Gymnopilus dilepis

What You Should Know

Gymnopilus dilepis is a species of mushroom in the family Cortinariaceae. It is a gilled mushroom with a reddish brown to rusty orange to the yellow cap. Typically found growing on wood but at times may appear terrestrial if the wood is burned or decomposed.

The Magenta Rustgill is inedible and may even be poisonous; certainly, some Gymnopilus fungi have been found to contain seriously poisonous chemicals.

This species is found in India and North America. It was given its current name by mycologist Rolf Singer in 1951.

Other names: Magenta Rustgill.

Gymnopilus dilepis Mushroom Identification

1. Cap

   4 to 8cm across; becoming almost flat but usually retaining a broad central umbo; felted when young, usually (but not always) breaking up into scales and sometimes cracking; purple becoming more orange-brown when old.

2. Gills

   Adnate; crowded; yellow, turning yellowish-brown when the spores mature.

3. Stem

   4 to 8cm long and 1 to 2cm in diameter, more or less cylindrical; smooth, with fine longitudinal fibers; yellowish flushed with cap color; a fragile, sometimes ephemeral stem ring that becomes stained with spores at maturity.

4. Spores

   Ellipsoidal, warty, 6.5-8 x 4.5-5µm.

5. Spore Print

   Yellowish brown.

6. Odor and Taste

   Not distinctive.

7. Habitat

   Saprobic, on stumps, buried fallen branches and chipped wood of coniferous trees, especially pines.

8. Season

   Autumn in Britain; October through to the New Year in Mediterranean countries.

9. Similar Species

   Tricholomopsis rutilans is a similar species and can sometimes be found on coniferous woodchips.

Gymnopilus dilepis Taxonomy and Etymology

This mushroom was described in 1871 by British mycologists Miles Joseph Berkeley and Christopher Edmund Broome (1812 - 1866) when the Magenta Rustgill was given the scientific name Agaricus dilepis. It was German-American mycologist Rolf Singer who, in a 1951 publication, transferred this species to its present genus and thereby established its currently-accepted scientific name Gymnopilus dilepis.

Gymnopilus was proposed as a new genus name in 1879 by the Finnish mycologist Petter Adolf Karsten (1834 - 1917). The origin of this generic name is the prefix Gymn- meaning naked, and the suffix -pilus which means cap - hence naked or bald caps would normally be an expected feature of the mushrooms in this genus.

The specific epithet dilepis means 'with two scales' or perhaps 'with scales in pairs'.

Gymnopilus dilepis Synonyms

1. Agaricus dilepis Berk. & Broome (1871)

2. Flammula dilepis (Berk. & Broome) Sacc. (1887)

3. Naucoria dilepis (Berk. & Broome) Cout. (1925)

Sources:

Photo 1 - Author: cooperj (Attribution 4.0 International)

Photo 2 - Author: wangqg (Attribution 4.0 International)