Leucopaxillus tricolor
Description
Leucopaxillus tricolor is a large and fleshy saprotrophic fungus growing preferably on calcareous soil in deciduous forests (under Fagus, Quercus and Carpinus) with a long continuity. This distinctive species of Leucopaxillus has a brownish cap, pale yellow gills, and a stout, white stem—presumably representing the three colors referred to by the species epithet tricolor.
Mushroom Identification
Ecology
Saprobic, decomposing the litter of hardwoods; growing gregariously; summer and fall; widely distributed east of the Great Plains but more common in the middle southeast.
Cap
4–11 cm; convex with an inrolled margin when young, becoming broadly convex to nearly flat; dry; bald; brownish to dull brown.
Gills
Broadly attached to the stem; close; short-gills frequent; separable from the cap as a layer; pale yellow. In dried specimens, the gills turn pale purplish brown to pinkish.
Stem
3–6 cm long; 2–4 cm thick; stout; swollen in the middle; dry; bald; white; with prominent and copious white basal mycelium.
Flesh
White; thick; hard; not changing when sliced.
Odor and Taste
Odor is strong and foul, reminiscent of coal tar.
Spore Print
White.
Chemical Reactions
Cap surface grayish to dull red with KOH.
Microscopic Features
Spores 6–8 x 4–4.5 µm (including ornamentation); ellipsoid to subamygdaliform; very finely spiny with spines under 0.5 µm; amyloid; hyaline in KOH. Basidia 4-spored. Cheilocystidia 35–75 x 2–3 µm; cylindric-flexuous to filiform; smooth; hyaline in KOH. Pleurocystidia not found. Lamellar trama parallel. Pileipellis a cutis of hyphae 2–3 µm wide, hyaline to brown in KOH. Clamp connections are present.
Synonyms
Clitocybe tricolor
Melanoleuca tricolor
Tricholoma tricolor
Photo sources:
Photo 1 - Author: joseba45 (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Photo 2 - Author: leptonia (CC BY-NC 4.0)