Lepiota magnispora Murrill
Mycologia 4: 237. 1912.

Common Name: none

Synonym: Lepiota ventriosospora Reid

Misapplied name: Lepiota clypeolaria (Bull.) Quél.

• Pileus

  Cap 3-7 cm broad, egg-shaped, then campanulate, finally convex to nearly plane with a low umbo; surface dry, with buff-yellow to brownish scales shading to a smooth, brown disc; margin ragged with yellowish veil fragments; flesh thin, white to yellowish; odor and taste not distinctive.

• Lamellae

  Gills free, close, narrow, white, cream-colored in age.

• Stipe

  Stipe fragile, 5-13 cm tall, 0.3-0.8 cm thick, more or less equal, with coarse, yellowish-buff, shaggy, scales below the ring, faintly fibrillose, above; veil with floccose patches, leaving fragments on the cap margin and forming an evanescent, superior ring.

• Spores

  Spores 17-22.5 x 4-5.5 µm, dextrinoid, smooth, fusiform. Spore print white.

• Habitat

  Scattered to grouped under hardwoods & conifers; fruiting from late fall to mid-winter.

• Edibility

  Unknown, but to be avoided. A number of small Lepiotas are known to contain the same type toxins as in Amanita phalloides, the Death Cap.

• Comments

  Lepiota magnispora is a beautiful woodland species easily recognized by its coarsely scaled, yellowish-brown cap, appendiculate margin, shaggy stipe, free gills and white spore print. Unlike many Lepiotas, the partial veil does not form a well developed annulus.

  For years this species was misidentified locally as Lepiota clypeolaria. The two species are very similar macroscopically, but have distinct microscopic features.

• Other Descriptions and Photos
  • Terry Goyan: Lepiota magnispora (CP)
  • Boleslaw Kuznik: Lepiota magnispora (CP)
  • Boleslaw Kuznik: Lepiota magnispora (CP)
  • Taylor F. Lockwood: Lepiota magnispora (CP)
  • Taylor F. Lockwood: Lepiota magnispora (CP) -- closeup of pileus
  • Michael Wood: Lepiota magnispora (CP)
  • Boleslaw Kuznik -- Hunting for Mushrooms: Lepiota magnispora (CP)
  • Pilze, Pilze, Pilze: Lepiota ventriosospora (CP)
  • Mushroom Observer: Lepiota magnispora (CP)
  • Arora (1986): p. 309 (D & P) [Lepiota clypeolaria]
  • Arora (1991): p. 99 (D & CP) [Lepiota clypeolaria]
  • Breitenbach & Kränzlin (vol. 3): sp. 220 (D, I, & CP)
  • Lincoff: p. 516 (D), plate 176 (CP) [Lepiota clypeolaria]
  • McKenny et al.: p. 79 (D & CP) [Lepiota clypeolaria]
  • Miller: sp. 25 (D & CP) [Lepiota clypeolaria]
  • Phillips: p. 31 (D & CP) [Lepiota clypeolaria]
  • Smith: sp. 118 (D & CP) [Lepiota clypeolaria]
  
  

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