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

Common Name: none

Synonym: Pholiota vernalis (Peck) Smith & Hesler

• 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

  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)