Part 22

Spore-print: white.

Spores: medium-sized, hyaline, broadly ellipsoid, smooth, about 10 × 7 µm in size (9-12 × 6-8 µm) and staining bluish grey when mounted in solutions containing iodine.

Marginal cystidia: club-shaped but the apex ornamented with blunt hairs of varying lengths.

Facial cystidia: absent.

Habitat & Distribution: Commonly found, in all but the coldest months, in woods, parks or gardens, often in dense clusters on stumps and fallen trunks of broad-leaved trees.

General Information: This is one of our commonest members, and one of the largest in the genus Mycena; many species in this genus are quite small yet are nevertheless very important components of the woodland flora decomposing leaves, twigs, etc., and contributing in this way to the recirculating of organic matter.

The name Mycena is derived from the same Greek word as that which refers to the country around the ancient city of Mycenae in the plain of Argos, and from whence Agamemnon came and gathered his forces to invade Troy to reclaim Helen his wife. It has been suggested that this similarity in name came about through the necessity for an army stationed in Argos, early in the history of Ancient Greece, to rely on the mushrooms found on the plains about to save the soldiers from starvation.

Illustrations: F 17a; Hvass 119; LH 109; NB 133⁸; WD 26³.

~Pluteus cervinus~ (Fries) Kummer

Fawn pluteus

Cap: width 40-100 mm. Stem: width 10-15 mm; length 75-125 mm.

Description:

Cap: conical, rapidly expanding and then becoming plano-convex or flattened with only a slight but persistent umbo, dark brown, umber or vandyke brown, viscid when wet and often with radiating fibrils.

Stem: white, streaked to varying degrees with dark brown fibrils, cylindrical or slightly swollen towards the base, where it is attached to the substrate.

Gills: remote, very crowded, thin, at first white then distinctly salmon-pink.

Flesh: with pleasant smell, white and soft.

Spore-print: dull salmon-pink.

Spores: medium-sized, very faintly buff under the microscope, broadly ellipsoid and 7-8 × 5-6 µm in size.

Marginal cystidia: flask-shaped, the majority with three or four hooks at the distinctively thick-walled apex.

Facial cystidia: similar to marginal cystidia but sometimes intermixed with those lacking hooks.

Habitat & Distribution: This fungus grows singly or in groups on old stumps and fallen trunks throughout the year except for the most wintry months; it is commonest in autumn.

General Information: This fungus may also grow on old sawdust heaps, a habitat which is often very worth while examining in detail by the interested amateur during wet seasons. In summer sawdust heaps dry out but after a good soaking, which, of course, can be applied artificially by frequent watering with a hose or watering-can, many interesting fungi develop. On sawdust heaps containing conifer debris a larger species with black or dark brown edge to the gills is found--P. atromarginatus Kühner.

The peculiar pointed cystidia found on the gill-edge and on the gill-face of P. cervinus were thought by some early mycologists to stop mites and insect larvae from crawling up between the gills and damaging the developing spores. There is no evidence that this actually takes place in nature; the real purpose of these obscure structures is unknown and has been little studied.

Illustrations: Hvass 127; LH 121; NB 135¹; WD 50².

~Gymnopilus penetrans~ (Fries) Murrill

Cap: width 20-50 mm. Stem: width 4-7 mm; length 20-50 mm.

Description:

Cap: convex then becoming flattened at maturity, dry, slightly scaly, golden tawny, or rusty yellow and when young with the remnants of a rapidly disappearing yellow cortina hanging from the margin.