Lepiota atrodisca
Mycologia 30: 473. 1938.
Common Name: none
Cap 1.5-4.0 cm broad, convex, expanding to nearly plane, the disc often slightly umbonate; margin at first incurved, then decurved, finally plane to upturned; surface dry, tomentose at the disc, dark-grey to blackish, cuticle cracking with expansion to form a covering of fine blackish scales, less dense toward the margin, revealing a pallid ground color; cuticle unchanging when bruised but sometimes developing yellowish-buff areas in age; context very thin, 1-2 mm thick, soft, white, unchanging; odor and taste mild.
Gills free, white, close, unchanging when bruised; lamellulae 1-2 seried; gill edges fringed (use hand lens).
Stipe 2.0-8.5 cm long, 1-4 mm thick, slender, fragile, stuffed, becoming hollow, more or less equal; surface white, nearly glabrous at the apex, patchy fibrillose below, unchanging when bruised; veil membranous, thin, fragile, whitish, forming a flaring, superior ring, often with a greyish margin.
Spores 5.5-7.9 x 3.5-4.5 µm, ellipsoid, smooth, inequilateral, relatively thick-walled, slightly dextrinoid in Melzer's reagent; spore print white.
Scattered in mixed hardwood-conifer woods; fruiting shortly after the fall rains.
Unknown. Some small Lepiotas are deadly poisonous!
Small size, a cap with fine, grey-black scales, and a lack of color changes make this Lepiota one of the easiest members of the genus to recognize. It fruits early in the mushroom season often in the company of Lepiota rubrotincta and L. roseifolia.
Desjardin, D.E., Wood, M.G. & Stevens, F.A. (2015). California Mushrooms: The Comprehensive Identification Guide. Timber Press: Portland, OR. 560 p.
Siegel, N. & Schwarz, C. (2016). Mushrooms of the Redwood Coast. Ten Speed Press: Berkeley, CA. 601 p.
Smith, H.V. (1966). Contributions toward a monograph on the genus Lepiota. I. Type studies in the genus Lepiota. Mycopathol. et Mycol. Appl. 29: 97-117.
Zeller, S.M. (1938). New or Noteworthy Agarics from the Pacific Coast States. Mycologia 30(4): 468-474. (Protologue)
