Inocybe adaequata
Syll. fung. 5: 767. 1887.
Common Name: none
Synonym: Inocybe jurana (Pat.) Saccardo
Cap 4.0-8.0 (9.0) broad, obtuse-conic to bell-shaped, eventually broadly-convex to nearly plane, often with a low umbo; margin incurved, then decurved, wavy, sometime rimose, at maturity occasionally upturned; surface radially appressed-fibrillose to minutely squamulose, pinkish-vinaceous at the disc, paler towards the margin, cap darkening to vinaceous-brown with age and handling; context firm, up to 10 mm thick at the disc, 2-3 mm at the margin, pallid, tinged pink when cut; odor and taste to faintly farinaceous.
Gills close, at first adnate, becoming notched to subdecurrent; color in youth, pale-buff, darkening to tobacco-brown, 5-10 mm broad; edges lighter than the faces, minutely fringed (use hand lens), lamellulae in three to four tiers.
Stipe 4.0-8.0 (10) cm long, 1.0-2.0 (3.0) cm thick, equal to narrowed below, sometimes with a basal bend, occasionally compressed, solid, fleshy-fibrous; surface of apex whitish, furfuraceous to fibrillose, the lower portion striate, flushed vinaceous, with scattered, loose, darker fibrils; context of base pinkish when cut; partial veil absent.
Spores 9.0-12.0 x 6.0-7.5 µm, smooth, moderately thick-walled, ellipsoid in face-view, similar in profile but inequilateral, i.e. with a flat and curved side, hilar appendage not conspicuous; spores dull-brown in deposit.
Under Quercus agrifolia (Coast liveoak) and possibly other oaks as well; fruiting shortly after the fall rains; infrequent, but probably more common than records indicate (see comments).
To be avoided; many Inocybe species contain the toxin muscarine.
This oak-loving species goes largely unnoticed because of its tendency to fruit partially buried in dirt and duff. It is an exception to the rule that all Inocybes are dull-brown, uninteresting, and difficult to identify. Known as Inocybe jurana in older field guides, Inocybe adaequata, is recognized by a vinaceous-tinged, fibrillose cap, similarly colored stipe, and usually mild odor. Microscopically the absence of pleurocystidia and smooth rather than nodulose spores are important characters. Other reddish-hued Inocybes include Inocybe whitei (=I. pudica), a diminutive species with a glabrous, whitish cap that in age becomes tinged pinkish-red; Inocybe godeyi, also small and white, reddening with age, but with a fibrillose cap, Inocybe fraudans (=I. pyriodora), with an ochre, fibrillose cap, occasionally red-tinged and strong odor of rotting pears or spicy-like as in matsutake, and Inocybe oblectabilis with a glabrous, reddish-brown to pinkish-brown cap and nodulose spores. Excluding the above, Inocybe adaequata also bears a resemblance to several vinaceous-colored waxy caps, Hygrophorus erubescens, Hygrophorus purpurascens, and Hygrophorus russula. These, however, have white, not brown spores.
Kobayashi, Takahito (2002). The taxonomic studies of the genus Inocybe. Nova Hedwigia Beiheft 124. J. Cramer: Berlin. 246 p.
Kuyper, Thomas W. (1986). A Revision of the Genus Inocybe in Europe. I. Subgenus Insperma and the Smooth-Spored Species of Subgenus Inocybe. Rijksherbarium: Leiden, Netherlands. 247 p.
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