Clitocybe glacialis

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Clitocybe glacialis
Clitocybe glacialis.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Basidiomycota
Class: Agaricomycetes
Order: Agaricales
Family: Clitocybaceae
Genus: Clitocybe
Species:
C. glacialis
Binomial name
Clitocybe glacialis
Redhead et al.
Synonyms

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.

Contents

Taxonomy

The original specimen was collected in the Medicine Bow Mountains in Wyoming by mycologist Harry D. Thiers. In 1957, Alexander H. Smith, who had received the specimen from Thiers, described it as Lyophyllum montanum, placing it in the genus Lyophyllum because of its dark gray color and gills that became ash-gray (cinereous) with age. [1] However, it later became clear that this species lacked siderophilous granules—iron-absorbing particles that darken when heated in acetocarmine—a trait characteristic of other Lyophyllum species. For this reason, Redhead et al. in 2000 moved the species to the genus Clitocybe as C. glacialis (Clitocybe montana was already used). They speculated that the dark pigmentation may be an adaptation to protect against the higher levels of ultraviolet radiation present in their montane environments. [2]

Description

Fruiting bodies produced by this fungus have caps that are 2 to 6.5 cm (34 to 2+12 in) in diameter; the shape is convex to flattened. The cap surface is initially a silvery-gray (defined as canescent), but becomes yellow or yellow-brown with age. [3] Younger specimens may have a whitish surface bloom which may slough off in age.

The gills of C. glacialis Clitocybe glacialis gills.jpg
The gills of C. glacialis

The gills are gray or dark gray, and closely spaced together; [3] the attachment to the stem is adnate (broadly attached to the stem slightly above the bottom of the gill) to almost free (unattached to the stem). The stem is colored the same as the cap, measures 3 to 7 cm (1+18 to 2+34 in) long by 0.5 to 1.5 cm (14 to 58 in) thick, and is either cylindrical or slightly enlarged at the base, which is covered by white strands. [3]

Microscopic characteristics

Viewed in deposit, such as with a spore print, the spores appear white. Microscopically, the spores are smooth-walled, elliptical or oblong, with dimensions of 5.5–7 by 3.5–4.5  μm. [4]

Clitocybe glacialis
Information icon.svg
Gills icon.png Gills on hymenium
Convex cap icon.svg Cap is convex
Adnate gills icon2.svgAdnexed gills icon2.svg Hymenium is adnate or adnexed
Bare stipe icon.svg Stipe is bare
Transparent spore print icon.svg
Spore print is white
Saprotrophic fungus.svgEcology is saprotrophic
Mycomorphbox Question.pngEdibility is unknown

Edibility

The species is categorized as edible. Its odor is pleasant, [5] but its taste is not distinctive. [4]

Similar species

Clitocybe albirhiza is a brown-colored mushroom with similar stature, but it may be distinguished by the white rhizomorphs at the base of its stem, as well as fibrils on the cap that are arranged in zones. [4] Melanoleuca angelesiana is another species found in the same environment; mature specimens of both species resemble each other. They are easier to differentiate when young, however, as C. glacialis has a silvery-grey bloom that is lacking in M. angelesiana. [6]

Habitat and distribution

This mushroom is found at high elevations from late May until early August. It is referred to as a snowbank mushroom because fruit bodies typically appear around the edges of melting snowbanks. [2] The species has been found in various locales in North America, including Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Montana, and Alberta. [7]

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<i>Suillus lakei</i> Species of fungus

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<i>Mycena overholtsii</i> Species of fungus

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<i>Plectania nannfeldtii</i> Species of fungus

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<i>Lyophyllum decastes</i> Species of fungus

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<i>Psilocybe pelliculosa</i> Species of fungus

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<i>Hygrophorus bakerensis</i> Species of fungus

Hygrophorus bakerensis, commonly known as the Mt. Baker waxy cap, the brown almond waxy cap or the tawny almond waxy cap, is a species of fungus in the family Hygrophoraceae. It is characterized by its medium to large, relatively slender-statured fruit bodies with an almond odor, and growth often on or near rotting conifer wood. The slimy cap is brown in the center and cream to white near its curved edges. The gills and the stem are white, and in moist environments are often covered with droplets of a translucent liquid. The mushroom is known only from the United States, where it is common in coniferous forests throughout the Pacific Northwest. It was initially collected in Washington State on Mount Baker, a volcano. Although edible, the mushroom is not considered to be of high quality.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Snowbank fungus</span> Species of fungus

A snowbank fungus is any one of a number of diverse species of fungi that occur adjacent to or within melting snow. They are most commonly found in the mountains of western North America where a deep snowpack accumulates during the winter and slowly melts through the spring and summer, often shaded by coniferous forest. They may be saprotrophic, mycorrhizal, or in the case of Caloscypha fulgens, pathogenic.

<i>Tricholoma vernaticum</i> Species of fungus

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.

<i>Clitocybe albirhiza</i> Species of fungus

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.

<i>Pholiota nubigena</i> Species of fungus

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.

References

  1. Smith AH (1957). "Additional new or unusual North American agarics". Sydowia. 9 (S1): 46–61.
  2. 1 2 Redhead SA, Ammirati JF, Norvell LL, Seidl MT (2000). "Notes on western North American snowbank fungi". Mycotaxon. 76: 321–328.
  3. 1 2 3 Trudell, Steve; Ammirati, Joe (2009). Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest. Timber Press Field Guides. Portland, OR: Timber Press. p. 92. ISBN   978-0-88192-935-5.
  4. 1 2 3 Wood M, Stevens F. "Clitocybe glacialis". The Fungi of California. MykoWeb. Retrieved 2009-10-11.
  5. Phillips, Roger (2010). Mushrooms and Other Fungi of North America . Buffalo, NY: Firefly Books. p.  56. ISBN   978-1-55407-651-2.
  6. Wood M, Stevens F. "Melanoleuca angelesiana". The Fungi of California. MykoWeb. Retrieved 2009-10-11.
  7. Miller OK, O. K. (1967). "Notes on western fungi. I". Mycologia . 59 (3): 504–12. doi:10.2307/3756769. JSTOR   3756769.