Bulgaria inquinans

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Ecology: Saprobic on decaying oak and tanoak sticks and logs (also sometimes reported on the wood of birches or elms); growing alone, gregariously, or (more commonly) in clusters; late summer and fall (over winter in warm climates); widely distributed in North America.

Fruiting Body: Cup- or top-shaped at first, becoming flattened or convex; 1-5 cm across; outer surface brown to black, finely to prominently hairy or scaly (often smoother and blacker with age); upper surface black, shiny, and smooth; flesh rubbery to gelatinous; stem absent or merely a pinched-off extension.

Microscopic Features: Spores 9-17 x 6-7 ; elliptical to somewhat lemon-shaped; smooth. Asci up to about 150 long; 8-spored, with the top 4 spores dark brown and uniguttulate in KOH and the bottom 4 spores poorly developed, multiguttulate, and hyaline. Paraphyses filiform.

Russula ventricosipes

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Ecology: Presumably mycorrhizal, since it is a Russula--but its odd habitat does raise questions. Growing alone or gregariously in sand dunes; usually with pine trees in the vicinity; along the Great Lakes and the East Coast; summer and fall.

Cap: 4.5-13 cm; convex with a tucked-under margin when young, becoming broadly convex to flat with a shallow depression; slimy when wet and fresh (with sand "glued" to the surface), but soon dry; covered with a felty, pinkish to orangish layer when young, but soon becoming smooth overall, or remaining felty along the margin; yellowish brown, sometimes with orangish shades; the margin lined at maturity; the skin peeling away easily from the margin, sometimes beyond halfway to the center.

Gills: Attached or pulling away from the stem; close; sometimes forked near the stem; yellowish white, developing orangish or reddish edges; often spotting or discoloring yellowish brown to brownish.

Stem: 2-10 cm long; 1.5-5 cm thick; often swollen in the middle; stuffed and thick; sometimes slightly wrinkled lengthwise; white underneath a layer of reddish to brownish red scurf that begins at the base and may extend nearly to the apex.

Flesh: Whitish; becoming slowly pale yellowish on exposure or with age.

Odor and Taste: Odor weakly to moderately reminiscent of maraschino cherries, almonds, or benzaldehyde; taste acrid.

Chemical Reactions: KOH on cap surface negative.

Spore Print: Creamy.

Microscopic Features: Spores 7-10 x 4.5-6 ; broadly elliptical to lacrymoid; with very tiny warts projecting less than .5 (appearing nearly smooth even with oil immersion); connecting lines rare and scattered. Pileipellis an interwoven cutis/trichoderm; clearly defined pileocystidia absent, but some hyphal tips cystidioid, with granular, sulphovanillin-positive contents.

Leucoagaricus brunnescens

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Ecology: Saprobic, growing alone, scattered or gregariously in both hardwood and conifer forests; late summer and fall; apparently widely distributed in North America from the Great Plains eastward (also recorded a few times by A. H. Smith in California). The illustrated and described collection is from Missouri.

Cap: 2.5-7 cm across; convex, becoming broadly convex or nearly flat--but retaining a shallow central bump; dry; scaly overall, with radiating, appressed, fibrillose, brown to pinkish brown scales over a whitish to pale tan ground color; turning red to orange-red, then slowly brown, where bruised.

Gills: Free from the stem; close or crowded; short-gills infrequent; creamy white; staining orangish and eventually brown.

Stem: 3-5 cm long; about 0.5 cm thick; equal or slightly to moderately club-shaped; hairy; whitish at first, but soon bruising and discoloring red, then brown; with a flimsy, sheathing, collapsing ring that is initially white but becomes stained brown; basal mycelium white.

Flesh: White throughout; staining slowly reddish when sliced.

Odor and Taste: Not distinctive.

Chemical Reactions: Not recorded (oops), but possibly interesting given the affinities to other species; the reaction of the cap and gills to ammonia should be documented.

Dried Specimens: Cap, stem, and gills turn dark brown when dried for the herbarium.

Spore Print: White.

Microscopic Features: Spores 7-9 x 3.5-4.5 ; ellipsoid to subamygdaliform; smooth; thick-walled; hyaline in KOH; yellowish to dull golden in Melzer's. Cheilocystidia 25-50 x 7.5-10 ; clavate, subclavate, widely cylindric, or somewhat irregular; thin-walled; hyaline in KOH. Pleurocystidia not found. Pileipellis a a tangle of hyphae 5-15 wide, smooth, brownish to brown in KOH, septate; terminal cells cylindric with rounded or subclavate apices. Clamp connections not found.

Hapalopilus nidulans

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Ecology: Saprobic; growing alone or in small groups on decaying logs and sticks; on hardwood debris in the east, or conifer wood in the southwest; causing a white rot; spring to fall, or over winter in warmer climates; widely distributed east of the Rocky Mountains, and occasionally reported in the southwest and Pacific Northwest. The illustrated and described collections are from Illinois.

Cap: 2.5-7 cm across; 1-3 cm deep; irregularly semicircular or kidney-shaped; convex; bald or finely suedelike; wrinkled in places; evenly dull orange to dull orangish cinnamon; when fresh and growing with a paler, yellowish to whitish margin.

Pore Surface: Dull orangish brown; not bruising, or bruising slightly darker; with a sterile marginal band; with 2-3 angular pores per mm; tubes 2-4 mm deep.

Stem: Absent.

Flesh: Dull orangish brown or paler; watery and soft at first, but later quite tough and hard; not changing when sliced.

Odor and Taste: Not distinctive.

Chemical Reactions: KOH bright purple to lilac on all parts.

Spore Print: White.

Microscopic Features: Spores 2.5-3.5 x 1.5-2.5 m; ellipsoid; smooth; inamyloid; hyaline in KOH. Basidia 4-sterigmate. Setae, cystidia not found. Hyphal system monomitic, with conspicuous clamp connections.

Imleria pallida

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Ecology: Mycorrhizal with oaks; growing scattered or gregariously; summer and fall; widely distributed and common in North America east of the Rocky Mountains; also recorded from Central America. The illustrated and described collections are from Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, and Ohio.

Cap: 3-10 cm across; convex, becoming broadly convex or nearly flat; dry; very finely suedelike when fresh and young, but soon more or less bald and kid-leathery; sometimes becoming cracked in age; pale grayish brown; the margin often with a very tiny overhanging sterile portion.

Pore Surface: Whitish when very young, becoming pale dull yellow, then olive yellow and, eventually, dark olive brown; bruising dull blue, or sometimes not bruising; 1-2 xerocomoid pores per mm at maturity; tubes to 1 cm deep.

Stem: 3-12 cm long; 0.5-2 cm thick; more or less equal; bald; not reticulate; whitish to brownish, becoming more brownish with age, especially toward the base; sometimes flushed with red near the apex or base; basal mycelium white.

Flesh: White when fresh, but often becoming yellowish in older specimens; unchanging when sliced, or changing to sky blue or darker blue (sometimes slowly and erratically)—or pinkish to, in the stem base, red.

Odor and Taste: Odor not distinctive; taste mildly soapy or bitterish.

Chemical Reactions: Ammonia flashing bluish to purplish, then quickly resolving to negative on cap surface; negative or faintly greenish on flesh. KOH dark brownish orange to pale orange on cap surface; negative to orange on flesh. Iron salts blue-green on cap surface; negative to pale blue-green on flesh.

Spore Print: Brown with a hint of olive.

Microscopic Features: Spores 10-16 x 4-5 m; boletoid-fusiform; smooth; yellowish in KOH. Basidia 20-30 x 5-10 m; 4-sterigmate. Hymenial cystidia 28-40 x 6-8 m; lageniform to fusiform; smooth; thin-walled; hyaline in KOH, or occasionally with golden-globular contents. Pileipellis a collapsing trichoderm; elements 3-8 m wide, smooth, hyaline to faintly brownish in KOH; terminal cells cylindric with rounded apices.