The North American Species of Pholiota

57a. Pholiota destruens var. edmundii var. nov.

Pileus 3-5 cm latus, late umbonatus, albofibrillosus; odor fragrans; stipes albus, tactu luteus; sporae 8-10 x 4.5-5.5 µ. Specimen typicum in Herb. Univ. Mich. conservatum est; legit prope Highlands Mich. 1 Oct. 1961, Smith 64509.

Pileus 3-5 cm broad, broadly umbonate with a decurved margin. surface at first decorated with scattered appressed fibrillose patches of veil material and the margin fringed or appendiculate with pieces of the submembranous veil, glabrous and subviscid over the disc and "cinnamon buff" (pale alutaceous), paler on the margin. Context thick, whitish, odor faintly fragrant, taste mild; FeSO4 olive on context, KOH yellow to orange.

Lamellae pallid becoming dingy vinaceous cinnamon, narrow to moderately broad, close, adnexed, edges even and colored like the faces.

Stipe 8-14 cm long, about 1 cm thick, stuffed with a silky pith, becoming hollow, pallid in age, rusty ochraceous in the base, apex whitish and silky, with a fibrillose pallid evanescent superior ring, below the ring sheathed by a thin velar layer breaking up into appressed squamules and obscure zones, staining yellow when handled and stains finally rusty ochraceous.

Spores 8-10 x 4.5-5.5 µ, smooth, apical pore present; shape in face view oblong with blunt apex, in profile somewhat to distinctly bean-shaped; color in KOH ochraceous-rusty, in Melzer's dingy yellow-brown (as in Psilocybe); wall thin (about 0.25 µ). Basidia 26-34 x 7-9 µ, 4-spored, hyaline in KOH. Pleurocystidia none. Cheilocystidia 18-30 x 5-7 µ, subcylindric to clavate (much like basidioles). Caulocystidia none.

Gill trama of a central hyaline strand of parallel hyphae with a gelatinous subhymenium diverging to the hymenium, all hyphae smooth and hyaline, cells all uninflated (but specimens young). Pileus cutis a subgelatinous pellicle of hyphae 3-5 µ wide, ochraceous in KOH, smooth and with distinct walls in the layer (slime secreted rather than resulting from breakdown of hyphal walls); no hypodermium differentiated, the context hyphae hyaline, thin-walled and closely interwoven; a few ochraceous oleiferous hyphae present. Clamp connections present.

Habit, Habitat, and Distribution: Solitary on hardwood logs, Highlands Recreation Area, Oakland County, Mich. Oct. 1, 1961. Smith 64509, collected by Edmund Golabiewski of the Michigan Botanical Club.

Observations: This is one of the variants around P. destruens. It has a faint but fragrant odor and mild taste, and the stipe stains yellow when handled. It has been found on wood other than that of Populus to date, but most collections were not retained or critically studied since at first Smith thought it was just an "off season" variation of P. destruens.

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