Cystolepiota seminuda
Description
Cystolepiota seminuda is an inedible, common mushroom of the genus Cystolepiota. It can be found on humus, often along forest roads. The cap is convex to bell-shaped; white, evenly grainy, often with a fringed margin and up to 3 cm in diameter. The gills are white and crowded, with white spores. The stem is white, turning slightly purple when bruised, flaky and grainy.
When fresh and young, its snowy white cap and stem are covered with a granulated, powdery material that is easily rubbed off.
Lepiota seminuda is a former name. Cystolepiota sistrata, as it is applied by many authors, is a synonym.
Common names: Bearded Dapperling, Lilliputian Lepiota (Arora, 1990), Bedla Polonahá (Czech Republic), Blegpudret Parasolhat (Danish), Kleine Poederparasol (Dutch), Lepiote Demi-Nue (French), Weisser Mehlschirmling (German), Rosa Melparasollsopp (Norwegian), Czubniczka Łysawa (Polish), Blek Puderskivling (Swedish).
Mushroom Identification
Ecology
Saprobic; growing alone or gregariously in hardwood and conifer forests, in humus or from well-decayed wood; late summer and fall; widely distributed throughout North America.
Cap
1-3 cm; convex, expanding to bell-shaped or broadly convex, with a broad central bump; dry; covered with a powdery, granular dusting; white, developing reddish to pink spots; the margin not lined, hung with powdery veil remnants.
Gills
Free from the stem; close; short-gills frequent; white, becoming yellowish white.
Stem
30-40 mm long; 1-2 mm thick; equal; when fresh and young covered with powdery material like the cap; becoming nearly bald; white when young, becoming reddish to pink from the base up; basal mycelium white and copious.
Flesh
Whitish; very thin.
Chemical Reactions
KOH negative on cap surface.
Spore Print
White.
Microscopic Features
Spores 4-5 x 1.5-2.5 µ; cylindric to long-ellipsoid, or occasionally somewhat irregular; smooth; hyaline in KOH; yellowish in Melzer's. Basidia 4-sterigmate; to about 18 x 5 µ. Hymenial cystidia not found. Pileipellis a cystoderm of subglobose, inflated elements 20-30 µ wide, hyaline in KOH. Clamp connections present.
Medicinal Properties
Antitumor effects. Polysaccharides extracted from the mycelial culture of C. seminuda and administered intraperitoneally (dosage 300 mg/kg) into white mice inhibited the growth of Sarcoma 180 and Ehrlich solid cancers by 70% and 60%, respectively (Ohtsuka et al., 1973).
Photo sources:
Photo 1 - Author: Dwergenpaartje (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Photo 2 - Author: James K. Lindsey (CC BY-SA 2.5)
Photo 3 - Author: Jerzy Opioła (CC BY-SA 4.0)