Xeromphalina campanella

Description

Xeromphalina campanella has a small umbrella-shaped cap, about 0.5–2 cm wide. The thin brown stalk is 1–5 cm long and 1–3 mm wide, yellow at the apex, reddish-brown below, with brown or yellow hairs at the base. The gills are pale yellow to pale orange. The spore print is pale buff. The young species caps are bell-shaped. As they mature, the outer part of the cap expands and rises which leaves the center depressed, resembling a navel.

The fruiting occurs in clumps or very dense clusters on decaying logs, stumps, and woody debris of coniferous trees. The species is commonly found in North America. At times, the species almost entirely covers old tree stumps.

Although the species is not poisonous, the mushrooms are small and bitter-tasting with no value as edibles.

Common names: Pinewood Gingertail, Golden Trumpets, Fuzzy Foot.

Mushroom Identification

1. Ecology

   Saprobic on the deadwood of conifers; typically growing in dense clusters on stumps and logs, but occasionally growing alone or gregariously; found nearly year-round, especially in warmer climates, but most common in summer and fall; apparently widely distributed in North America.

2. Cap

   5–20 mm across; convex, becoming broadly convex with a central depression and an arched margin; bald; dry; widely lined on the margin when wet; brownish yellow, rusty, yellowish, or orange; usually darker towards the center; fading.

3. Gills

   Running down the stem; fairly distant; usually with many cross-veins; pale yellow or orangish; short-gills present near the cap margin.

4. Stem

   1.5–3 cm long; 1–2 mm thick; more or less equal; yellowish above, darker below; bald above, finely hairy at the base with orange to yellow basal mycelium; rather wiry and tough; often curved.

5. Flesh

   Insubstantial.

6. Odor and Taste

   Not distinctive.

7. Spore Print

   White.

8. Microscopic Features

   Spores 5.5–7 x 3–4.5 µm; smooth; ellipsoid; weakly to moderately amyloid. Pleuro- and cheilocystidia fusiform; up to about 55 x 15 µm. Caulocystidia clavate to fusiform; up to 75 x 15 µm; thin-walled; hyaline in KOH. Clamp connections are present.

Look-Alikes

1. Xeromphalina campanelloides

   Distinguishable via microscopic features.

2. Xeromphalina kauffmanii

   Resembles the species, but has a more yellow cap and grows on decaying wood of broad-leaved trees.

3. Xeromphalina brunneola

   Also resembles the species, but has smaller, narrowly elliptical spores, and differs in odor, taste, and cap color.

Photo sources:

Photo 1 - Author: Holger Krisp (CC BY 3.0)

Photo 2 - Author: Holger Krisp (CC BY 3.0)

Photo 3 - Author: Jerzy Opioła (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Photo 4 - Author: Σ64 (CC BY 3.0)

Photo 5 - Author: Christian (Christian Schwarz) (CC BY-SA 3.0)