Cantharellula umbonata

Description
Mushroom Identification

Description

Cantharellula umbonata is a widespread species of fungus in the genus Cantharellula. It is a small to medium-sized, funnel-shaped agaric with grey cap and forked gills that grow associated with Polytrichum moss and fruits in the summer and fall.

It is common in eastern North America, particularly in summer and autumn. It is associated with Polytrichum and other mosses found in the southeastern United States. Edible if collected young and fresh.

Common names: Grayling Mushroom, Fläckkantarell (Sweden), Kuprainā gailenīte (Latvia).

Mushroom Identification

Cap

2-5 cm convex at first, becoming flat to sunken; most specimens with a small, pointed umbo; margin incurved at first, becoming upturned and wavy in age; surface grey to grayish brown overall, often appearing to have whitish blotches; dry to moist; smooth to minutely hairy; flesh white; odor and taste not distinctive.
Gills

Close to crowded, decurrent, repeatedly and regularly forked; whitish, developing spot-like reddish or sometimes yellow stains in age.
Stem

2.5-8cm x 0.3-0.7cm, often with swollen portions; some-what flexible, often bent, curved, and/or twisted; white to grey; silky above, stuffed, usually with whitish mycelium binding the lower stalk to mass; often water-saturated near the base.
Odor

Scented (Phillips), faintly of cucumbers, or fragrant or not distinctive, (Redhead(36)), not distinctive (Bessette)
Taste

Mild (Phillips), not distinctive (Redhead(36), Bessette)
Spore Print

White.
Similar Species

Cantharellus tubaeformis which has a dingy-brown cap bearing forked veins instead of gills. Some gray Lactarius species grow in moss but their flesh produces milk.