Clitopilus geminus

What You Should Know

Rhodocybe truncata is a species of fungus in the Entolomataceae family. It produces fruit bodies that are fleshy, medium-sized, and cream-colored when young. When fresh it appears quite 'dry' but when wet it becomes quite dark and almost looks like a different species. It can grow in single fruitbodies but often they fuse and look almost clumped.

The mushroom has a pleasant mealy scent, spicy and slightly aromatic, but can taste slightly overpowering when raw.

This species was also known as Rhodocybe truncata (Gillet) Sing. ex Bon in the past, but this was a mistake and this usage was illegitimate. The specimen was originally described as R. truncata (Schaeff.) Singer by Schäffer must have been something else.

Other names: Tan Pinkgill.

Clitopilus geminus Mushroom Identification

1. Cap

   Ochre with pale pink tinges, turning browner with age; 3 to 10cm across; initially convex, flattening with a shallow umbo but retaining a downturned or slightly inturned margin; not hygrophanous; matt, not viscid; the cap margin is not striate.

2. Gills

   Fairly crowded, adnate/sinuate with a small decurrent tooth; very pale buff with a pink tinge. Hymenial pseudocystidia and clamps

   are absent.

3. Stem

   Cylindrical or slightly clavate at base; white and mealy near the apex then rose pink and fibrous, becoming white towards the base; 4 to 8cm long and 0.8 to 2cm in diameter; longitudinally fibrillose; no stem ring.

4. Spores

   Isodiametrical (broadly ellipsoidal, angular), thin-walled with small irregular warts; 4.5-7 x 3-4.5μm.

5. Spore Print

   Flesh pink to salmon pink.

6. Odor and Taste

   Mealy odor (like wet flour) or fruity; oily/nutty taste.

7. Habitat

   Saprobic, usually in groups, on soil in scrubby grassland and woodlands, often with Stinging Nettles.

8. Season

   Fruiting late summer and autumn.

9. Similar Species

   Entoloma clypeatum lacks the reddish tints on the cap and stem and has much larger spores.

Clitopilus geminus Taxonomy and Etymology

When in 1793 French mycologist Jean-Jacques Paulet (1740 - 1826) described this species he gave it the scientific (binomial) name Hypophyllum geminum. Elias Magnus Fries sanctioned the specific epithet in 1838, remaning the species as Agaricus geminus. The scientific name Rhodocybe gemina dates from a 1987 publication by Dutch mycologists Thomas W. Kuyper (b. 1954) and Machiel Evert Noordeloos (b. 1949).

The generic name Rhodocybe comes from ancient Greek words Rhodeos-, meaning pinkish, and -cybe, meaning head.

The specific epithet gemina is Latin for paired - presumably a reference to the fact that these mushrooms are rarely seen as singletons.

Clitopilus geminus Synonyms

1. Hebeloma truncatum (Schaeff.) P. Kumm., 1871

2. Tricholoma truncatum (Schaeff.) Quél., 1880

3. Gyrophila truncata (Schaeff.) Quél., 1886

4. Rhodopaxillus truncatus (Schaeff.) Maire, 1913

5. Clitopilus truncatus (Schaeff.) Kühner & Romagn., 1953

6. Hebelomatis truncatum (Schaeff.) Locq., 1979

7. Rhodocybe gemina (Paulet) Kuyper & Noordel., 1987

8. Hypophyllum geminum Paulet, 1793

9. Gyrophila gemina (Paulet) Quél., 1886

10. Tricholoma geminum (Paulet) Sacc., 1887

Sources:

Photo 1 - Author: Dr. Hans-Günter Wagner (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic)

Photo 2 - Author: Ian Alexander (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International)

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Photo 4 - Author: Lukas from London, England (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic)

Photo 5 - Author: Björn S... (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic)