Rhodocollybia butyracea

https://www.mushroomexpert.com/Rhodocollybia_butyracea.html

Ecology: Saprobic (see discussion above); decomposing the litter of conifers—especially pines; late summer and fall (also winter and spring in warmer climates); fairly widely distributed in North America. The illustrated and described collections are from Colorado and Illinois.

Cap: 2-6 cm across; convex, becoming broadly convex or nearly flat; moist, with a greasy feel, when fresh; bald; reddish brown to brown, fading to cinnamon.

Gills: Narrowly attached to the stem or nearly free from it; close; short-gills frequent; whitish; often developing finely jagged edges.

Stem: 3-8 cm long; and 1-2 cm thick; usually slightly to moderately club-shaped; moist or dry; bald; whitish to buff above; colored like the cap below; often with a whitish dusting when fresh; becoming hollow; basal mycelium white.

Flesh: Whitish; unchanging when sliced.

Odor and Taste: Not distinctive.

Chemical Reactions: KOH gray on cap surface.

Spore Print: Whitish or, with a thick print, faintly pinkish.

Microscopic Features: Spores smooth; 8-10 x 4.5-6 m; ellipsoid; smooth; hyaline in KOH; at least a few (often many) dextrinoid. Basidia 4-spored. Pleurocystidia not found. Cheilocystidia inconspicuous; subclavate to subcylindric; often lobed or with projections; up to 40 m long. Pileipellis a cutis; elements 2.5-7.5 m wide, smooth or brownish-encrusted, clamped at septa.

#mushrooms #fungi #mycology #shrooms #mushtodon #sporespondence #floraspondence

Lichenomphalia umbellifera

https://www.mushroomexpert.com/Lichenomphalia_umbellifera.html

Ecology: Mutualistic with a green alga (a Coccomyxa species), forming a lichen; mushrooms growing alone or gregariously on soil, in moss, or on decaying conifer wood; spring through fall, or over winter in warm climates; originally described from Europe; in North America widely distributed in northern and montane areas; also recorded in Oceania. The illustrated and described collection is from California.

Cap: 2.5 cm across at maturity; planoconvex; lubricous; bald; dull yellowish to dull brownish; margin lined, becoming wavy.

Gills: Running down the stem; distant; thick and waxy; whitish to yellowish; short-gills present near cap margin.

Stem: 3 cm long and about 4 mm thick at maturity; equal; moist; bald or nearly so, but with a fuzzy base; pale brownish to pale yellowish.

Flesh: Thin; whitish; unchanging when sliced.

Odor: Not distinctive.

Microscopic Features: Spores 7-10 x 5-7 m; ellipsoid to widely lacrymoid; smooth; hyaline in KOH; inamyloid. Basidia 4-sterigmate; 35-45 x 5-7 m; subclavate. Cystidia not found. Pileipellis a cutis of hyaline to brownish, smooth elements 4-10 m wide. Clamp connections not found.

#mushrooms #fungi #mycology #shrooms #mushtodon #sporespondence #floraspondence

Reminder: If you've not no posts I can see & you request to follow me, I'm guaranteed to deny that request & the same goes for no real details on who you as an individual are in your profile.

*An organizational link isn't even close to a sensible replacement for either of the 2 basic requirements at definitely avoiding my immediate refusal.

Tylopilus sordidus

https://www.mushroomexpert.com/Tylopilus_sordidus.html

Ecology: Mycorrhizal with oaks and other hardwoods; usually growing alone, in pairs, or scattered; summer and fall; probably widely distributed east of the Rocky Mountains. The illustrated and described collections are from Illinois and Pennsylvania.

Cap: 3-7 cm; convex when young, becoming broadly convex or nearly flat in age; dry; finely velvety when young, becoming more or less bald and usually cracking and splitting with maturity, exposing whitish flesh that may stain pinkish or bluish; dark brown to nearly black when young, becoming medium yellowish brown or grayish brown with age; often with bluish tints by maturity, at least near the margin.

Pore Surface: Depressed around the stem; whitish to grayish at first, becoming brown to dark pinkish brown; bruising blue, then slowly reddish brown (sometimes bruising red in very young specimens); pores circular, 1-2 per mm; tubes to 13 mm deep.

Stem: 3-7 cm long; up to 1.5 cm thick; more or less equal above a slightly enlarged base; dry; bald or finely silky to dotted; brownish; not reticulate; sometimes longitudinally ridged; basal mycelium white; base bruising red.

Flesh: Pale yellowish in cap; white in stem; staining blue and/or pinkish to purple when sliced.

Odor and Taste: Not distinctive.

Chemical Reactions: Ammonia dark purple to black on cap (sometimes with a red stage); yellowish to orangish on flesh. KOH red to reddish on cap; orangish on flesh. Iron salts negative on cap; blue-green on flesh.

Spore Print: Brown to reddish brown.

Microscopic Features: Spores 10-16 x 4-6 m; subfusoid to ellipsoid; smooth; brownish yellow in KOH; brownish and "punched" in Melzer's. Cheilocystidia 35-50 x 10-20 m; abruptly clavate to sphaeropedunculate; thin-walled; hyaline; smooth. Pleurocystidia 35-50 x 10-20 m; fusiform to fusoid-ventricose, often developing a long neck; smooth; thin-walled; filled with globular brown inclusions. Pileipellis a palisadoderm; elements 10-15 m wide, smooth, hyaline to yellow-brown in KOH; slightly constricted at septa; terminal cells short-cylindric with rounded, narrowed, or subfusiform apices.

#mushrooms #fungi #mycology #shrooms #mushtodon #sporespondence #floraspondence

On the one hand, I'm irked as I think it's topped 90°F today & we still don't have a working Air conditioner,but the hens have laid 2 more eggs today, 4 over about the past week, so odds are within the next few days scrambled eggs will be an added snack.

#Chickens #Weather

Inocybe lilacina

https://www.mushroomexpert.com/Inocybe_lilacina.html

Ecology: Mycorrhizal; growing alone, scattered, or gregariously, apparently in association with both conifers and hardwoods; originally described from New York (Peck 1873); distribution uncertain because of previous confusion with other species (see above), but documented with certainty by Matheny & Swenie (2018) from upper New York to the southern Appalachians; reported, possibly erroneously (see above) from Europe. The illustrated and described collection is from Kentucky.

Cap: 1-3 cm; convex at first, with the margin a little inrolled, becoming broadly convex or flat but retaining a central bump; sticky when young but soon dry; radially silky-fibrillose; purple to lilac, often with a darker purple center, fading somewhat to lilac, or eventually becoming buffy-brownish with a purple center.

Gills: Broadly to narrowly attached to the stem; close or nearly distant; short-gills frequent; buff at first, becoming pale brown, then snuff brown; edges whitish; at first covered by an ephemeral, whitish cortina.

Stem: 2-4 cm long; 2-4 mm thick; equal above a slightly swollen base; dry; silky or bald; whitish to lilac above and lilac to purple below; becoming hollow; basal mycelium white.

Flesh: Insubstantial; whitish; not changing when sliced.

Odor: Strongly spermatic.

Chemical Reactions: KOH negative on cap surface.

Spore Print: Dull snuff brown.

Microscopic Features: Spores 10-12 x 4-5 m; ellipsoid to subamygdaliform, with a small apiculus; smooth; yellow-brown in KOH. Basidia 20-23 x 5-7 m; clavate; 4-sterigmate. Cheilocystidia 40-65 x 10-15 m; mostly lageniform but also broadly cylindric or saccate; smooth, but developing apical crystals; walls 1-2.5 m thick; hyaline in KOH. Pleurocystidia similar to cheilocystidia. Pileipellis an ixocutis; elements 3-6 m wide, smooth, hyaline to brownish in KOH; clamp connections present.

#mushrooms #fungi #mycology #shrooms #mushtodon #sporespondence #floraspondence

Phillipsia domingensis

https://www.mushroomexpert.com/Phillipsia_domingensis.html

Ecology: Saprobic on the well-decayed wood of hardwoods; growing alone or gregariously; appearing year-round; originally described from the Dominican Republic; widespread in the Caribbean, Central America, and South America; in North America distributed along the Gulf Coast from Florida to the Yucatán Peninsula; also reported from Oceania, Asia, and southern Africa. The illustrated and described collection is from Florida.

Fruiting Body: Disc-shaped to cup-shaped; 2 to 9 cm across; upper surface bright red, fading with age to pinkish red, bald, becoming vaguely and shallowly wrinkled in places with maturity; undersurface whitish, bald or very finely fuzzy; stem absent, or vaguely defined and rudimentary; flesh whitish, not changing when sliced.

Odor: Not distinctive.

Microscopic Features: Spores 25-31 x 13-16 m; asymmetrically subfusiform, with one side usually more convex than the other; lined lengthwise with 6-8 wide striations (3-4 visible at once); usually biguttulate; thick-walled; hyaline in water and in KOH; often germinating and developing projections. Asci 8-spored; thick-walled. Paraphyses filiform with subclavate or merely rounded apices; 2-4 m wide; not or scarcely projecting; smooth; hyaline or with dull red contents.

#mushrooms #fungi #mycology #shrooms #mushtodon #sporespondence #floraspondence

I was feeling a bit down yesterday that there isn’t much going on around town events-wise this weekend, but then this morning the disgusting humidity hit me square in the face when I stepped outside, and now I’m feeling completely fine staying home and reading, writing, watching soccer, etc. LOL! Dewpoint above 70ºF? No thank you.

Continuing my research- to include daylight hours, rainy/snowy days.... because for a few years now we've mostly used sunlight (ambient) & LED flashlights (task) to at least try to meet our lighting needs ---

Also #incandescent #lighting fixtures are still being produced and sold, they'll still last 20-30 years without any real problem, 40 -50 with pretty much the same maintenance that will have #LEDs lasting 10-20 years.

It's a choice of burning/spending sizably up front & hoping at least your warrantees hold up for LEDs, and replacing said fixtures 5-10 times as often, while you spend next to nothing on electricity(the bulb prices don't matter much even as they're much more expensive because odds are said bulbs will outlast the fixtures they're placed in) .... or spending much less on incandescent fixtures, much less often, until & unless they're banned again, while you spend sizably on electricity for their use & change the bulbs for them that are much cheaper, far more often. (Yes, I'll likely reformat this into a chart eventually.)

I think overall layered lighting design is important but not really for the commonly given reasons for it.

For ambient lighting provided by ceiling fixtures, especially high ceilings, getting incandescent fixtures installed makes the most sense, because they're needed & will be used the least in number of hours, but when they don't work create a real hazard, and while an extension pole kit will definitely work to change a bulb, it won't change a fixture. Also note that even as getting dimmable LED lighting wont really affect the fixture or bulb in their lifespan, getting & using dimmable incandescent lighting (all bulbs of that type are, it's just a switch for them) will lengthen their lifespan, to the point where you could have an incandescent outlasting an LED, especially in hot & humid spots.

(For every 10°C up from about 25°C/77°F, you'll loose half an LEDs hourly lifespan & similarly over 25% relative humidity will drop them another 1/3rd , so as my kitchen ceilings are generally around 38°C/100°F for at least 1/2 of every year, more likely 2/3rds and 1/4th year 48°C & 75% relative humidity, the typical labeled 20 years & 25,000hrs, will in fact be around 2.5 years & 3,000hrs---

Dimming an incandescent by each 10% will double its hourly lifespan, so at 20% you'd get a 4,000 hour lifespan from that cheap 1,000 incandescent bulb, aka 25% more than the LED.)

For accent lighting, especially artwork, where it's a sconce or pole lamp, get an LED because odds are the art will move/rotate out & you don't want to risk the heat incandescents generate harming the piece.

For task lighting---it depends on the task
plug-in LED lamps
battery operated LEDs & hooks to quickly easily replace them
Incandescents for lower lumen tasks -like stair climbing

For decorative lighting- if you have it -completely individual- odds are if I get anything it'll be for nightime seasonal indoor displays- odds are I'll get an LED to plug in.

Volvariella bombycina

https://www.mushroomexpert.com/Volvariella_bombycina.html

Ecology: Saprobic on the wood of various hardwoods, either on dead trees or from the wounds of living, standing trees in forests or urban areas; usually growing alone but sometimes growing gregariously; late spring, summer and fall; widely distributed in North America but much more common east of the Rocky Mountains (and in western areas usually appearing in urban settings on the wood of cultivated trees); also found Central America, the Caribbean, South America, Europe, and central Asia—and occasionally reported from Africa and Oceania. The illustrated and described collections are from Illinois and Louisiana.

Cap: 5-12 cm; oval to subconic at first, becoming bell-shaped to broadly convex or nearly flat; dry; covered with silky hairs; snow white when young and fresh, but the hairs often becoming yellowish to brownish in age, especially over the center; the margin not becoming lined.

Gills: Free from the stem; crowded; white at first, becoming pink.

Stem: 6-15 cm long; 1-2.5 cm thick; more or less equal, but usually tapering somewhat to apex; often curved in order to set the cap "straight" due to growth on standing trees; dry; fairly bald; white; without a ring; the base encased in a thick, white to yellowish or brown, sack-like volva.

Flesh: White; unchanging when sliced.

Odor and Taste: Not distinctive.

Chemical Reactions: KOH negative on cap surface.

Spore Print: Brownish pink.

Microscopic Features: Spores 6-9 x 3.5-5 m; ellipsoid; smooth; thick-walled; yellowish in KOH; inamyloid. Pleurocystidia 50-70 x 15-25 m; lageniform or occasionally ellipsoid to subglobose; thin-walled; smooth; hyaline in KOH. Cheilocystidia similar to pleurocystidia; 35-50 x 10-15 m. Pileipellis a non-gelatinized cutis; elements 10-35 m wide, aseptate, smooth, thin-walled; hyaline in KOH, gradually tapering to a rounded apex.

#mushrooms #fungi #mycology #shrooms #mushtodon #sporespondence #floraspondence

Agaricus subperonatus

https://www.mushroomexpert.com/Agaricus_subperonatus.html

Note: A single collection is described here; be sure to read the discussion of morphological variability for this species, above.

Ecology: Saprobic; growing gregariously in urban areas in association with conifers (usually pines), often but not always in grass; summer and fall; originally described from temperate Europe (Persoon 1801); widespread in Europe; in North America documented in the Midwest and in the Denver area. The illustrated and described collection is from Missouri.

Cap: 6-9 cm; convex, becoming broadly convex; dry; innately fibrillose or scaly; overall brownish to medium brown; the young margin often adorned with remnants of the partial veil.

Gills: Free from the stem; crowded; short-gills frequent; at maturity dark brown.

Stem: 5-7 cm long; 1-1.5 cm thick; tapered to the base; with a white ring and, below it, scattered and vague zones of universal veil; whitish; bald; basal mycelium white.

Flesh: Whitish; not changing when sliced.

Odor and Taste: Not distinctive.

Chemical Reactions: KOH negative on cap surface.

Spore Print: Dark brown.

Microscopic Features: Spores 6-8 x 4-5.5 m; ellipsoid, with a prominent apiculus; smooth; thick-walled; brown in KOH. Basidia 4-sterigmate. Pleurocystidia not found. Cheilocystidia 20-30 x 6-8 m; clavate or subclavate; smooth; thin-walled; septate; hyaline in KOH. Pileipellis a cutis; elements 5-10 m wide, smooth, hyaline to brown in KOH.

#mushrooms #fungi #mycology #shrooms #mushtodon #sporespondence #floraspondence

Pseudoomphalina compressipes

https://www.mushroomexpert.com/Pseudoomphalina_compressipes.html

Ecology: Saprobic; growing scattered, gregariously, or in small clusters; found in grassy areas and disturbed-ground locations, or in open conifer woods; summer and fall; not common; originally described from the Albany, New York area; precise distribution uncertain (most records come from the northeastern United States and the Midwest), but apparently limited to North America east of the Great Plains. The illustrated and described collections are from Illinois and Pennsylvania.

Cap: 1.5-3.5 cm; at first convex with an inrolled margin, becoming flat or centrally depressed, with an even margin; at first with a finely granular, whitish dusting, but soon bald; tacky when fresh; brownish, fading markedly to buff as it dries out; the margin not lined.

Gills: Beginning to run down the stem; nearly distant; short-gills present; creamy.

Stem: 2-5 cm long; 3-8 mm thick; more or less equal, but often compressed with a central vertical groove (and then up to 1 cm wide); moist when fresh; colored like the cap; bald, or with a granular-mealy apex; basal mycelium white.

Flesh: Insubstantial; watery buff; not changing when sliced.

Odor and Taste: Mealy.

Chemical Reactions: KOH negative on cap surface.

Spore Print: White.

Microscopic Details: Spores 5.5-7 x 3.5-4.5 m; ellipsoid; apiculate; smooth; weakly to moderately amyloid; hyaline in KOH. Basidia 25-32 x 4-6 m; clavate; 4-sterigmate. Cheilocystidia 26-45 x 1.5-2.5 m; filiform; smooth; hyaline in KOH. Pleurocystidia not found. Pileipellis a cutis of elements 2-5 m wide, with intracellular pigment. Clamp connections present.

#mushrooms #fungi #mycology #shrooms #mushtodon #sporespondence #floraspondence

Clavulina rugosa

https://www.mushroomexpert.com/Clavulina_rugosa.html

Ecology: Presumably mycorrhizal; found under conifers and hardwoods; growing alone, gregariously, or in clusters; summer and fall (over winter in warm climates); widely distributed in North America.

Fruiting Body: 4-12 cm high; to 1.5 cm wide; unbranched or divided one to several times (often appearing antler-like).

Branches: Rugged; white, sometimes developing yellowish tints with age; yellow when dried for the herbarium; tips colored like the sides, blunt or occasionally "cristate" with several sharp points; when parasitized becoming dark gray to black from the base upward.

Base: Not clearly separate from the upper portion of the fruiting body.

Flesh: Whitish; fairly tough.

Odor and Taste: Not distinctive.

Spore Print: White.

Chemical Reactions: Irons salts negative on branches.

Microscopic Features: Spores 9-14 x 8-12 ; subglobose or broadly elliptical; smooth; with an apiculus. Basidia clavate; 40-85 x 6-9.5 ; 2-sterigmate with long (6-9 ), incurved sterigmata. Clamp connections present.

#mushrooms #fungi #mycology #shrooms #mushtodon #sporespondence #floraspondence

Agrocybe dura

https://www.mushroomexpert.com/Agrocybe_dura.html

Ecology: Saprobic; growing alone, scattered, or gregariously in grass (lawns, meadows, fields); sometimes appearing in fairy rings; appearing from spring through fall, but most likely to be seen in May, at least in temperate climates; originally described from Great Britain (Bolton 1788); widely distributed in Europe and North America. The illustrated and described collections are from Illinois and Missouri.

Cap: 2.5-8 cm; convex at first, becoming broadly convex or nearly flat; tacky when fresh, but soon dry; bald; often becoming cracked or fissured in old age; usually whitish overall, or with a dull yellowish center—but sometimes creamy to dull yellowish overall; the margin often adorned with whitish to yellowish partial veil fibrils and remnants.

Gills: Narrowly attached to the stem; close or crowded; short-gills frequent; whitish at first, becoming dull grayish brown; edges faintly whitish at maturity; at first covered by a white partial veil.

Stem: 5-10 cm long and 3-15 mm thick; more or less equal; rigid; bald or a little fibrillose; whitish, sometimes discoloring brownish, especially in the bottom half; with a flimsy, ephemeral, whitish ring; basal mycelium white.

Flesh: White; unchanging when sliced.

Odor and Taste: Not distinctive.

Chemical Reactions: KOH on cap surface negative to yellowish.

Spore Print: Brown.

Microscopic Features: Spores 11-16 (-19) x 6-9 (-10) m; more or less ellipsoid, with one end flattened for a 2 -3 m pore; smooth; walls about 1 m thick; brownish orange to orangish-brownish in KOH; brown in Melzer's. Basidia 25-35 x 7-9 m; clavate; 4-sterigmate. Cheilocystidia 35-60 x 10-25 m; utriform to widely utriform; smooth; thin-walled; hyaline in KOH. Pleurocystidia 35-55 x 10-20 m; widely utriform to clavate or sphaeropedunculate; smooth; thin-walled; hyaline in KOH. Pileipellis hymeniform but quickly deteriorating and collapsing (best seen on very young caps); hymeniform elements 15-22 x 6-10 m; clavate to pyriform; hyaline in KOH.

#mushrooms #fungi #mycology #shrooms #mushtodon #sporespondence #floraspondence

I'm to the point in my research on #lighting where I'm wondering if anyone is actually making things sensible for me & others who can't easily climb ladders & can be installed in rooms with 9-12 ft tall ceilings, to actually be installed in them???? .... I'm aware that even if all my current ceiling fixtures were intact, that my home is still too dimly lit for sense, but also what happened to a "fixture" being an actual permanent or at least average human lifetime long lasting part of a room?

I've got 4 lamps that work & are older than at least 2 of my mutual followers on this platform (2 being around 50 years old &1 might be 75)..... yet in my research thus far keep seeing that it's considered a high end & oddity if a hardwired LED light fixture lasts over 10 years, with most lasting under 5 years, which to me is completely ridiculous!

Maybe this is just for recessed fixtures & pendant lights & flush mounts lasting the sensible 25 year minimum I'm looking for but???? at this point I'm rather exasperated.

#LightingDesign #Enshittification

Gomphidius smithii

https://www.mushroomexpert.com/Gomphidius_smithii.html

Ecology: Mycorrhizal with conifers; growing alone or scattered; fall and winter; distributed along the upper West Coast and in the northern Rocky Mountains. The illustrated and described collection is from California.

Cap: 3-5 cm wide; convex, becoming broadly convex; bald; slimy; dull brownish lilac; the margin sometimes with a blackish line.

Gills: Running down the stem; close; whitish at first, becoming dark gray; short-gills frequent.

Stem: 4-7 cm long; 0.5-1 cm wide; tapering to base; slightly rooting; with a glutinous slime veil above a fibrillose veil, sheathing all but the upper portion; upper edge of slime veil turning dark gray as spores mature and fall from the gills, sometimes creating an almost ring-like appearance; whitish above; brownish to lilac brown below; discoloring blackish; sometimes very slightly yellowish toward the base in old age.

Flesh: White in cap; pinkish to dirty yellowish or brownish in stem.

Odor and Taste: Not distinctive.

Spore Print: Dark gray to nearly black.

Microscopic Features: Spores 15-20 x 5-7 m; subfusiform; smooth; brownish to brown in KOH. Basidia 4-sterigmate. Pleurocystidia 70-100 x 15-20 m; subutriform; smooth; thin-walled; hyaline in KOH. Cheilocystidia 70-110 x 15-20 m; widely cylindric to subutriform; smooth; walls under 1 m thick; hyaline in KOH. Pileipellis a poorly defined ixocutis; hyphae 5-12 m wide, encrusted, brown in KOH. Clamp connections not found.

#mushrooms #fungi #mycology #shrooms #mushtodon #sporespondence #floraspondence

Stropharia ambigua

https://www.mushroomexpert.com/Stropharia_ambigua.html

Ecology: Saprobic; growing alone or gregariously on woody debris in conifer and (sometimes) hardwood forests, or in wood-chip beds; fall through spring; West Coast. The illustrated and described collections are from California and Alaska.

Cap: 3-14 cm; hemispheric to convex at first, becoming broadly convex or nearly flat; slimy when fresh; yellow to brownish yellow or pale yellow; bald; the margin adorned with hanging white partial veil remnants, especially when young.

Gills: Attached to the stem or beginning to pull away from it; close; whitish to very pale gray at first, becoming purplish gray to purple-black; with whitish edges when mature.

Stem: 6-16 cm long; 1-2 cm thick; equal; dry; with a ring or ring zone that may disappear; bald above the ring and finely shaggy below it; basal mycelium white; base often with white mycelial threads.

Flesh: White; unchanging when sliced.

Odor: Not distinctive, or somewhat radishlike to mealy.

Spore Print: Dark purple-brown to blackish.

Chemical Reactions: KOH on cap surface pale orange.

Microscopic Features: Spores 11-16 x 6-8 m; ellipsoid; with a large pore at one end; smooth; thick-walled; brown in KOH. Basidia 4-sterigmate. Pleuro-chrysocystidia 30-50 x 10-15 m; clavate, or clavate with a narrowed, angular apex; smooth; thin-walled; hyaline; inclusions small, globular, and golden-refractive. Cheilo-chrysocystidia not found. Lepto-cheilocystidia present; basidiole-like. Lamellar trama parallel. Pileipellis an ixocutis; elements poorly defined, hyaline to golden in KOH, 2.5-5 m wide.

#mushrooms #fungi #mycology #shrooms #mushtodon #sporespondence #floraspondence

Boletus luridus

https://www.mushroomexpert.com/Boletus_luridus.html

Ecology: Mycorrhizal with oaks and other hardwoods; growing alone, scattered, or gregariously; summer and fall; widely distributed east of the Rocky Mountains.

Cap: 4-12 cm, convex, becoming broadly convex in age; dry; finely velvety or nearly bald; brownish orange at first, becoming rusty brown to medium or dark brown; bruising dark blue to nearly black.

Pore Surface: Dull orange when young; orangish red to reddish orange at maturity; bruising promptly blue; 2-4 pores per mm; tubes to 15 mm deep.

Stem: 4-9 cm long; up to 3 cm thick; tapering to the apex; slightly club-shaped when young, becoming more equal; often with a tapered, rooting portion; prominently reticulate with vertically elongated, orange to red reticulation; often with a red to wine red, velvety base; yellowish to orangish above and reddish below; bruising and discoloring blue.

Flesh: Whitish to yellow in the cap; yellow to red in the stem; bluing when sliced.

Odor and Taste: Not distinctive.

Chemical Reactions: Ammonia negative to orangish or yellowish on cap; yellow to orangish on flesh. KOH dark red on cap; dull orange on flesh. Iron salts olive gray on cap; negative to dull olive yellow on flesh.

Spore Print: Olive brown.

Microscopic Features: Spores 11-14 x 4.5-6 ; broadly fusiform to nearly ellipsoid; smooth; brownish in KOH. Hymenial cystidia fusiform; hyaline to brownish in KOH; to about 50 x 15 . Pileipellis a tightly packed layer of repent and erect, brown-encrusted elements 2.5-5 wide; terminal elements subfusiform, or cylindric with rounded apices.

#mushrooms #fungi #mycology #shrooms #mushtodon #sporespondence #floraspondence

I usually shake my head when I go through the photos on my camera at how many I've kept over a period of months (sometimes years, lol!) But sometimes I'm glad I kept some because of just how well they turned out despite my amateur level #photography skills. Here's a few of my favorites:

Helvella cupuliformis

https://www.mushroomexpert.com/Helvella_cupuliformis.html

Ecology: Probably mycorrhizal; growing alone or gregariously on the ground or in moss under hardwoods (especially oaks); early summer through fall; widely distributed in North America.

Cap: 0.5-3.5 cm across; cup-shaped or disc-shaped--or occasionally nearly flat; upper surface medium to pale grayish brown, bald; undersurface pale grayish brown overall but usually nearly whitish near the apex of the stem, finely but densely hairy.

Flesh: Insubstantial.

Stem: 2-30 mm long (at maturity usually shorter than or about as long as the cap is wide); 2-8 mm thick; more or less equal; sometimes with clefts near the base; whitish to pale brownish; finely hairy or nearly bald with age.

Chemical Reactions: KOH negative on surface of cup.

Microscopic Features: Spores 16-21 x 11-13 ; ellipsoid throughout development; smooth; when fresh with one large central oil droplet. Paraphyses with brownish granular contents; apices cylindric to subclavate or clavate, 4-8 wide. Excipular surface elements hyaline to brownish (with pigment inside the cells); often arranged in short to long fascicles; frequently septate; terminal cells subglobose.

#mushrooms #fungi #mycology #shrooms #mushtodon #sporespondence #floraspondence