Leucocoprinus cepistipes

What You Should Know

Leucocoprinus cepistipes is a species of Fungi in the family Agaricaceae. It is typically found on wood debris, such as wood chips. It features white gills that are free from the stem, a softly granular-powdery cap that has a pale grayish-brown center, and a relatively bald stem with a ring. It is widely distributed in North America, and relatively common.

The species is edible, but not very palatable.

Other names: Onion-Stalked Lepiota.

Leucocoprinus cepistipes Mushroom Identification

1. Ecology

   Saprobic; growing in clusters in woodchips, cultivated soil, gardens, and so on— also occasionally appearing in woods, especially in the vicinity of stumps and deadwood; spring through fall—and overwinter in warm climates; widely distributed in North America.

2. Cap

   3–9 cm; egg-shaped or nearly round when young, becoming convex to broadly convex with a sharp or shallow central hump, or nearly flat; dry; powdery with soft, whitish granules; whitish to pale brownish; usually featuring a grayish-brown center, even when young (but not infrequently nearly pure white in the button stage); the margin becoming distinctly lined.

3. Gills

   Free from the stem; close or nearly crowded; white, becoming pinkish to slightly brownish with old age.

4. Stem

   6–9 cm long; 4–10 mm thick; more or less equal, but swollen slightly near the bottom; bald; white, discoloring and slowly bruising yellowish, then pinkish to brownish; often turning pinkish (the color of red onion skin) with age; with a bracelet-like, white ring that quickly collapses and often disappears; basal mycelium white; attached to whitish rhizomorphs.

5. Flesh

   Whitish; very thin; unchanging when sliced.

6. Odor

   Not distinctive.

7. Chemical Reactions

   KOH negative on cap surface.

8. Spore Print

   White.

9. Microscopic Features

   Spores (5–) 7–11 (–13) x 4–7 µm; ellipsoid; smooth; with a tiny pore; thick-walled; hyaline in KOH; dextrinoid. Basidia 4-sterigmate. Pavement cells are present. Cheilocystidia 40–85 x 7.5–20 µm; clavate to lageniform; often becoming rostrate with a long, flexuous, irregular neck; thin-walled; smooth; hyaline in KOH. Pleurocystidia not found. Pileipellis is a poorly defined cutis of elements 2.5–5 µm wide, with many exserted terminal cells 50–100 x 3–7.5 µm, cylindric to subfusiform or fusiform, smooth, thin-walled, hyaline to brownish or yellowish in KOH. Pileipellis over the glabrous disc is a subcellular layer from which arise widely cylindric elements with rounded apices, 35–60 x 5–7.5 µm, smooth, hyaline in KOH.

Leucocoprinus cepistipes Synonyms

1. Agaricus caepestipes Sowerby, 1795

2. Agaricus luteus With., 1796

3. Agaricus cepistipes Sowerby, 1797

4. Lepiota cepistipes (Sowerby) P. Kumm., 1871

5. Lepiota cepistipes var. lutea (With.) Quél., 1886

6. Hiatula cepistipes (Sowerby) R. Heim & Romagn., 1934

Sources:

Photo 1 - Author: chezaaro (Aaron S) (Public Domain)

Photo 2 - Author: Len Worthington (lennyworthington) (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported)

Photo 3 - Author: Rudolphous (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International)