The Deceiver

Description:

Laccaria laccata (Scop. ex Fr.) Cke. syn. Clitocybe laccata (Scop. ex Fr.) Kummer Rötlicher Lacktrichterling Clitocybe laqué Deceiver. Cap 1.5–6cm across, convex then flattened, often becoming finely wavy at the margin and centrally depressed, tawny to brick-red and striate at the margin when moist drying paler to ochre-yellow, surface often finely scurfy. Stem 50–100 x 6–10mm, concolorous with cap, tough and fibrous, often compressed or twisted. Flesh thin reddish-brown. Taste and smell not distinctive. Gills pinkish, dusted white with spores when mature. Spore print white. Spores globose, spiny, 7–10m in diameter. Habitat in troops in woods or heaths. Season summer to early winter. Very common but very variable in appearance and therefore often difficult to recognize at first sight, hence the popular name ‘Deceiver’. Edible but not worthwhile. (Never eat any mushroom until you are certain it is edible as many are poisonous and some are deadly poisonous.) Distribution, America and Europe. Comment Laccaria laccata var. pallidifolia (Pk.) Pk. Differs from the type form in its very pallid, whitish gills and generally smaller stature.

Notes:

Spotted these small orange mushrooms amidst moss and a tree's roots growing on a creak bank in rhododendron/hemlock forest in southern Appalachian/Blue Ridge mountains. Bear Creek Trail Ellijay GA