Secotioid fungi are an intermediate growth form between mushroom-like hymenomycetes and closed bag-shaped gasteromycetes, where an evolutionary process of gasteromycetation has started but not run to completion. Secotioid fungi may or may not have opening caps, but in any case they often lack the vertical geotropic orientation of the hymenophore needed to allow the spores to be dispersed by wind, and the basidiospores are not forcibly discharged or otherwise prevented from being dispersed —note—some mycologists do not consider a species to be secotioid unless it has lost ballistospory.
Gymnopilus luteofolius, known as the yellow-gilled gymnopilus, is a large and widely distributed mushroom that grows in dense clusters on dead hardwoods and conifers. It grows in late July to November in the east and in the winter on the west coast of North America. It has a rusty orange spore print and a bitter taste.
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.
Mycena haematopus, commonly known as the bleeding fairy helmet, the burgundydrop bonnet, or the bleeding Mycena, is a species of fungus in the family Mycenaceae, of the order Agaricales. It is widespread and common in Europe and North America, and has also been collected in old Japan and Venezuela. It is saprotrophic—meaning that it obtains nutrients by consuming decomposing organic matter—and the fruit bodies appear in small groups or clusters on the decaying logs, trunks, and stumps of deciduous trees, particularly beech. The fungus, first described scientifically in 1799, is classified in the section Lactipedes of the genus Mycena, along with other species that produce a milky or colored latex.
Gymnogaster is a genus of fungi in the family Boletaceae. It is a monotypic genus, containing the single secotioid species Gymnogaster boletoides, found in Australia. The fungus produces bright yellow fruit bodies with a light brown internal gleba, and the fruit bodies turn blue then dark brown after bruising or handling.
Suillus brevipes is a species of fungus in the family Suillaceae. First described by American mycologists in the late 19th century, it is commonly known as the stubby-stalk or the short-stemmed slippery Jack. The fruit bodies (mushrooms) produced by the fungus are characterized by a chocolate to reddish-brown cap covered with a sticky layer of slime, and a short whitish stipe that has neither a partial veil nor prominent, colored glandular dots. The cap can reach a diameter of about 10 cm, while the stipe is up to 6 cm long and 2 cm thick. Like other bolete mushrooms, S. brevipes produces spores in a vertically arranged layer of spongy tubes with openings that form a layer of small yellowish pores on the underside of the cap.
Hygrophorus subalpinus, commonly known as the subalpine waxycap, is a species of white snowbank fungus in the family Hygrophoraceae. Found in the mountains of western North America, it is found growing on the ground under conifers, usually near snowbanks.
Pholiota flammans, commonly known as the yellow pholiota, the flaming Pholiota, or the flame scalecap, is a basidiomycete agaric mushroom of the genus Pholiota. Its fruit body is golden-yellow in color throughout, while its cap and stem are covered in sharp scales. As it is a saprobic fungus, the fruit bodies typically appear in clusters on the stumps of dead coniferous trees. P. flammans is distributed throughout Europe, North America, and Asia in boreal and temperate regions. Its edibility has not been clarified.
Psilocybe makarorae is a species of psilocybin mushroom in the family Hymenogastraceae. Officially described as new to science in 1995, it is known only from New Zealand, where it grows on rotting wood and twigs of southern beeches. The fruit body (mushroom) has a brownish cap with lighter coloured margins, measuring up to 3.5 cm (1.4 in) wide. The cap shape is either conical, bell-shaped, or flat depending on the age of the mushroom, and it features a prominent umbo. Although the whitish stem does not form a true ring, it retains remnants of the partial veil that covers and protects the gills of young fruit bodies. P. makarorae mushrooms can be distinguished from the similar North American species Psilocybe caerulipes by microscopic characteristics such as the presence of cystidia on the gill faces (pleurocystidia), and cheilocystidia with more elongated necks. Based on the bluing reaction to injury, P. makarorae is presumed to contain the psychedelic compounds psilocybin and psilocin.
Amanita nothofagi is a species of fungus in the family Amanitaceae. Endemic to New Zealand, the species was first described by mycologist Greta Stevenson in 1962. The fruit bodies have dark brown caps that are up to 13 cm (5.1 in) in diameter and covered with patches of soft greyish-brown scales or warts. The gills underneath the cap are crowded together, free from attachment to the stem, and white, becoming tinged with yellow in age. The stem of the mushroom is 4–14 cm (1.6–5.5 in) long by 0.5–2.5 cm (0.2–1.0 in) thick, and has a ring. The spore print is white, and individual spores are spherical to ellipsoid, measuring 7.5–9 by 7.5–9 micrometres. The mushroom may be confused with another New Zealand species, A. australis, but can be distinguished by certain characteristics. Amanita nothofagi is a mycorrhizal species, and grows in association with native New Zealand trees such as Southern Beech.
Geastrum quadrifidum, commonly known as the rayed earthstar or four-footed earthstar, is an inedible species of mushroom belonging to the genus Geastrum, or earthstar fungi. First described scientifically by Christian Hendrik Persoon in 1794, G. quadrifidum is a cosmopolitan—but not common—species of Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Australasia. The fungus is a saprobe, feeding off decomposing organic matter present in the soil and litter of coniferous forests.
Tricholosporum tropicale is a species of fungus in the family Tricholomataceae. It is found in Mexico.
Phylloporus arenicola is a species of bolete mushroom in the family Boletaceae. It is found in the Pacific Northwest region of western North America, where it grows in sand dunes in a mycorrhizal association with pine trees. It is one of only three North American Boletaceae species that occur in coastal sand dunes.
Ramaria acrisiccescens, commonly known as the blah coral, is a coral fungus in the family Gomphaceae. It is found in the forests of northwestern North America.
Nivatogastrium is a genus of secotioid fungi in the family Strophariaceae. The genus has contained four species found in North America and New Zealand, but the type species, Nivatogastrium nubigenum, is now considered to be a gasteroid species of Pholiota, and was transferred to that genus in 2014.
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.
Tubaria punicea is a rare species of agaric fungus in the family Tubariaceae. It is found on the west coast of North America, where it grows on the bases and in hollows of madrone.
Lentinellus montanus is a species of agaric fungus in the family Auriscalpiaceae. It is found at high elevations in the Pacific Northwest region of North America, where it fruits singly or in clumps on decaying conifer wood.
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.
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.
