Parasola lactea

Description
Mushroom Identification
Synonyms

Description

Parasola lactea is a small ephemeral and delicate agaric, partially auto-digesting, solitary to scattered on soil and leaf litter (leaves of Laurus nobilis and Quercus). Formerly placed in Coprinus, this Parasola is recognized by its translucent, sulcate, pale-gray cap with a yellowish to tawny-brown disc, and free, non-deliquescent gills. It is an inedible mushroom. Parasola lactea is part of the genus Parasola and the family Psathyrellaceae.

Can easily be confused with other pleated wheel caps but often appears quite light compared to several of the others.

Mushroom Identification

Cap

1.5-3.5 cm broad at maturity, at first narrowly ovoid to ellipsoid, expanding to convex, finally nearly plane, the disc sometimes slightly depressed; margin incurved, then decurved, eventually level; surface striate-sulcate to near the disc, the latter, tawny-brown, occasionally tinged rust-brown, elsewhere the ribs pale grayish-buff; context membranous, fragile; odor and taste not distinctive
Gills

Free, close to subdistant in age, narrow, pallid, eventually grey to blackish, not deliquescing.
Stem

2.5-6.5 cm long, 1-2 mm thick, round, fragile, more or less equal except for a sub-bulbous base; surface pallid, translucent, glabrous; partial veil absent.
Spores

8.0-11.0 x 7.0-9.5 x 5.0-7.5 µm, heart to apple-shaped to weakly angular in face-view, elliptical with an eccentric germ pore in profile; hilar appendage conspicuous; spores smooth, thin-walled.
Spore Print

Black.
Habitat

Solitary, scattered, to gregarious in grassy areas, especially under trees, disturbed ground, and decaying wood chips; fruiting spring, summer, and fall, after periods of moisture.