Orange Mycena (Mycena leaiana)
Description
🌈 A Splash of Color: Mycena leaiana’s vivid orange cap, stem, and marginate gills (with colored edges!) make this little mushroom a standout in North American hardwood forests. The cap is bright orange when fresh, with a sticky surface that fades over time. Look closer, and you'll find pale cream to orange gill faces with striking orange edges — a detail that gives Mycena leaiana its unique charm.
🌎 Habitat & Range: This saprobic species loves to grow in dense, clustered groups on deciduous logs and branches, where it breaks down deadwood from the Great Plains to the eastern U.S. Its relative, Mycena leaiana var. australis, can also be spotted in Australia and New Zealand!
🧪 A Bioactive Beauty: Mycena leaiana’s vivid orange hue comes from the compound leainafulvene, a substance with mild antibacterial properties and potential effects on tumor cells. So, not only is this mushroom a visual delight, but it might also hold secrets valuable to science.
🍃 Fun Fact: Named in 1845 by Miles Joseph Berkeley after Ohio naturalist Thomas Gibson Lea, this species honors Lea’s contributions to early North American mycology.
🔍 Mushroom ID Tips:
Cap: Bright orange, fading with age, sticky when moist.
Gills: Orange-edged (marginate) with pale faces — perfect for ID.
Stem: Orange, with a rubbery texture and sticky surface.
Spore Print: White.
🍽️ Edibility: Although Mycena leaiana isn’t known to be poisonous, it’s not considered edible either due to its small size and rubbery texture. Plus, the orange color can rub off on your hands — imagine the mess in your mouth! 😅
🌳 Season Sightings: A delight to find from summer through early fall, especially after rain. Even in drier times, Mycena leaiana draws water deep from within its log host, ensuring it’s often available for curious mushroom hunters to spot.
Common names: Orange Mycena or Lea’s Mycena.
Mushroom Identification
🍄 Cap
Size: Small, ranging from 0.39 to 1.57 inches (1 to 4 cm) in diameter.
Shape: Starts rounded or bell-shaped, then expands to convex with age, sometimes forming a central depression.
Color: Vibrant orange when young, fades with age to dull orange or whitish, occasionally with greenish tints.
Texture: Sticky to slimy, especially in moist weather; smooth with lined edges.
🍃 Gills
Attachment: Narrowly attached to the stem (adnexed).
Color: Pale yellow to salmon with brilliant orange-red edges due to an orange pigment that may stain skin when handled.
Spacing: Close or crowded, giving a dense appearance.
🦵 Stem
Size: 1.18 to 2.76 inches (3 to 7 cm) long, 2-4 mm thick.
Color: Bright orange, becoming paler near the top.
Texture: Sticky when wet; covered in fine hairs at the top and denser, powdery hairs at the base.
Interior: Hollow, cartilaginous, and may exude orange juice when squeezed.
🟠 Flesh & Odor
Flesh: Thin, pallid to light orange; watery and soft.
Odor: Mild, sometimes with a faint mealy scent.
Taste: Mild, sometimes slightly mealy.
🔬 Spore Print & Microscopic Features
Spore Print: White.
Spores: Elliptical, smooth, 7-10 x 5-6 µm; weakly amyloid.
Cystidia: Cheilocystidia have unique shapes with projections; pleurocystidia scattered to abundant.
🌎 Ecology & Habitat
Type: Saprobic – grows by decomposing dead hardwood.
Habitat: Found in dense clusters on hardwood, especially beech; can sometimes grow solitary, often seen binding leaf litter.
Season: Summer to early fall.
Range: Widespread east of the Rocky Mountains.
Photo sources:
Photo 1 - Author: Alex Karasoulos (Public Domain)
Photo 2 - Author: Annie Weissman (Public Domain)
Photo 3 - Author: Annie Weissman (Public Domain)
Photo 4 - Author: Kalvin Chan (CC BY 4.0)
Photo 5 - Author: brendanboyd (CC BY 4.0)
Photo 6 - Author: Jeremy Flint (CC BY 4.0)
