Cyptotrama asprata

🍄 Description

Meet the Cyptotrama asprata (Golden-Scruffy Collybia or Spiny Woodknight) — a dazzling little mushroom known for its bright yellow to orange cap adorned with tufts of tiny fibrils resembling spikes when young. As it matures, these tufts break down, leaving the cap looking woolly or smooth. This saprobic species feasts on decaying wood and thrives in tropical regions worldwide, often adding a pop of color to the forest floor.

📅 Season: July through September in temperate regions or year-round in tropical climates.

❌ Edibility: Considered inedible.

🔎 Identification

• Cap: 🎩 0.6–2.7 cm (0.24–1.06 in), convex to nearly flat. Initially spiked and granular, it darkens with age, shifting from vibrant yellow to brownish-yellow. The edges may curl in when young and straighten later.

• Gills: 🎨 Pale yellow to white, widely spaced, and attach either broadly to the stem (adnate) or run slightly down it (decurrent). When crushed, they feel greasy.

• Stem: 📏 1–6.7 cm (0.4–2.6 in) long and 0.2–0.4 cm (0.08–0.16 in) thick. Slightly thicker at the base, often woolly or granular, matching the cap’s color but sometimes paler.

• Flesh: 🥛 Whitish to pale yellow, unchanging when sliced, with no distinct taste or smell.

• Spore Print: 🤍 White.

• Habitat: 🌍 This mushroom loves decaying wood of both deciduous and coniferous trees, such as maples, beech, oaks, and pines. It's commonly found scattered or in small groups in tropical forests but also appears sporadically in temperate zones. Collectors have found it in places like Costa Rica, Australia, India, and eastern North America, though it's rare in Europe and Northwestern North America.

• Chemical Reaction: 🧫 A pink hue appears on the cap surface when treated with KOH.

🧪 Microscopic Features

• Spores: Thin-walled, smooth, ellipsoidal (7–11 x 6–7 µm), and inamyloid (non-staining with iodine).

• Basidia: Club-shaped, often holding 2–4 spores.

• Cystidia: Both edge (cheilocystidia) and face (pleurocystidia) cells are present, appearing thin-walled and hyaline.

• Pileipellis: A hymeniform surface of golden, clavate to pyriform cells, adding to its radiant appearance.

📜 Synonyms

• Agaricus aspratus Berkeley (1847)

• Agaricus lacunosus Peck (1873)

• Tricholoma lacunosum Saccardo (1887)

• Lepiota asprata (Berkeley) Saccardo (1887)

• Marasmius aculeatus Patouillard (1900)

• Collybia lacunosa (Saccardo) Peck (1908)

• Armillaria asprata (Berkeley) Petch (1910)

• Xerula asprata (Berkeley) Aberdeen (1962)

• Xerulina asprata (Berkeley) Pegler (1972)

Photo sources:

Photo 1 - Author: Wiktha13 (CC BY 4.0)

Photo 2 - Author: Hans W. Dahners (CC BY 4.0)

Photo 3 - Author: Ian Dodd (CC BY 4.0)

Photo 4 - Author: Ian Dodd (CC BY 4.0)