Limacella glioderma

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by Michael Kuo

I was thrilled to find the illustrated mushrooms under Red Pine in central Illinois . . . and then spent a year and a half trying to identify them. The specimens were dried out, though I didn't know it. Limacella had not crossed my radar screen before this, and I was relying on keys (my own included) that emphasize sliminess in order to arrive at the genus. Mycologist Andrew Methven took one look at the scan to the right, however, and put me on the right track--an illustration of several important points:

• The difference between real experts and ones who merely have Web sites with the word "expert" in the title;
• The pitfalls of focusing too sharply on one feature of a mushroom or a mushroom description; and
• The fact that slime dries out quickly in arid conditions.

Limacella glioderma (which is more properly known as Limacella delicata var. glioderma) is distinct among other Limacella species by virtue of its reddish brown cap, its dry stem that features shaggy zones of fibers, and its mealy odor.

Description:

Ecology: Possibly mycorrhizal or saprobic; growing alone or gregariously under hardwoods or conifers; summer and fall; fairly widely distributed in North America.

Cap: 2.5-8 cm; convex, becoming flat, or developing a broad central bump; slimy when fresh and young, but often dry; fairly smooth, or finely granular; dark cinnamon to reddish brown, fading to pinkish tan.

Gills: Free from the stem or attached by a tiny notch; close; whitish at first, becoming pinkish.

Stem: 4-12 cm long; .5-1 cm thick; more or less equal; shaggy with reddish brown patches and scales in vaguely concentric patterns; sometimes with an ephemeral ring zone but lacking a true ring; whitish under the fibers and scales. In my collection the originally slimy partial veils had dried out and fragmented, becoming reminiscent of cortinas.

Flesh: Whitish, tinged pink.

Odor and Taste: Mealy.

Spore Print: White.

Microscopic Features: Spores 3-5 µ; round; smooth; inamyloid; gill tissue divergent.

REFERENCES: (Fries, 1857) Earle, 1909. (H. V. Smith, 1945; Arora, 1986; Lincoff, 1992.) Herb. Kuo 08290201.

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Cite this page as:

Kuo, M. (2006, March). Limacella glioderma. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/limacella_glioderma.html