Weeping Widow

Description:

Lacrymaria velutina is a big thrill for mushroom geeks like me; like Pluteus cervinus, it is one of those species with fascinating microscopic features that are not predicted by its drab macrofeatures. The spores are roughened or finely warty, and have little snouts--while the gill faces have cystidia that typically cluster together in groups of three or four. How much more action-packed could a mushroom be ( http://www.mushroomexpert.com/lacrymaria... )

Habitat:

location: North America, Europe edibility: Inedible fungus colour: Brown normal size: 5-15cm cap type: Convex to shield shaped stem type: Simple stem spore colour: Purplish to black habitat: Grows on the ground Lacrymaria velutina (Pers. ex Fr.) Konrad & Maubl. syns. Hypholoma velutinum (Pers. ex Fr.) Kummer Psathyrella lacrymabunda (Bull.) New syn. Lacrymaria lacrymabunda Moser. Weeping Widow, Tränender Saumpilz, Lacrymaire velouté, Könnyezö szálkásgomba. Cap 1.5–10cm across, convex with a broad umbo becoming more flattened, ochre-brown to tan at first, covered in woolly fibrils but then smooth, veil remnants often adhering to the margin giving a fringed cottony appearance. Stem 40–80´5–10mm, whitish at the apex becoming flushed with cap colour towards the base, covered in small fibrous scales below the cottony fibrillose ring zone which is often made more prominent by the almost black spores which are trapped in it. Flesh ochraceous to brownish. Taste slightly bitter. Gills crowded, mottled, dark purplish-brown with white edge, ‘weeping’ when moist. Cheilocystidia thin-walled, clavate, with rounded head. Spore print black. Spores lemon-shaped, warted, with truncate germ-pore, 8–11´5–6m. Habitat amongst tufted grass on woodland paths and roadsides. Season late spring to late autumn. Common. Edible – but bitter -avoid. Distribution, America and Europe ( http://www.rogersmushrooms.com/gallery/D... )

Notes:

Commonly referred to as the Weeping Widow, because of the black, watery droplets that appear at the edge of the gills when they are moist, this large fungus (syn. Lacrymaria velutina) is an occasional species in fields and roadside verges. The common name somehow seems particularly poignant when these sombre mushrooms pop up beside gravestones in grassy churchyards. Synonym: Lacrymaria velutina ( http://www.first-nature.com/fungi/lacrym... ), ( http://www.mycobank.org/MycoTaxo.aspx?Li... )