Otidea alutacea (Pers.) Massee
British Fungus Flora. Agarics and Boleti 4: 446. 1895.

Common Name: none

• Sporocarp

  Fruiting body 2-6 cm tall, 2-4 cm broad, erect-cupulate, blunt to truncate in profile, split down one side, tapering below, substipitate, or the stipe lacking; margin wavy to contorted when fruiting in clusters; hymenial surface pale-dull-brown to light-greyish-brown; exterior surface light-brown, finely pubescent to nearly glabrous; context up to 2 mm thick, pliant, pallid; odor and taste mild.

• Spores

  Spores 14-15.5 x 7-8 µm, elliptical, smooth, with two oil droplets; asci non-amyloid; paraphysis hooked.

• Habitat

  Typically clustered, but occasionally solitary, in mixed hardwood/conifer woods; fruiting from late fall to mid-winter.

• Edibility

  Unknown.

• Comments

  Otidea alutacea can be separated from other Bay Area Otideas by shape (cups blunt in profile rather than elongated), a brownish to brownish-grey hymenium, and clustered fruiting habit. It is fairly common in our woodlands but often overlooked. A close relative, Otidea alutacea var. microspora, has a more yellowish exterior and as the name suggests, smaller spores. Two other Otidea species which may be encountered include O. leporina, with a more tapered cup and yellowish-brown hymenium, and O. onotica, larger than the latter, ear-like in shape, the hymenium yellowish-brown, often with pinkish tints.

• Other Descriptions and Photos
  • Mushroom Observer: Otidea alutacea (CP)
  • Arora (1986): p. 832 (D), p. 833 (P)
  • Breitenbach &; Kränzlin (vol. 1): sp. 60 (D, I, & CP)
  • Jordan: p. 39 (D & CP)
  • Phillips: p. 306 (D), p. 307 (P)
  • Tylutki (1979): p. 98 (D & P)
  
  

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