Flammulaster erinaceellus

Description
Mushroom Identification
Synonyms

Description

Flammulaster erinaceellus is a species of fungus in the agaric family Tubariaceae. The fruit body has a hemispherical to convex cap that is covered with small, erect, brownish scales that can be readily rubbed off. The gills have an adnexed attachment to the stipe. It is either hollow or stuffed with a pith-like mycelium. Fruiting occurs on logs in the woods.

It was first described in 1876 as Agaricus detersibilis by Charles Horton Peck. Roy Watling transferred it to Flammulaster in 1967.

Pholiota erinaceella and Phaeomarasmius erinaceellus (misspelled by Singer and several subsequent authors as "Phaeomarasmius erinaceella") are synonyms.

Common names: Powder-scale Pholiota, Hedgehog Pholiota.

Mushroom Identification

Ecology

Saprobic on the deadwood of hardwoods; usually found on fallen, well decayed, decorticated logs; spring through fall; probably widely distributed east of the Great Plains, but more common in northeastern North America.
Cap

1-4 cm; convex becoming flat; dry; densely covered with granular scales that often become powdery; dark brown to dark rusty brown; the margin sometimes hung with remnants of the partial veil.
Gills

Attached to the stem; close; whitish at first, becoming brownish; often with frayed-looking edges.
Stem

3-4 cm long; under 5 mm thick; equal; covered with granular scales like the cap, but often less densely, revealing the paler color of the stem surface underneath; usually featuring a ring zone.
Flesh

Insubstantial.
Odor and Taste

Odor is not distinctive; tastes mild, bitter, or metallic.
Spore Print

Pale cinnamon brown.
Chemical Reactions

KOH red, then black on cap surface, dark reddish-brown on flesh; iron salts olive on flesh.
Microscopic Features

Spores 6-9 x 4-5 µ; smooth; more or less elliptical; yellowish to brownish in KOH; yellowish in Melzer's. Basidia are narrowly clavate; 4-sterigmate. Pleurocystidia absent. Cheilocystidia abundant; cylindrical below, with a bulbous, capitate end; up to 100 x 16 µ (at least over 50 µ long); hyaline to rusty brown in KOH. Pileipellis with chained, subglobose to irregular elements measuring up to 36 µ across, rusty brown in KOH.