Mycena aetites

Description

Mycena aetites is a species of mushroom in the family Mycenaceae. This rare mushroom is found in Europe. The cap is a gray-brown color that is somewhat darker in the center. Initially conical in shape, the cap flattens out in maturity to become bell-shaped. The stipe has a pruinose apex and isglabrous below. The mushrooms have a raphanoid odor.

It can often be found growing together with M. leptocephala (Pers.) Gillet. The latter, however, can be distinguished on account of the smooth hyphae of the stipe cortex and the typical, inflated terminal cells.

This mushroom is considered inedible. It has an indistinct taste and a faint odor of radish.

Common names: Drab Bonnet, Eagle-stone.

Mushroom Identification

1. Cap

   0.5 to 2cm across; conical, becoming bell-shaped and eventually broadly umbonate; smooth; striate when moist; dull gray-brown.

2. Gills

   Adnate with a decurrent tooth; grey with a whitish edge.

3. Stem

   3 to 4.5cm long and 0.5 to 1mm in diameter; color as the cap but slightly darker towards the base; no stem ring.

4. Pileipellis

   Hyphae of the pileipellis are 2-4.5µm in diameter, with simple or complexly branched cylindrical excrescences. Clamp connections are present throughout.

5. Cystidia

   Cheilocystidia smooth, fusiform, up to 75µm long with finger-like extensions often at both ends. Pleurocystidia are abundant and similar in form to cheilocystidia.

6. Spores

   Pip-shaped, smooth, 9-10 x 5-5.5µm; amyloid.

7. Spore Print

   White.

8. Odor and Taste

   Odor faint, of bleach (ammonia) or of radish; taste not distinctive.

9. Habitat & Ecological Role

   Saprobic, in grassy leaf litter and short grass, often in mossy lawns where waxcaps also appear.

History

The basionym of this species was defined when, in 1838, the great Swedish mycologist Elias Magnus Fries described the Drab Bonnet and named it Agaricus aetites. Famous french mycologist Lucien Quélet transferred this species to its present genus Mycena in 1872, thereby establishing its currently accepted scientific name Mycena aetites.

The specific epithet aetites may refer to the aetites or aetite, a stone used to promote childbirth. It is also called an eagle-stone.

Synonyms of Mycena aetites include Agaricus aetites Fr., Mycena umbellifera (Schaeff.) Quél., Agaricus consimilis Cooke, Mycena consimilis (Cooke) Sacc., and Mycena cinerea Massee & Crossl.

Photo sources:

Photo 1 - Author: Dr. Hans-Günter Wagner (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Photo 2 - Author: Arne Aronsen, Naturhistorisk museum, Universitetet i Oslo (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Photo 3 - Author: Jerzy Opioła (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Photo 4 - Author: Jerzy Opioła (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Photo 5 - Author: Dr. Hans-Günter Wagner (CC BY-SA 2.0)