Kuehneromyces vernalis (Peck) Singer & Smith
Mycologia 38: 514. 1946.

Common Name: none

Synonym: Pholiota vernalis (Peck) Smith & Hesler; Agaricus vernalis Peck

• Pileus

  Cap 1.0-3.5 cm broad, convex, becoming plano-convex to plane, the disc slightly depressed or umbonate; margin at first incurved, appendiculate, decurved at maturity, even to wavy, inconspicuously striate when moist; surface glabrous, sometimes lubricous in youth, dull tan-brown, hygrophanous, fading from the disc, becoming buff-brown, in older specimens cream to white; context thin, approximately 1.0 mm thick, buff-brown, unchanging when injured; odor indistinct; taste mild.

• Lamellae

  Gills adnexed to shallowly notched, crowded, dingy pale-tan, in age dull, medium-brown; lamellulae up to 4-seried.

• Stipe

  Stipe 2.5-5.0 cm long, 2.0-3.5 mm thick, equal to narrowed at the apex, oval in cross-section, sometimes longitudinally grooved, hollow in age, often with a basal bend; surface of apex pruinose, pale-tan, lower portion glabrous to sparsely fibrillose, dingy vinaceous-brown, in old material the stipe almost entirely dark, vinaceous-brown; white tomentum at base proliferating into the substrate as rhizomorphs; partial veil fibrillose-membranous, pallid, evanescent, leaving fragments on the young cap and a thin fibrillose zone high on the stipe, the fibrils soon colored by mahogany-brown by maturing spores.

• Spores

  Spores 5.5-7.0 x 3.5-4.0 µm, elliptical, smooth, moderately thick-walled, flattened apically with a well-developed germ pore, hilar appendage not distinct; spores medium-brown in deposit.

• Habitat

  Gregarious to clustered on conifer logs, occasional in sawdust piles; found in montane areas; fruiting in late spring; common after wet winters.

• Edibility

  Unknown. A related fall-fruiting species, Kuehneromyces mutabilis, is considered a good edible, but caution is advised due to similar, potentially deadly Galerina species.

• Comments

  Kuehneromyces vernalis is an exception to the rule that small brown mushrooms are inherently difficult to identify. Distinctive features include clustered fruitings on montane, conifer logs in late spring, a hygrophanous, sometimes striate cap that fades from medium-brown to tan or white, and a partial veil that leaves fragments on the young cap. Closely related Kuehneromyces mutabilis is a fall-fruiting species which differs in having a squamulose lower stipe.

• References

  Peck, C.H. (1872). Report of the State Botanist. Report of the Regents of the University of the State of New York on the Condition of the State Cabinet of Natural History 23: 91. (Protologue)
  Singer, R. & Smith, A.H. (1946). The Taxonomic Position of Pholiota mutabilis and Related Species. Mycologia 38(5): 500-523.
  Smith, A.H. & Hesler, L.R. (1968). The North American Species of Pholiota. Hafner Publishing Company: New York, NY. 492 p. (Web)

• Other Descriptions and Photos
  • Michael Wood: Kuehneromyces vernalis (CP)
  • Michael Wood: Kuehneromyces vernalis (CP)
  • Michael Wood: Kuehneromyces vernalis (CP)
  • Smith & Hesler: Pholiota vernalis (D, I, & P)
  • Mushroom Observer: Kuehneromyces vernalis (CP)
  • Ecological Monitoring and Assessment Network: Kuehneromyces vernalis (CP)
  
  

  (D=Description; I=Illustration; P=Photo; CP=Color Photo)