Fairies Bonnets

Description:

Cap: Minute to 2 cm; oval when young, expanding to broadly convex or bell-shaped; when young almost white, with a brownish center--or grayish--darkening to grayish or grayish brown with a brownish center, paler towards the margin; smooth, or very finely granular/hairy when young; lined or grooved from the margin nearly to the center. Gills: Attached to the stem or free from it; white at first, but soon gray, then blackish; not deliquescing (turning to black "ink"); close or almost distant. Stem: 1.5-4 cm long; 1-2 mm thick; equal; smooth; often curved; white; hollow. Flesh: Very thin; fragile. Odor and Taste: Not distinctive. Spore Print: Black or blackish brown. Microscopic Features: Spores 6.5-10 x 4-6 µ; elliptical; smooth; with a central pore. Basidia 4-sterigmate, surrounded by 4-6 brachybasidia. Cheilocystidia cylindric, to 70 x 15 «. Pleurocystidia absent. Pileipellis an epithelium with lageniform to subcapitate, thin-walled pileocystidia up to 200 µ long. Veil elements as more or less globose sphaerocysts up to 40 µ across. Clamp connections absent.

Habitat:

Saprobic, growing in clusters, often by the hundreds; on decaying wood, especially near the bases of stumps; spring, summer, and fall; widely distributed in North America.

Notes:

Pseudocoprinus disseminatus and Coprinus disseminatus are synonyms.