Coprinellus truncorum

Description:

This common and beautiful mushroom is widely distributed in North America. It grows in clusters on decaying wood--though the wood may be buried, causing the mushrooms to look terrestrial. It can be distinguished from similar coprinoid mushrooms by the fine, mica-like granules that adorn the fresh caps (though rain will frequently wash the granules away). It is variable in color, but typically some version of honey brown or amber. Description: Ecology: Saprobic, growing in clusters on decaying wood (the wood may be buried, causing the mushrooms to appear terrestrial); spring, summer, and fall (sometimes in winter); frequently urban, but also found in woods; widely distributed in North America. Cap: 2-15 cm, oval when young, expanding to broadly convex or bell-shaped, sometimes with a curled up and/or tattered margin; honey brown, tawny, amber, or sometimes paler; becoming paler with age, especially towards the margin; buttons covered with mica-like granules which frequently wash off with rain or dew; the margin lined or grooved, usually halfway towards the center or more. Gills: Attached to the stem or free from it; pale, becoming brown, then black; deliquescing (turning to black "ink") but usually not completely; close or crowded. Stem: 2-8 cm long; 3-6 mm thick; equal; smooth to very finely hairy or granulated; white; fibrous; hollow. Flesh: White to pale throughout; thin; soft. Odor and Taste: Not distinctive. Spore Print: Black ( http://www.mushroomexpert.com/coprinellu... )

Habitat:

location: 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, Simple stem spore colour: Purplish to black habitat: Grows on the ground, Grows on wood Coprinus truncorum (Schaeffer) ex Fr. Cap conical up to 20mm deep creamy-buff, granular at first covered with white mealy granules, wrinkled striate except at the centre. In outward appearance very similar to Coprinus micaceus, to separate them you will need to examine the spore. Gills pale at first then darkening. Stem 50-85 x3-5mm upper part shiny base white tomentose. Smell none. Spore print brownish-black. Spores smaller than C. micaceus, 6-8.54.5-6um with a central rounded germ pore. Found on or next to stumps and logs often in large groups. Could be quite common, as it is normally lumped with C. micaceus. Not edible ( http://www.rogersmushrooms.com/gallery/D... )

Notes:

Coprinellus truncorum is a species of mushroom in the Psathyrellaceae family. Part of the cluster of mushroom morphologically related to Coprinellus micaceus, this species can be distinguished from C. micaceus by a smooth, rather than pruinose (powdery) stem, and by having more elliptical spores. Although not conclusively proven yet, this species may be conspecific with C. micaeus (wikipedia), ( http://www.mycobank.org/MycoTaxo.aspx?Li... ).