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Psathyrella bipellis

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

by Michael Kuo

Distinguishing features for this attractive species of Psathyrella include its purple to pinkish brown colors, the wispy veil tissue found on the young cap margin, and the pinkish to purplish flush on the upper stem. Under the microscope it features fairly large spores, and variously shaped hymenial cystidia that have slightly thickened walls. Psathyrella bipellis decomposes debris in hardwood forests but can also be found in urban settings.

Psathyrella barlae is a synonym.

Description:

Ecology: Saprobic; growing scattered to gregariously or in small clusters in woods or in urban areas (in gardens, brush piles, wood chips, and so on); spring and summer; widely distributed in North America.

Cap: 1-5 cm; convex, broadly conical, or nearly flat; bald; sometimes becoming wrinkled or nearly reticulate; the margin finely lined; dark purple to purple red when young and fresh, fading to purplish, pinkish, or reddish brown; changing color markedly as it dries out; when young with wisps of veil tissue along the margin.

Gills: Attached to the stem; close or nearly distant; purplish at first, becoming dark purplish brown to dark gray; with whitish edges.

Stem: 4.5-10 cm long; up to 5 mm thick; equal; fragile; pinkish to purplish in the upper half, and whitish elsewhere; bald or very finely silky; without a ring.

Flesh: Thin; fragile; purplish in the cap.

Odor and Taste: Not distinctive.

Chemical Reactions: KOH on cap surface instantly dark gray.

Spore Print: Purplish brown to purplish black.

Microscopic Features: Spores 12-15 x 6-8 µ; ellipsoid; with a pore; smooth; dark brown in KOH. Pleurocystidia utriform or fusoid-ventricose; with slightly thickened (to about 1 µ) walls; to about 100 x 15 µ. Cheilocystidia subfusiform to subutriform or clavate; walls thin or slightly thickened. Pileipellis hymeniform/cellular.


REFERENCES: (Quélet, 1884) Smith, 1946. (Smith, 1972; Kits van Waveren, 1977; Moser, 1983; Hansen & Knudsen, 1992.) Herb. Kuo 05030310, 05050703.


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


 

Psathyrella bipellis

Psathyrella bipellis

Psathyrella bipellis
Spore Print

Psathyrella bipellis
Spores

Psathyrella bipellis
Pleurocystidia

Psathyrella bipellis
Cheilocystidia

Psathyrella bipellis
Pileipellis



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Cite this page as:

Kuo, M. (2011, January). Psathyrella bipellis. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: http://www.mushroomexpert.com/psathyrella_bipellis.html