Entoloma mougeotii

Description

Entoloma mougeotii is a species of fungus belonging to the family Entolomataceae. This rare small mushroom has a gorgeous, grayish-purple cap and stem. The cap is finely scaly, especially over the center, and its margin is not lined. The gills are white at first, later turning pinkish as the spores mature. The stem has a white apex and white basal mycelium.

Mushroom Identification

1. Ecology

   Saprobic; growing gregariously in moss and disturbed ground, or grassy areas (path sides, road banks, and so on); summer; North American distribution uncertain.

2. Cap

   1-2 cm; planoconvex with a slightly incurved margin at first, becoming shallowly depressed, with or without a small umbo; dry; minutely fibrillose and scaly; dark purple-gray at first, fading slightly with maturity, or appearing paler due to the break-up of the cuticle.

3. Gills

   Attached to the stem; close; white at first, becoming pink; short-gills frequent.

4. Stem

   2.5-5 cm long; 2-4 mm thick; equal; dry; bald or finely silky; white at the apex but colored like the cap overall; basal mycelium white.

5. Flesh

   Thin; insubstantial; watery whitish to grayish.

6. Odor and Taste

   Odor somewhat fragrant and spicy, or not distinctive; taste not distinctive.

7. Spore Print

   Pink.

8. Microscopic Features

   Spores 9-11 x 5-6 µ; 5- to 9-sided, but with irregular and often shallow angles, making precise determination of the outline difficult; heterodiametric; smooth; hyaline. Pleurocystidia absent. Cheilocystidia cylindric-flexuous with rounded, subclavate, clavate, or subcapitate apices; 35-65 x 5-7.5 µ; thin-walled; differentiated. Pileipellis a cutis with frequent areas of ascending or trichoderm-like elements; terminal elements clavate or subcystidioid and inflated; brown to brownish in 10% ammonia, with intracellular pigment. Clamp connections are present.

9. Similar Species

   Entoloma serrulatum is similar but has black-edged serrulate gills.

History

Swedish mycologist Elias Magnus Fries describe this species scientifically in 1873 and named it Eccilia mougeotii.

The currently-accepted scientific name of this species dates from 1967, when American mycologist Lexemuel Ray Hesler (1888 - 1977) transferred it (with several other pink gills) to the genus Entoloma, thus establishing its scientific name as Entoloma mougeotii.

Synonyms of Entoloma mougeotii var. mougeotii include Eccilia mougeotii Fr., Leptonia serrulata var. berkeleyi Maire, Entoloma ardosiacum var. mougeotii (Fr) A. Pearson & Dennis, Leptonia mougeotii (Fr) P. D. Orton, and Entoloma mougeotii (Fr) Hesler.

The generic name Entoloma comes from ancient Greek words entos, meaning inner, and lóma, meaning a fringe or a hem. It is a reference to the inrolled margins of many of the mushrooms in this genus.

Photo sources:

Photo 1 - Author: caspar s (Attribution 2.0 Generic)