Xeromphalina stalk (Xeromphalina cauticinalis) photo and description

Xeromphalina stalk (Xeromphalina cauticinalis)

:

• Agaricus caulicinalis
• Marasmius cauticinalis
• Chamaeceras caulicinalis
• Marasmius fulvobulbillosus
• Xeromphalina fellea
• Xeromphalina cauticinalis var. acid
• Xeromphalina cauticinalis var. subfellea

The accepted name is Xeromphalina cauticinalis, but sometimes you can see the spelling Xeromphalina caulicinalis (through the “L” in the word cauticinalis). This is due to a long-standing typo, and not to species differences, we are talking about the same species.

head: 7-17 millimeters across, some sources indicate up to 20 and even 25 mm. Convex, with a slightly tucked edge, straightens as it grows to broadly convex or flat, with a shallow central depression. With age, it takes the form of a wide funnel. The edge is uneven, wavy, looks ribbed due to translucent plates. The skin of the cap is smooth, bald, sticky in wet weather, and dries out in dry weather. The color of the cap is orange-brown to reddish-brown or yellow-brown, often with a darker, brown, brown-rufous center and a lighter, yellowish margin.

plates: widely adherent or slightly descending. Rare, with plates and fairly well-visible anastomoses (“bridges”, fused areas). Pale creamy, pale yellow, then cream, yellow, yellowish ocher.

Leg: very thin, only 1-2 millimeters thick, and quite long, 3-6 centimeters, sometimes up to 8 cm. Smooth, with a slight expansion at the cap. Hollow. Yellowish, yellow-red above, at the plates, below with a color transition from reddish-brown to dark brown, brown, black-brown. The upper part of the stem is almost smooth, with a slight reddish pubescence, which becomes more pronounced downwards. The base of the stem is also expanded, and significantly, up to 4-5 mm, tuberous, with a red felt coating.

Pulp: soft, thin, yellowish in the cap, dense, hard, brownish in the stem.

Smell and taste: not expressed, sometimes the smell of dampness and wood is indicated, the taste is bitter.

Chemical reactions: KOH bright red on the surface of the cap.

Spore powder imprint: white.

Споры: 5-8 x 3-4 µm; ellipsoid; smooth; smooth; weakly amyloid.

The mushroom has no nutritional value, although it is probably not poisonous.

In coniferous and mixed forests (with pine), on coniferous litter and decaying wood immersed in the soil, needle litter, often among mosses.

It grows from late summer to late autumn – from August to November, in the absence of frosts until December. Peak fruiting usually occurs in the first half of October. Grows in fairly large groups, often annually.

Xeromphalina stalk is widely distributed throughout the world, the fungus is well known in North America (mainly in the western part), Europe and Asia – Belarus, Our Country, Ukraine.

Photo: Alexander, Andrey.