Chromosera cyanophylla

Description

Chromosera cyanophylla is a species of fungus in the genus Chromosera. In young specimens, the slimy cap and stem are bright yellow, and the gills are of a lilac hue. The lilac (violet) color soon fades to whitish-yellow. It can be found in small groups, specifically on soaked wood from conifers.

Long known as Mycena lilacifolia (Peck) A. H. Smith in North America, Chromosera cyanophylla is a beautiful, not uncommon, but often over-looked fungus. In Europe it was formerly known as Omphalina cyanophylla (Fries) Quélet.

Mushroom Identification

1. Cap

   1.0-2.5 cm broad at maturity, at first convex, becoming plano-convex, in age the disc broadly flattened, depressed or umbillicate; margin translucent-striate to near the disc, incurved in youth, then decurved, occasionally plane at maturity; surface glabrous, viscid, lavender to lilac, soon fading to yellowish or yellowish-tan; context thin, < 1 mm, pallid, unchanging; odor indistinct; taste mild.

2. Gills

   Decurrent, subdistant, lavender, fading to pale-lilac, cream-colored in age; lamellulae in 2-series.

3. Stipe

   1.0-2.5 cm long, 1.0-2.0 mm thick, fragile, hollow, more or less equal, sometimes sub-bulbous; surface glabrous, viscid, lavender, becoming yellowish to pale-tan in age, lavender-colored mycelium often at the base; partial veil absent.

4. Spores

   6.0-7.5 x 3.0-3.5 µm, tear-shaped, smooth, thin-walled, hilar appendage not distinct, with numerous granular inclusions, inamyloid.

5. Spore Print

   White.

6. Habitat

   Gregarious to clustered on or under the bark of conifer logs; fruiting commonly in late spring after snow melt in montane regions, occasional during the winter months in coastal forests.

Photo sources:

Photo 1 - Author: Django Grootmyers (heelsplitter) (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Photo 2 - Author: Sava Krstic (sava) (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Photo 3 - Author: walt sturgeon (Mycowalt) (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Photo 4 - Author: Britt Bunyard (Fungi magazine) (bbunyard) (CC BY-SA 3.0)