Hohenbuehelia grisea

Description

Hohenbuehelia grisea is recognized by a grayish-black, sparsely tomentose cap, and gills that become cream-colored in age. Characteristic of the genus, the cap context of Hohenbuehelia grisea is partially gelatinous, a feature that can be seen by sectioning the cap and examining with a hand lens.

Mushroom Identification

1. Ecology

   Saprobic on the deadwood of hardwoods and (less often) conifers; growing gregariously or in shelf-like clusters; summer and fall; widely distributed in eastern North America, and reported from California.

2. Cap

   2-5 cm across; convex, becoming planoconvex; fan-shaped to semicircular or kidney-shaped in outline; rubbery and moist; fairly smooth, or finely fuzzy in places, especially toward the point of attachment; nearly black at first, grayish-black.

3. Gills

   Close or nearly distant; whitish, becoming dull yellowish.

4. Stem

   Absent, but a tiny pseudo-stem is occasionally present.

5. Flesh

   Whitish to brownish; rubbery.

6. Odor and Taste

   Odor mealy or not distinctive; taste mealy.

7. Spore Print

   White.

8. Microscopic Features

   Spores 6-9 x 3-4.5 µ; elliptical; smooth; inamyloid. Cheilocystidia lecythiform to subclavate with a long neck; to about 40 x 10 µ. Pleurocystidia ("metuloids") lanceolate to fusoid; to about 100 x 25 µ; with thick (2-6 µ) walls; often developing heavy apical encrustations. Pileipellis a thin cutis-like tangle above a thick zone of gelatinized hyphae. Clamp connections are present.

Look-Alikes

1. Hohenbuehelia mastrucata

   Small grayish species that differ in possessing gelatinous spines near the cap margin and broader spores.

2. Resupinatus applicatus and Panellus spp. Resupinatus applicatus

   Forms gray-brown, diminutive shelves on the undersurface of downed hardwoods, but is smaller, seldom larger than 5.0 mm broad, and remains inverted cupulate throughout development. Microscopically it is distinguished by the lack of metuloid type cystidia. Panellus species can be separated by their amyloid spores.

Photo sources:

Photo 1 - Author: cgmayers (Public Domain)

Photo 2 - Author: deniszabin (CC BY 4.0)