#floraspondence

Russula brevipes https://www.mushroomexpert.com/Russula_brevipes.html Ecology: Mycorrhizal with a wide variety of trees, from conifers to hardwoods (see the discussion above); growing alone, scattered, or gregariously; common; summer and fall, or over winter in warm climates; fairly widely distributed in North America, at least as a species group. The illustrated and described collections are from Illinois, Québec, Pennsylvania, Michigan, California, and Colorado. Cap: 6-20 cm; convex with a central depression and an inrolled margin when young, later broadly convex with a central depression and eventually shallowly vase-shaped, the margin remaining somewhat inrolled or straightening; dry; bald or suedelike; sometimes becoming cracked in age; white to whitish or creamy at first, developing brownish discolorations and sometimes becoming brownish to orangish brown overall with old age; the margin not lined; the skin fairly tightly adnate, not peeling easily. Gills: Attached to the stem or running down it slightly; crowded or close; short-gills frequent; white at first, becoming creamy; sometimes spotting and discoloring brownish; sometimes bluish to blue, especially near the juncture with the stem. Stem: 3-4 cm long; 1.5-3 cm thick; sturdy and solid; more or less equal; dry; bald; whitish; usually discoloring and bruising brown to brownish; basal mycelium white. Flesh: White; sometimes discoloring brownish when sliced. Odor and Taste: Odor not distinctive, faintly foul, or faintly fragrant; taste mild to slightly, moderately, or strongly acrid. Chemical Reactions: KOH negative to faintly yellowish on cap surface. Iron salts negative on stem surface. Spore Print: White to creamy. Microscopic Features: Spores 7-10 x 5-7 m (but in some collections much smaller: 4-7 x 4-5 m); broadly ellipsoid to subglobose; ornamentation usually about 0.5 m high, as amyloid warts and occasional connectors that may be fairly isolated, or may form subreticulate patterns. Pleuro- and cheilocystidia 35-50 x 7.5-10 m; fusiform, cylindric, or subclavate, sometimes with one or more apical constrictions or knobs; thin-walled; hyaline. Pileipellis a cutis of hyaline to yellowish elements 2.5-5 m wide. Oleiferous hyphae present. #mushrooms #fungi #mycology #shrooms #mushtodon #sporespondence #floraspondence

Gymnopus semihirtipes https://www.mushroomexpert.com/Gymnopus_semihirtipes.html Ecology: Saprobic; growing alone, scattered, gregariously, or in clusters on leaf litter and woody debris under hardwoods; spring and early summer; widely distributed east of the Great Plains. Cap: 0.5-2 cm; convex, becoming broadly convex or nearly flat; dry; bald; sometimes becoming wrinkled over the center; orangish brown to reddish brown when young and fresh, but quickly fading to pinkish tan or buff, with a darker center. Gills: Attached to the stem or nearly free from it; nearly distant; whitish. Stem: 2-5 cm long; up to about 3 mm thick at the apex; more or less equal; dry; densely hairy over roughly the lower 1/3 with reddish brown to purplish brown hairs, but bald above; reddish brown. Flesh: Whitish; thin; tough. Odor and Taste: Not distinctive. Chemical Reactions: Ammonia or KOH promptly olive, green, or black on cap and stem surfaces. Spore Print: White. Microscopic Features: Spores: 7.5-9 x 3-4.5 ; smooth; lacrymoid to elliptical; inamyloid. Pleurocystidia absent. Cheilocystidia rare or absent. Pileipellis a tangled cutis of cylindric elements 4-11 wide. Hyphae of the stem encrusted with dark brown material in a water mount. #mushrooms #fungi #mycology #shrooms #mushtodon #sporespondence #floraspondence

Laetiporus cincinnatus https://www.mushroomexpert.com/Laetiporus_cincinnatus.html Ecology: Parasitic and saprobic on living and dead oaks; causing a brown rot of the butt and roots; growing alone or gregariously at the bases of oaks or on the ground nearby; late spring through fall; fairly widely distributed from the Great Plains eastward. The illustrated and described collections are from Illinois. Fruiting Body: Up to 45 cm across; usually consisting of several to many caps in a rosette but very rarely consisting of a shelving array near the base of the tree. Caps: 4-20 cm across; 6-20 cm deep; up to 2 cm thick; fan-shaped to semicircular, kidney-shaped, or irregularly lobed; smooth to wrinkled; finely suedelike; pale to bright pinkish orange, often with vague concentric bands of alternating shades of color; frequently fading in maturity and with direct sunlight; the margin often whitish. Pore Surface: Whitish; not bruising; with 2-3 circular to angular pores per mm; tubes to 5 mm deep. Stem: Usually absent; when present poorly defined, whitish, tough, more or less central. Flesh: Thick; soft and watery when young, becoming chalky and eventually crumbling easily; white; not changing when sliced. Dried Specimens: Cap surface and pore surface become dull pinkish orange to dull brownish orange and retain these shades for at least 20 years in the herbarium; they can often be distinguished from herbarium specimens of Laetiporus sulphureus, which are yellow to yellow-orange. Odor and Taste: Not distinctive. Chemical Reactions: KOH negative on cap surface and flesh. Spore Print: White. Microscopic Features: Spores 4-6 x 3-4 m; broadly ellipsoid; smooth; hyaline in KOH; inamyloid. Hymenial cystidia not found. Contextual hyphal system dimitic. Contextual binding hyphae 5-15 m wide; often branching; aseptate; smooth; walls 1-1.5 m thick; hyaline in KOH. Hymenial trama generative hyphae 4-7 m wide; tubular and unbranched; usually parallel; septate; smooth; thin-walled; hyaline in KOH. Clamp connections not found. #mushrooms #fungi #mycology #shrooms #mushtodon #sporespondence #floraspondence