Naucoria scolecina
Description
Mushrooms of the genus Naucoria are sometimes called aldercaps because many (but not all) of them grow under alder trees, often in swamps known as carr woodland. It is rare and found in many European countries, including Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, France, and Spain.
Common names: Cinnamon Aldercap.
Mushroom Identification
Cap
0.5 - 3.5cm across, convex becoming flattish but slightly umbonate; reddish brown, smooth at center; finely velvety towards the margin; faintly striate when wet; hygrophanous.
Gills
Emarginate; moderately crowded; brown, becoming red-brown at maturity.
Stem
Cylindrical, 2 to 8cm tall and 2 to 5mm diameter; yellowish brown to orange-brown sometimes with scattered white fibrils on the upper stem, becoming darker brown towards the base.
Spores
Fusiform with finely roughened surface, 8-15 x 5-7μm.
Spore Print
Rusty brown.
Cheilocystidia
Urticoid/bottle-shaped, with a narrow and tapering apical neck, sometimes slightly capitate, 30-60 x 8-15μm.
Basidia
Cylindrical; mostly or solely 2-spored..
Odor and Taste
Not distinctive.
Season
July to November.
Look-Alikes
Naucoria alnetorum
Is distinguished by its tight gills and large warty spores.
Naucoria striatula
May be a variant of the species that we present to you in this sheet, it is said to be long striated, but this is a highly variable and undefining character.
History
The basionym dates from 1838, when the great Swedish mycologist Elias Magnus Fries described this little mushroom scientifically and gave it the binomial name Agaricus scolecinus. In 1875 the French mycologist Lucien Quélet transferred this species to the genus Naucoria, establishing its currently-accepted scientific name naucoria scolecina.
Naucoria, the genus name, comes from the Latin word Naucum meaning something slight or trivial. The specific epithet scolecina refers to the worm-like cheilocystidia on the gill edges of this mushroom.
Synonyms
Agaricus scolecinus Fr.
Alnicola badia Kühner
Naucoria phaea Kühner & Maire
Alnicola scolecina (Fr.) Romagn
Photo sources:
Photo 1 - Author: natteheks (CC BY-NC 4.0)