Lepista luscina

Description

Lepista luscina is rare a species of fungus belonging to the family Tricholomataceae. It is a pallid gray to buff-gray mushroom, often with darker blotches arranged in concentric circles; mealy odor; dull pink gills when mature, easily separated from a cap; in meadows. It has a cosmopolitan distribution.

Mushroom Identification

1. Cap

   3 - 10 (12) cm in diameter, fleshy, initially hemispherical, with a turned edge, later convex-spread, flat-spread, with a thin, smooth, sometimes wrinkled, and wavy edge. The surface of the cap is whitish, gray, brownish-gray, sometimes unevenly colored, with brownish spots, sometimes striped.

2. Gills

   The gills are thick, thick, ingrown, first white, later pinkish, grayish, reddish-gray, or brownish.

3. Stem

   2.5 - 6 (10) cm high, 0.5 - 2.5 cm in diameter, cylindrical, often visually extended at the base, fibrous, solid, grayish, the same color as the surface of the cap.

4. Flesh

   The flesh is dense, whitish, sweet in taste, with a pleasant flour smell.

5. Spores

   4-7 * 2.5-4.5 μm, elliptical, with a finely warty or weakly dotted surface.

6. Spore Print

   White or pink.

7. Habitat

   Grows from August to late November, in deciduous forests on lighted meadows, on the edges, meadows, pastures, steppes, alone and in groups, can form "witch rings" and rows.

Synonyms

1. Omphalia luscina (Pers.) Quél., 1886

2. Clitocybe luscina (Fr.) Sacc., 1887

3. Melanoleuca luscina (Fr.) Métrod, 1949

4. Austroclitocybe luscina (Fr.) Raithelh., 1990

5. Lepista panaeolus (Fr.) P. Karst., 1879

6. Tricholoma panaeolus (Fr.) Quél., 1872

7. Gyrophila panaeolus (Fr.) Quél., 1886

8. Rhodopaxillus panaeolus (Fr.) Maire, 1913

Photo sources:

Photo 1 - Author: Gerhard Koller (Gerhard) (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Photo 2 - Author: Jose Angel Urquia Goitia (CC BY-SA 4.0)