Lentinellus montanus O. K. Miller
Mycologia 57: 933. 1965.

Common Name: none

• Pileus

  Fruiting body fan to kidney-shaped, sessile to sub-stipitate, if the latter then lateral in attachment; cap 2.5-10.0 cm broad, 2.0-5.0 cm in width, i.e. from margin to disc; cap at first convex with an incurved, wavy margin, in age plane to slightly upturned; surface of margin glabrous, buff to dingy-tan, becoming dark-brown to vinaceous-brown towards the disc, the latter typically matted-tomentose to hirsute; context up to 0.5 cm thick, white, soft; odor indistinct; taste latently acrid.

• Lamellae

  Gills radiating from the basal attachment point, subdistant, buff-colored in youth, pale-tan in age, edges serrate; lamellulae in five to six series.

• Stipe

  Stipe when present, very short, densely velutinate, light-brown.

• Spores

  Spores 5.0-6.5 x 4.0-5.0 µm, broadly elliptical to oval in face and side-view, smooth, thin-walled, verrucose, hilar appendage inconspicuous, amyloid; spore print white.

• Habitat

  Solitary or in small groups on downed wood of montane conifers, especially Lodgepole Pine (Pinus contorta) and Red Fir (Abies magnifica); fruiting during the spring snow melt; common.

• Edibility

  Inedible; unpleasant taste.

• Comments

  This snowbank species resembles the common oyster mushroom, Pleurotus ostreatus, but can be distinguished by serrate gills, a spring fruiting habit on conifer wood, and an acrid taste. Oyster mushrooms, while present in montane regions of California, fruit mostly in the fall on hardwoods. Lentinellus ursinus is a closely related species of coastal forests. It differs in having more closely spaced gills and smaller, globose spores.

• References

  Miller Jr., O.K. (1965). Three New Species of Lignicolous agarics in the Tricholomataceae. Mycologia 57(6): 933-945.
  Petersen, R.H. & Hughes, K.W. (2004). A preliminary monograph of Lentinellus (Russulales). J. Cramer: Berlin, Germany. 270 p.

• Other Descriptions and Photos
  • Hugh Smith: Lentinellus montanus (CP)
  • Fred Stevens: Lentinellus montanus (CP)
  • Michael Wood: Lentinellus montanus (CP)
  • Michael Beug: Lentinellus montanus (D & CP)
  • Mushroom Observer: Lentinellus montanus (CP)
  • Bessette et al. (1995): p. 108 (D & CP)
  
  

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