Chrysomphalina chrysophylla

What You Should Know

Chrysomphalina chrysophylla is a species of mushroom with a north temperate distribution. An attractive but uncommon mushroom is recognized by a convex-depressed, peach-colored cap that is overlain with brownish, appressed fibrils or fine scales. Yellowish gills, a nearly glabrous stipe concolorous with the cap, and a lignicolous habit also help to identify this species.

Recent DNA studies have supported the idea that Chrysomphalina chrysophylla is fairly closely related to the waxy caps (despite sharing virtually none of the features which used to define them), many branches away from Gerronema strombodes on the evolutionary tree.

Described by Elias Magnus Fries in 1821, it was placed in the genus Chrysomphalina by Swiss mycologist Heinz Clémençon in 1982.

Other names: Golden-Gilled Chrysomphalina, Golden-Gilled Gerronema, Goldgill Navelcap.

Chrysomphalina chrysophylla Mushroom Identification

1. Ecology

   Saprobic on the well-decayed wood of conifers; growing alone, scattered, or, more often, gregariously; summer and fall; fairly widely distributed in North America, but not common.

2. Cap

   1-4 cm across; planoconvex with an inrolled margin at first, becoming nearly flat and centrally depressed; moist when fresh; very finely scurfy or scaly with gray-brown to yellow-brown fibers and scales; yellowish underneath the brown material; fading.

3. Gills

   Running down the stem; distant or nearly so; yellow to pale yellow or orangish-yellow.

4. Stem

   2-4 cm long and up to 3 mm thick; more or less equal; bald or very minutely hairy; yellow to orange-yellow or nearly whitish.

5. Flesh

   Thin; orangish to yellowish.

6. Odor and Taste

   Not distinctive.

7. Spore Print

   Yellowish.

8. Microscopic Features

   Spores 8.5-15.5 x 4.5-7 µ; smooth; elliptical; inamyloid. Basidia is mostly 4-spored. Cystidia absent. Clamp connections absent. Tissues in the cap and stem are not sarcodimitic.

Chrysomphalina chrysophylla Look-Alikes

1. Chrysomphalina aurantiaca

   Smaller, more common relative with an orangish cap and stipe and peach-orange, decurrent gills. It also occurs on rotting conifer wood.

2. Hygrophoropsis aurantiaca

   Another wood rotter, is somewhat similar but has much brighter, forked gills.

Chrysomphalina chrysophylla Synonyms

1. Omphalia chrysophylla (Fr.) P. Kumm., 1871

2. Omphalina chrysophylla (Fr.) Murrill, 1916

3. Armillariella chrysophylla (Fr.) Singer, 1943

4. Gerronema chrysophyllum (Fr.) Singer, 1959

5. Haasiella chrysophylla (Fr.) Raithelh., 1973

6. Chrysobostrychodes chrysophyllus (Fr.) G. Kost, 1985

Sources:

Photo 1 - Author: Ron Pastorino (Ronpast) (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported)

Photo 2 - Author: Byrain (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported)