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
Ecology
Saprobic, growing in dense clusters terrestrially, often in grass; summer and fall. North American distribution is uncertain.
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.
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Gills
Attached to the stem or free from it; close or nearly distant; pale, becoming black; deliquescing (turning to black "ink").
Stem
4-10 cm long; 1-4 mm thick; equal; smooth to very finely hairy or granulated; white; hollow.
Flesh
Insubstantial; whitish to gray.
Odor and Taste
Not distinctive.
Spore Print
Black.
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.
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)
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