grooved bonnet

Description:

Cap colour is rarely of much help when you are struggling to identify a Mycena, as they vary so much with age, location, humidity and growing substrate. If you look closely at the stem of a Grooved Bonnet you will see that it has longitudinal striations, whereas other common bonnet mushrooms have smooth stems. --Identification Guide --Cap 2 to 3.5cm across; conical, becoming bell shaped and eventually umbonate; smooth with striations almost to centre; margin scalloped or sharply toothed; greyish brown, becoming darker brown towards centre. --Gills Adnate; white turning pinkish-grey. --Stem 5 to 10cm long and 0.2 to 0.4cm in dia.; white at apex, progressively darker red-brown towards the downy base; no ring. --Spore print White. --Odour/taste Not distinctive. ---Habitat Nearly always on dead hardwood stumps or on rotting trunks and large branches; only very occasionally on rotting conifers. ---Season June to November. ---Occurrence. Common. ---Similar species There are many other small, bell-shaped fungi in the Mycena genus including Mycena inclinata and Mycena arcangeliana; however, the grooved stem of Mycena polygramma is a distinguishing feature. ( http://www.first-nature.com/fungi/mycena... )

Habitat:

location: North America, Europe edibility: Inedible fungus colour: Grey to beige normal size: Less than 5cm cap type: Conical or nearly so stem type: Stem much longer than cap diameter spore colour: White, cream or yellowish habitat: Grows in woods, Grows on wood Mycena polygramma (Bull. ex Fr.) S.F. Gray Rillstieliger Helmling Grooved Bonnet. Cap 2–5cm across, conical then expanded and umbonate, dark grey to grey-brown, faintly grooved towards margin. Stem 60–100 x 2–4mm, silvery grey, striate, base rooting. Flesh thin, whitish with pallid line above gills. Taste mild to slightly acrid, smell pleasant. Gills whitish to grey or pinkish. Cheilocystidia thin-walled, hyaline, with swollen base and drawn-out pointed apex which may fork. Spore print white. Spores elliptic, amyloid, 9–10 x 6–7um. Habitat on twigs or buried wood. Season summer to late autumn. Occasional. Not edible. Distribution, America and Europe ( http://www.rogersmushrooms.com/gallery/D... )

Notes:

The fungus is one of several dozen Mycena species that are bioluminescent.[19] Unlike most luminescent organisms, M. polygramma has a diurnal rhythm of luminescence intensity, and has rises and falls of light intensity as high as 35 percent. However, this light emission is not typically noticed, as it can not be detected visually by the dark-adapted eye; sensitive photomultipliers or long exposure times are required to measure the phenomenon. The wavelength of spectral emissions from the fungus grown in pure culture is in the range 470–640 mμ (wikipedia) ( http://www.mycobank.org/MycoTaxo.aspx?Li... )( http://www.mushroomexpert.com/mycenoid.h... )