Echinoderma asperum

Echinoderma asperum
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Fungi
Division:	Basidiomycota
Class:	Agaricomycetes
Order:	Agaricales
Family:	Agaricaceae
Genus:	Echinoderma
Species:	E. asperum
Binomial name
Echinoderma asperum (Pers.) Bon (1991)
Synonyms
Lepiota aspera (Pers.) Quel. (1886) Lepiota friesii (Lasch.) Quel. (1872) Lepiota acutesquamosa (Weinm.) P. Kumm. (1871) Lepiota acutesquamosa var. furcata Kühner (1936) Cystolepiota aspera (Pers.) Bon (1978)

Echinoderma asperum Mycological characteristics
	Gills on hymenium
	Cap is ovate or campanulate
	Hymenium is free
	Stipe has a ring
	Spore print is white
	Ecology is mycorrhizal
	Edibility is not recommended

Echinoderma asperum or Lepiota aspera, sometimes known commonly as the freckled dapperling, is a large, brownish, white-gilled mushroom, with a warty or scaly cap. It lives in woodland, or on bark chips in parks, and gardens.

Taxonomy

First described by the eminent 19th-century mycologist Christiaan Hendrik Persoon as Agaricus asper, the freckled dapperling has been through several taxonomical name changes. Lucien Quélet moved it to genus Lepiota and since then it has long been known as Lepiota aspera (Pers.) Quel. ^{[1] [2]} For a time it was placed with the other "spiny" Lepiota species into a separate sub-genus called Echinoderma, and in 1978 Marcel Bon put it into Cystolepiota . ^[3] Then in 1991 Bon created the new genus Echinoderma for this and similar brownish warty species, and the new name Echinoderma asperum is almost universally accepted in more recent publications. ^{[4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10]}

This same species was described by Weinmann in 1824 as Agaricus acutesquamosus and by Wilhelm Gottfried Lasch in 1828 as Agaricus friesii, giving rise to corresponding synonyms in genera Lepiota and Echinoderma. Although most authorities now consider all these names to be synonyms, Meinhard Michael Moser separated the acutesquamosum form from the asperum form as different species, on the basis that the latter has forking gills and the former not. ^[2]

Etymology

The species name is the Latin adjective "asper" (with feminine: "aspera" and neuter "asperum"), meaning "rough". ^[11]

Description

The cap is oval at first, becoming convex (or campanulate) with age. It is uniform reddish/brown or brown at the centre, breaking up into erect pyramidal scales on a paler ground; it is up to 10 centimetres (4 in) wide. ^[12] The stem is paler, around 10 cm in length, and has sparse brown scales below the ring. The ring itself is large and cottony, sometimes adhering to the cap perimeter, and often taking brownish scales from there; these are seen at its edge. The gills have a tendency to fork and are free, crowded, and white, with the spore print being white also. The flesh is white, and is said to smell of rubber, earth balls ( Scleroderma citrinum ), ^[3] or the mushroom Lepiota cristata . ^[7]

Similar species

The brownish scales on the cap and the lower part of the stem and the white gills make the genus Echinoderma quite distinctive, but E. asperum could be confused with other members, such as E. calcicola (which has warts the same colour as the background and non-forking gills which are less crowded) and the rare E. hystrix (which is darker and has dark gill-edges). ^[6]

Distribution and habitat

Echinoderma asperum appears during autumn in deciduous woodland, or in parks and gardens where wood chip mulch has been used. It has been recorded widely in northern temperate zones – varying between common and quite rare in Europe and North Africa, ^[4] it occurs in North America, and it has been reported in Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

In a study of the diversity of L. aspera species in northern Thailand, it was shown that in the Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces in the years 2007 to 2010, about 73 Lepiota mushrooms were collected from 33 species. The distribution of these species resulted in 11 of Stenosporae, 8 of Ovisporae, 6 of Lepiota, 5 of Liliaceae, and 3 of Echinacea. Resulting in how the highest diversity of L. aspera species were reported to be the Stenosporae, resulting in the diversity index to result in 2.20. ^{[8] [ needs copy edit ]}

Edibility

Although sometimes listed as edible, this mushroom has been shown to cause alcohol intolerance and may be poisonous. ^[13] It also resembles some species of the Amanita genus, which includes some deadly species. ^[14]

References

• Fungi portal

1. Roger Phillips (2006). Mushrooms. Pan MacMillan. ISBN   978-0-330-44237-4. Or alternatively Roger Phillips (2006). Mushrooms. Pan MacMillan. ISBN   978-0-330-44237-4.
2. See Meinhard Moser (1983). Keys to Agarics and Boleti. Translated by Simon Plant. London: Roger Phillips. p. 242. ISBN   978-0-9508486-0-0.
3. Marcel Bon (1987). The Mushrooms and Toadstools of Britain and North Western Europe. Hodder and Stoughton. p. 282. ISBN   978-0-340-39935-4.
4. Regis Courtecuisse and Bernard Duhem (1995). Mushrooms and Toadstools of Britain and Europe. Harper Collins. ISBN   978-0-00-220025-7.
5. "Echinoderma asperum page". Encyclopedia of Life. Retrieved 2017-05-23. But the EOL also treats Lepiota aspera as if it were a separate species.
6. Eyssartier, G.; Roux, P. (2013). Le guide des champignons France et Europe (in French). Belin. p. 340. ISBN   978-2-7011-8289-6.
7. Knudsen, H.; Vesterholt, J., eds. (2008). Funga Nordica Agaricoid, boletoid and cyphelloid genera. Copenhagen: Nordsvamp. p. 536. ISBN   978-87-983961-3-0. This work wrongly gives the species name as "aspera".
8. See the Global Biodiversity Information Facility page, which gives the current name and shows the geographical distribution.
9. "Lepiota aspera page". National Biodiversity Network. Retrieved 2017-05-23. This page states that the accepted name for Lepiota aspera is Echinoderma asperum.
10. "Echinoderma asperum page". Species Fungorum. Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Retrieved 2017-05-23.
11. "asper". Wiktionary. Wikimedia. Retrieved 2017-05-26.
12. Audubon (2023). Mushrooms of North America. Knopf. p. 562. ISBN   978-0-593-31998-7.
13. Haberl, B; Pfab, R; Berndt, S; Greifenhagen, C; Zilker, T (February 2011). "Case series: Alcohol intolerance with Coprine-like syndrome after consumption of the mushroom Lepiota aspera (Pers.:Fr.) Quél., 1886 (Freckled Dapperling)". Clin Toxicol. 49 (2): 113–4. doi:10.3109/15563650.2011.554840. PMID   21370948. S2CID   43434106.
14. Miller Jr., Orson K.; Miller, Hope H. (2006). North American Mushrooms: A Field Guide to Edible and Inedible Fungi. Guilford, CN: FalconGuide. p. 55. ISBN   978-0-7627-3109-1.