Entoloma subcarneum
Tarrelos 17: 37. 2015.
Common Name: none
Synonym: Leptonia carnea Largent
Cap 40-70 mm broad, convex becoming plano-convex, often with a low umbo; margin inrolled to incurved, maturing decurved, occasionally rimose and wavy; surface dry, fibrillose squamulose, dark indigo blue; context soft, up to 5 mm thick at disc, rapidly thinning toward margin, two layered: bluish below the cuticle, whitish below, unchanging; odor and taste mildly farinaceous.
Gills adnate to adnexed, sometimes appearing notched, subdistant, relatively broad, up to 8 mm in width, pale blue, becoming bluish pink in age from maturing spores; edges even, lamellulae in two to three series.
Stipe 50-100 x 7-15 mm in width, round, more or less equal to slightly enlarged at the base, hollow or with a pith-like central core; surface dark indigo blue over a whitish background, fibrillose squamulose, often arranged in a patchy or reticulate pattern; context white, unchanging; partial veil absent; whitish mycelium at the base.
Spores 9-12.5 x 6.5-9.5 µm, angular with 5-6 sides; hilar appendage wedge-shaped; spores pinkish-brown in deposit.
Solitary to scattered in needle duff of conifers especially redwood (Sequoia sempervirens), occasional with Monterey cypress (Hesperocyparis macrocarpa) and oaks (Quercus spp.); fruiting from late fall to mid-winter; uncommon.
Unknown.
This beautiful species is recognized by a striking dark blue fibrillose cap and stipe. Its relatively large size helps to distinguish it from the many blue and often difficult to identify "Leptonias" in California. Of these, Leptonia pigmentosipes is most similar with a deep blue cap and stipe and fibrillose ornamentation, but it differs with smaller size, gills that are whitish to greyish, and unlike the farinaceous odor of Entoloma carneum, has a mild odor and taste. Another more common relative, Entoloma medianox, is larger and more robust with a cap that is not as intensely blue, often bluish grey with a paler margin, whitish gills when young, and a whitish stipe that is tinge bluish mostly in the upper half. Entoloma carneum should also be compared with bluish or purplish species of the genus Cortinarius. These can be distinguished by their rusty brown spore prints.
Blanco-Dios, J.B. (2015). Notas sobre el género Entoloma en el Noroeste de la Península Ibérica (VII): nuevas combinaciones y nuevos nombres. Tarrelos. 17:32-38.
Desjardin, D.E., Wood, M.G. & Stevens, F.A. (2015). California Mushrooms: The Comprehensive Identification Guide. Timber Press: Portland, OR. 560 p.
Largent, D.L. (1977). The Genus Leptonia on the Pacific Coast of the United States (Bibliotheca Mycologia 55). J. Cramer: Vaduz. 286 p. (Protologue)
Largent, D.L. (1994). Entolomatoid Fungi of the Western United States and Alaska. Mad River Press: Eureka, CA. 516 p.
Siegel, N. & Schwarz, C. (2016). Mushrooms of the Redwood Coast. Ten Speed Press: Berkeley, CA. 601 p.
Vellinga, Else C., Bérubé, Jean A., Castellano, Michael A. & Mueller, Gregory M. (2015). Adding North American mushrooms to the IUCN Global Red List. Inoculum 66(4): 3-4. (PDF)
— spores
— natural light
— 365 nanometer UV light
