Psathyrella corrugis

Description

Psathyrella corrugis, is the type species of the basidiomycete fungus genus Psathyrella and family Psathyrellaceae. A small mushroom with a smooth, pale brown, bell-shaped cap. The gills are brown and typically have a pinkish edge. Spore print purple-black, spores ellipsoidal, smooth with a germinal pore, 10-13 x 6-7µm.

This ubiquitous mushroom often fruits in vast numbers in chip beds along with Hypholoma aurantiaca and Tubaria furfuracea. Although fragile and short-lived, it can be found throughout the mushroom season, fresh flushes appearing after rains.

Originally described from Europe as Agaricus corrugis, the species is considered non-toxic but lacking in flesh, flavor, and texture. It is inedible.

The lectotype of Psathyrella is Psathyrella gracilis, however P. corrugis was published in 1794, 27 years before P. gracilis was first published, making P. corrugis the correct name. The name given here is according to Index Fungorum.

Common names: Red Edge Brittlestem.

Mushroom Identification

1. Cap

   1.0-4.0 cm broad, obtuse-conic, campanulate to convex-umbonate at maturity, margin striate at first, obscurely so in age; surface moist, hygrophanous, medium-brown fading to pale buff-brown, the disc usually dingy yellowish-brown; flesh very thin, colored like the cap, unchanging; odor indistinct, taste, mild.

2. Gills

   Adnexed, moderately broad, close to crowded, pale dingy-buff, becoming brownish-gray in age.

3. Stipe

   4-8 cm tall, 1.5-3.0 mm thick, slender, thin, fragile, stuffed at maturity; more or less equal, sometimes twisted, occasionally continuing as a pseudorhiza with sparse white mycelium and adhering substrate; surface pruinose at the apex, often colored purple-brown from adhering spores, smooth elsewhere and concolorous with the cap; veil absent.

4. Spores

   Spores 11-13 x 5.5-7.0 µm, elliptical, smooth, with an apical pore.

5. Spore Print

   Purple-brown.

6. Habitat

   Gregarious or in large troops in disturbed habitats, e.g. wood chips, leaves, open grassy areas; fruiting year-round when moisture is available but especially abundant from late fall to mid-winter.

Look-Alikes

1. Panaeolina foenisecii

   Very similar but occurs in the grass during the warm months of the year and has mottled gills at maturity.

2. Psathyrella longipes

   The larger cousin of P. corrugis with an appendiculate cap margin.

Photo sources:

Photo 1 - Author: Psathyrella_gracilis_132503.jpg: (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Photo 2 - Author: Thomas Laxton (Tao) (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Photo 3 - Author: Michel Langeveld (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Photo 4 - Author: Ron Pastorino (Ronpast) (CC BY-SA 3.0)