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Psathyrella echinata
Clumps of small brown-grey mushrooms with furry caps about 15 mm wide. Cap centres appeared smooth. Gills were pale with droplets of moisture. Black staining between gills could have been spores ?? Stipes had the same base colour as the caps and were covered with minute white hairs.
Spotted growing on the trunk (amongst clumps of mycena) of a live eucalyptus tree in a wet eucalyptus forest.
My thanks to gully.moy for the ID suggestion. I am nnot able to find documentation supporting the presence of Shiitake mushrooms ( Lentinula edodes) in the wild here in Australia and certainly not on a live eucalyptus tree. However, there are features that match descriptions of the genus Lenticula in general so I will leave this as such. Needs confirmation. I have now found the correct ID -thanks to Mark Ridgway order Agaricales family Marasmiaceae
Probably wise to leave it at Lentinula. If you're after the opinion of mycologists however you're best off posting it on Mushroom Observer where the real experts dwell.
http://mushroomobserver.org/
But L. edodes does appear to be present in Australia:
http://bie.ala.org.au/species/904bc2c9-a...
gully.moy, L.edodes is not recorded here in the wild. This could be L.lateritia but I can't find any photos that match.
I'll state just the genus and see what I hear back from mycologists here. thanks for the direction.
gully.moy, Thanks for the suggestion. I need to investigate their occurrence on gum trees.
I must say, the mushrooms in my spotting had very small and thin caps even when mature; they were not as sturdy as shiitake. Also, the margins retained the fibres and tended to flare out and flatten.
I agree that the colour and appearance of young mushrooms resemble those of shiitake - no partial veil in mine. I will check the genus in Oz. Do you have documentation that suggests that they might occur here ? thanks again. I will investigate further.