Coprinellus hiascens

What You Should Know

Coprinellus hiascens is a species of mushroom in the family Psathyrellaceae. It is a small brown to gray coprinoid mushroom defined by microscopic features.

The better-known Coprinellus disseminatus also belongs to this group. Coprinellus hiascens, however, lacks the inflated veil cells found in Coprinellus disseminatus, and features bottle-shaped cheilocystidia, long and tapering pileocystidia, and elliptical to egg-shaped spores.

First described as Agaricus hiascens by mycologist Elias Magnus Fries in 1821, it was later transferred to the genus Coprinellus in 2001.

Coprinus hiascens is a synonym.

Coprinellus hiascens Mushroom Identification

1. Ecology

   Saprobic, growing in dense clusters terrestrially, often in grass; summer and fall. North American distribution is uncertain.

2. Cap

   10-40 mm; conico-convex to planoconvex when expanded; grooved nearly to the center; brownish when in the button stage but soon gray overall, with a brownish center; very finely flecked with whitish veil material (use a hand lens), at least when young; the margin becoming tattered as the gills dissolve.

3. Gills

   Attached to the stem or free from it; close or nearly distant; pale, becoming black; deliquescing (turning to black "ink").

4. Stem

   4-10 cm long; 1-4 mm thick; equal; smooth to very finely hairy or granulated; white; hollow.

5. Flesh

   Insubstantial; whitish to gray.

6. Odor and Taste

   Not distinctive.

7. Spore Print

   Black.

8. Microscopic Features

   Spores 7.5-12 x 4-6 µ; elliptical to ovoid; smooth; with a central pore. Basidia 4-spored; surrounded by brachybasidia. Pleurocystidia absent. Cheilocystidia lageniform; up to 75 x 18 µ. Pileipellis an epithelium. Pileocystidia slender and tapering; lageniform; up to 200 µ long; hyaline; with thin walls. Veil elements are sausage-shaped to irregularly cylindric, with more or less subclavate terminal elements up to 15 µ wide.

9. Similar Species

   Coprinellus impatiens are very similar, different in size of spores and growth environment. Coprinellus disseminatus is also similar.

Sources:

Photo 1 - Author: yikaimen (Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International)

Photo 2 - Author: xuacc (Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International)