Part 26

Marginal cystidia: cylindrical to skittle-shaped with slightly to distinctly swollen apex.

Facial cystidia: absent.

Habitat & Distribution: Common in autumn on the ground by pathsides and in woodland clearings.

General Information: Recognisable by the uniform cinnamon or pinkish buff cap, white woolly scales on the stem and distinctive, strong smell of radish. There is some evidence that this species may on occasions be mycorrhizal; further field studies are required.

There are several closely related fungi which are difficult for the amateur to differentiate from H. crustuliniforme; there is no doubt that there are several species present in the British Isles which do not appear in the Check List of British Agarics & Boleti; in fact, it would appear that there are several yet to be described as new to science. Although individual species are fairly difficult to delimit, the genus Hebeloma itself is easily recognised, most members being medium sized with brown sinuate gills, whitish, yellowish, or pinkish, i.e. pale, caps and white-powdered stems. The word ‘crustulin’ which appears in the Latin name of H. crustuliniforme is itself from the Latin and means small cake, referring to the cap-shape, which remains fairly constant throughout the fungus’ growth. The common name is derived from this also.

~Inocybe geophylla~ (Fries) Kummer

Common white inocybe

Cap: width 10-25 mm. Stem: width 3-6 mm; length 30-50 mm.

Description:

Cap: conical with incurved margin then bell-shaped and retaining a distinct umbo even when mature, silvery white then ivory and finally pale tan particularly centrally and silky fibrillose throughout.

Stem: slender, cylindrical but for a small swelling at the base, silky and shining with a few fibrils from a former cortina which may be brownish due to spores adhering to it at maturity.

Gills: adnexed to free, crowded, pale ochraceous becoming clay-coloured.

Flesh: white with smell of newly dug potatoes, strong when fresh.

Spore-print: clay-colour.

Spores: medium sized, ellipsoid or slightly French-bean-shaped, smooth, yellow-brown under the microscope and 9-11 × 4-5 µm in size.

Marginal and facial cystidia: flask- to spindle-shaped with distinctly thickened walls and frequently ornamented with crystals apically.

Habitat & Distribution: Common in troops in woodland clearings, by pathsides or on the edges of ditches bordering woods.

General Information: This fungus is easily recognised by the very pale uniform colour, the colour of the spore-print, silky umbonate cap and small size. The cortina connects the cap-margin and the stem and consists of a cobwebby structure which collapses at maturity.

A violet coloured variety, var. lilacina Gillet is frequently found, in fact, even accompanying var. geophylla; it differs only in the lilac-colour of the cap and stem. I. geophylla is a member of the very large genus Inocybe, further members of which will be dealt with later (see p. 238).

The genus is well defined with dull-yellow spore-print, well differentiated sterile cells on the gill-edge (and often on the gill-face) and the cobweb-like veil, or cortina, stretching from the cap-margin to the stem and easily observed in young specimens. The genus is split into three distinct groups: those with smooth spores, those with nodulose spores and those with subglobose spores ornamented with long projections. I. geophylla is included in the first group. The group which includes the nodulose-spored members has been elevated to the rank of genus by some authors, i.e. Astrosporina--a name referring to the spore-shape eg., I. asterospora.

Illustrations: F 13a (too blue); LH 155; NB 139⁵; WD 65⁴.

~Laccaria laccata~ (Fries) Cooke

Deceiver

Cap: width 12-28 mm. Stem: width 4-8 mm; length 15-60 mm.

Description:

Cap: hygrophanous, reddish brown or brick-colour becoming ochraceous on drying, but can be rapidly returned to the original colour by placing on the top a drop of water which is rapidly absorbed; fragile, convex at first then flattened or depressed about centre, smooth or surface scaley, striate at margin when moist.

Stem: similarly coloured to the cap, fibrous, cylindrical, tough and usually with white woolly base.

Gills: adnate with or without a decurrent tooth, thick, distant and pinkish or pale reddish-brown, powdered with white when mature.