| Clitocybe albirhiza | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Fungi |
| Division: | Basidiomycota |
| Class: | Agaricomycetes |
| Order: | Agaricales |
| Family: | Clitocybaceae |
| Genus: | Clitocybe |
| Species: | C. albirhiza |
| Binomial name | |
| Clitocybe albirhiza H.E.Bigelow & A.H.Sm. (1963) | |
Clitocybe albirhiza, commonly known as the snowmelt clitocybe, is a species of agaric fungus in the family Tricholomataceae. It is found in high-elevation locations in the western United States.
American mycologists Howard E. Bigelow and Alexander H. Smith first described the species officially in 1963, from specimens collected in June, 1954, near Payette Lake, Idaho. [1]
The species name refers to mycelial cords (rhizomorphs), which extend from the base. [2]
The cap measures 2–8 cm (3⁄4–3+1⁄8 in), [3] and is initially convex before flattening and finally becoming funnel-shaped. Its color depends on its state of hydration: when dry, it is buff; when wet, it is cinnamon-buff to clay color (often with concentric differentiations); new blooms are typically whitish. [2] The gills have an adnate to decurrent attachment to the stipe and are closely spaced, sometimes with "veins" connected between them; they are roughly the same color as the cap, or paler. The stipe measures 2–8 cm (3⁄4–3+1⁄8 in) long by 0.5–2 cm (1⁄4–3⁄4 in) wide, [3] and is either equal in width throughout, or tapers on either end. Initially stuffed with a cottony mycelium when young, it hollows in maturity. Colored similar to the cap, the stipe surface ranges from smooth to canescent (covered with a whitish-grey bloom) when wet, to fibrillose-striate when dry. The stipe base features a dense mass of whitish rhizomorphs embedded with needles and other forest debris. The flesh is mostly thin except for the disc (a circular region in the center of the cap). It has a slight to unpleasant odor and a poor, bitter taste. [1] The mushroom is considered inedible. [4]
The spore print is white. The spores are smooth and elliptical, with dimensions of 4.5–6 by 2.5–3.5 μm. The basidia (spore-bearing cells) are typically two- or four-spored (rarely, one-spored) and measure 20–30 by 3.5–5 μm. The hymenium lacks cystidia. Clamp connections are present in the hyphae. [1]
Clitocybe albirhiza | |
|---|---|
 | Gills on hymenium |
  | Cap is convex or umbonate |
  | Hymenium is adnate or decurrent |
 | Stipe is bare |
 | Spore print is white |
 | Ecology is saprotrophic |
 | Edibility is unknown |
Fruit bodies of Clitocybe albirhiza grow scattered, in groups, or in clusters under spruce, or, occasionally, larch and pine. Found in the US states of Idaho, [1] Washington, [5] and Wyoming, [6] it is abundant in some high-elevation 5,000–10,000 ft (1,500–3,000 m) locations in the Rocky Mountains. It is referred to as a "snowbank mushroom" because fruit bodies typically appear around the edges of melting snowbanks. [7] Fruitings occur most frequently in June and early July, about the same time as snowmelt at the elevations in which the species occurs. [1] In the Cascade Mountains of Washington, C. albirhiza is one of the most common fungi growing on non-serpentine soil. [5]
Clitocybe glacialis and Melanoleuca angelesiana are similar in appearance. [3] Clitocybe ramigena is similar, but smaller and not so bitter. [2]
Neolentinus ponderosus, commonly known as the giant sawgill, or ponderous lentinus, is a species of fungus in the family Gloeophyllaceae. Found in western North America, it was originally described in 1965 as a species of Lentinus by American mycologist Orson K. Miller.
Gymnopus dryophilus is a mushroom commonly found in temperate woodlands of Europe and North America. It is generally saprophytic, but occasionally also attacks living wood. It belongs to section Levipedes of the genus, being characterized by a smooth stem having no hairs at the base. Until recently it was most frequently known as Collybia dryophila.
Gymnopilus sapineus, commonly known as the scaly rustgill or common and boring gymnopilus, is a small and widely distributed mushroom which grows in dense clusters on dead conifer wood. It has a rusty orange spore print and a bitter taste. This species does not stain blue and lacks the hallucinogen psilocybin.
Clitopilus prunulus, commonly known as the miller or the sweetbread mushroom, is an edible pink-spored basidiomycete mushroom found in grasslands in Europe and North America. Growing solitary to gregarious in open areas of conifer/hardwood forests; common under Bishop pine along the coast north of San Francisco; fruiting shortly after the fall rains. It has a grey to white cap and decurrent gills.
Verpa conica, commonly known as the bell morel or the early morel, is a species of fungus in the family Morchellaceae. Sometimes mistaken for a true morel, this species is characterized by a cap resembling a thimble that is freely attached to the stipe.
Leucopaxillus albissimus, commonly known as the large white leucopaxillus, is a species of mushroom that lives as a saprobe, decaying the litter under coniferous trees. It produces a large white fruiting body that is unusually resistant to decay. It is considered to be inedible.
Clitocybe glacialis is a species of mushroom in the family Tricholomataceae. Formerly known as Lyophyllum montanum, this is a snowbank mushroom, always associated with melting snow along snowbanks and thus glacialis. Originally described by Alexander H. Smith in 1957, this North American species is typically found growing under conifers on mountains.
Mycena overholtsii, commonly known as the snowbank fairy helmet or fuzzy foot, is a species of fungus in the family Mycenaceae. The mushrooms produced by the fungus are relatively large for the genus Mycena, with convex grayish caps up to 5 cm (2 in) in diameter and stems up to 15 cm (6 in) long. The gills on the underside of the cap are whitish to pale gray, and initially closely spaced before becoming well-spaced at maturity after the cap enlarges. The mushrooms are characterized by the dense covering of white "hairs" on the base of the stem. M. overholtsii is an example of a snowbank fungus, growing on well-decayed conifer logs near snowbanks, during or just after snowmelt. Formerly known only from high-elevation areas of western North America, particularly the Rocky Mountain and Cascade regions, it was reported for the first time in Japan in 2010. The edibility of the mushroom is unknown. M. overholtsii can be distinguished from other comparable species by differences in location, or spore size.
Plectania nannfeldtii, commonly known as Nannfeldt's Plectania, the black felt cup, or the black snowbank cup fungus, is a species of fungus in the family Sarcosomataceae. The fruit bodies of this species resemble small, black, goblet-shaped shallow cups up to 3 cm wide, with stems up to 4 cm long attached to black mycelia. Fruit bodies, which may appear alone or in groups on the ground in conifer duff, are usually attached to buried woody debris, and are commonly associated with melting snow. Plectania nannfeldtii is found in western North America and in Asia, often at higher elevations. Similar black cup fungi with which P. nannfeldtii may be confused include Pseudoplectania vogesiaca, P. nigrella, and Helvella corium.
Armillaria nabsnona is a species of fungus in the family Physalacriaceae. The species is found in the west coast of North America, Hawaii, and Japan, where it grows on decaying hardwoods, particularly species of alder. Its fruit bodies have convex to flattened orange-brown caps up to 7 cm in diameter, brown stipes, and whitish to pinkish-tan gills.
Caloboletus rubripes, commonly known as the red-stipe bolete or the red-stemmed bitter bolete, is a mushroom in the family Boletaceae. It was known as Boletus rubripes until 2014. Fruit bodies (mushrooms) are robust, with caps up to 18 cm in diameter, atop thick stipes 5–12 cm long. Mushrooms are non-toxic, but is so bitter as to be inedible. The mushroom flesh has a very strong bluing reaction when cut or damaged. and forms mycorrhizal relationships, primarily with conifers. It can be differentiated from similar boletes by its cap color and non-reticulate stipe.
Hygrophorus goetzii is a species of fungus in the family Hygrophoraceae. It is a snowbank mushroom with a rosy-pink cap that fades to cream color in maturity.
Cortinarius vanduzerensis is a species of mushroom in the family Cortinariaceae. Described as new to science in 1972, it is known only from the Pacific Northwest region of North America, where it grows under conifers such as spruce, hemlock, and Douglas-fir. The fruit bodies of the fungus, or mushrooms, have a slimy dark chestnut-brown cap that becomes deeply radially grooved or corrugated in maturity, and reaches diameters of up to 8 cm. The gills on the underside of the cap are initially pinkish-buff before becoming pale brown when the spores mature. The stem is lavender, measuring 10–18 cm (4–7 in) long and 1–2 cm thick. The mushroom produces a rusty-brown spore print, with individual spores measuring 12–14 by 7–8 micrometers. The edibility of the mushroom has not been determined, and it has been described as "much too slippery to be of value".
Tricholoma imbricatum is a species of agaric fungus in the family Tricholomataceae. Commonly known as the matt knight, it is found in Europe and North America, where it grows on the ground in coniferous forests. Fruit bodies have a brown to reddish-brown cap, which is often scaly, and ranges from 6–18 cm in diameter, and a stipe that is 3.5–12 cm long by 1–3 cm thick. The gills are initially whitish in color before developing reddish-brown spots. The spores are white.
Ramaria rasilispora, commonly known as the yellow coral, is a coral mushroom in the family Gomphaceae. Described as new to science in 1974, it is found in western North America south to Mexico, and in the eastern Himalaya.
Tricholoma vernaticum is an agaric fungus of the genus Tricholoma native to the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The fungus was originally described in 1976 as a species of Armillaria when that genus was more inclusive; it received its current name twenty years later. The stout fruit bodies (mushrooms) have moist white to grayish caps, a membranous ring on the stipe, and an odor resembling cucumbers. Mycorrhizal with conifers, the fungus fruits in the spring or early summer, with its mushrooms appearing on the ground singly or in groups at high elevations, often at the edge of melting snowbanks. The edibility of the mushroom is unknown, but it has a strong unpleasant odor and a mealy taste.
Floccularia albolanaripes is a species of fungus in the family Agaricaceae. Mushrooms are characterized by their yellow caps with a brownish center and scales over the margin, and the conspicuous remains of a partial veil that is left on the stipe. The species grows in the Pacific Northwest and the Rocky Mountains of North America, and in India.
Ramaria magnipes is a coral fungus in the family Gomphaceae. It is found in western North America, where it fruits on the ground in mixed forests.
Pholiota nubigena, commonly known as the gastroid pholiota or the bubble gum fungus, is a species of secotioid fungus in the family Strophariaceae. It is found in mountainous areas of the western United States, where it grows on rotting conifer wood, often fir logs. It fruits in spring, often under snow, and early summer toward the end of the snowmelt period in high mountain forests. Fruit bodies appear similar to unopened mushrooms, measuring 1–4 centimetres tall with 1–2.4 cm diameter caps that are whitish to brownish. They have a short but distinct whitish stipe that extend through the internal spore mass (gleba) of the fruit body into the cap. The gleba consists of irregular chambers made of contorted gills that are brownish in color. A whitish, cottony partial veil is present in young specimens, but it often disappears in age and does not leave a ring on the stipe.
Discina ancilis, commonly known as pig's ears is a brown to tannish, wrinkled, cup- or ear-shaped fungus, sometimes with short, stout stalk. The spores of D. ancilis are quite similar to those of mushrooms in the genus Gyromitra, so that some mycologists classify it there.