spines--and its contrasting gills are white to pale grayish. Under the microscope, it features stunning thick-walled cystidia with encrusted apices. Hohenbuehelia atrocaerulea var. grisea is similar, but features a smooth, velvety, or hairy cap surface that lacks gelatinous spines.

Pleurotus mastrucatus is a previous name; "Hohenbuehelia mastrucatus" is an error in Latin grammar.

Description:

Ecology: Saprobic on the dead wood of hardwoods (especially maples); growing alone or in overlapping clusters; summer and fall; widely distributed in eastern North America.

Cap: 2-7 cm wide; convex with an inrolled margin, becoming planoconvex or flat; semicircular to kidney-shaped in outline; rubbery and moist; covered with thick, gelatinous spines with blunt tips; dark brownish gray or bluish gray, fading to grayish.

Gills: Close or nearly distant; white to pale grayish.

Stem: Absent.

Flesh: Grayish or whitish; rubbery.

Odor and Taste: Odor not distinctive, or mealy; taste not distinctive or slightly foul.

Spore Print: White.

Chemical Reactions: KOH on cap surface negative.

Microscopic Features: Spores 7-9 x 4-5.5 µ; more or less elliptical; smooth; inamyloid. Cheilocystidia often clavate-capitate; to 45 x 7 µ. Pleurocystidia ("metuloids") abundant; lanceolate; to 100 x 20 µ; developing very thick walls and apical encrustations. Pileipellis a thin cutis-like tangle above a thick zone of gelatinized hyphae. Clamp connections present.


REFERENCES: (Fries, 1818) Singer, 1951. (Fries, 1821; Saccardo, 1887; Kauffman, 1918 (Pleurotus mastricatus); Graham, 1944 (Pleurotus mastricatus); Smith, Smith & Weber, 1979; Thorn & Barron, 1986.) Herb. Kuo 09190603, 06290702.


This site contains no information about the edibility or toxicity of mushrooms.


 

Hohenbuehelia mastrucata

Hohenbuehelia mastrucata

Hohenbuehelia mastrucata

Hohenbuehelia mastrucata

Hohenbuehelia mastrucata



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Cite this page as:

Kuo, M. (2007, April). Hohenbuehelia mastrucata. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/hohenbuehelia_mastrucata.html