Stropharia semiglobata (Batsch: Fries) Quélet
Champ. Jura Vosg. 1: 143.

Common Name: none

• Pileus

  Cap 2.0-4.0 cm broad, hemispheric, expanding to convex, with or without a low umbo; margin incurved, then decurved, occasionally appendiculate with veil fragments; surface viscid when moist, drying glossy, glabrous, pale-yellow, tinged tan at the disc, not hygrophanous; context up to 5.0 mm thick at the disc, thin at the margin, soft, watery-cream-yellow, unchanging, odor and taste cucumber-like, harsh; mild according to some authors.

• Lamellae

  Gills adnexed to notched with a decurrent tooth, sub-distant, relatively broad, up to 8.0 mm wide, cream-colored in youth, then greyish, dark purple-brown in age, edges lighter than the faces; lameullae in up to four series.

• Stipe

  Stipe 3.0-8.0 cm long, 2.0-5.0 mm thick, slender, stuffed or hollow, equal to slightly enlarged at the base; surface of apex colored like the cap, dry, pruinose-striate, viscid below, cream-colored with scattered light-brown, appressed fibrils, more concentrated towards the base; partial veil pallid, thin, membranous, with a glutinous coating, forming a narrow, superior annulus, flattened to the stipe, soon blackened from spores, or leaving fragments on the cap margin.

• Spores

  Spores 15.0-20.0 x 7.5-10.0 µm, elliptical to almond-shaped in face-view and profile, smooth, thick-walled, with an apical germ pore, purple-brown mounted in water, hilar appendage inconspicuous; spore print purple-brown.

• Habitat

  Solitary or in small groups on horse and cow dung or in manured pastures; fruiting throughout the mushroom season after rainy periods; common in its favored habitat.

• Edibility

  Questionable.

• Comments

  Stropharia semiglobata is a slender, dung-dwelling species recognized by a viscid, dull-yellowish cap, viscid lower stipe, and glutinous, evanescent ring. Its occurrence on manure is a helpful but not definitive field character. Other mushrooms that fruit here include Psilocybe coprophila and its close cousin Psilocybe merdaria which differs in having reddish-brown to brown sub-viscid caps and lack of a ring. Panaeolus papilionaceus has a greyish-brown, fringed, non-viscid cap and also lacks a ring. Panaeolus semiovatus is a larger, annulate species with a cream-colored, distinctively wrinkled, viscid cap. Fruitings of Stropharia semiglobata in manure-rich grass can be confused with Agrocybe pediades and Stropharia coronilla. Both species have similar cream-colored, subviscid caps. Stropharia coronilla, however, differs in possessing a non-viscid, striate-margined annulus, while Agrocybe pediades lacks a ring, and has brown, not purple-brown gills and spores. Finally, compare with Bolbitius vitellinus, which occasionally fruits on dung. It has a viscid, yellowish cap with a striate margin, ochre-colored gills, and lacks a veil. Several varieties of Stropharia semiglobata have been described, but are not treated separately here.

• References

  Bas, C., Kyper, T.W., Noordeloos, M.E. & Vellinga, E.C. (1999). Flora Agaricina Neerlandica — Critical monographs on the families of agarics and boleti occurring in the Netherlands. Volume 4. Strophariaceae, Tricholomataceae. A. A.Balkema: Rotterdam, Netherlands. 191 p.
  Little, B. (1991). A Systematic Study of Hypholoma and Stropharia for California. Masters Thesis. Humboldt State University: Arcata, CA. 114 p.
  Smith, A.H. (1949). Mushrooms in their Natural Habitats. Sawyer's Inc: Portland, OR. 626 p.
  Watling, R. & Gregory, N.M. (1987). British Fungus Flora: Agarics and Boleti. Vol 5. Strophariaceae & Coprinaceae p.p.: Hypholoma, Melanotus, Psilocybe, Stropharia, Lacymaria, & Panaeolus. Royal Botanic Garden: Edinburgh, Scotland. 121 p.

• Other Descriptions and Photos
  • Brother Alfred Brousseau: Stropharia semiglobata (CP)
  • Fred Stevens: Stropharia semiglobata (CP)
  • Michael Wood: Stropharia semiglobata (CP)
  • Arora (1986): p. 376 (D & P)
  • Arora (1991): p. 127 (D & CP)
  • Breitenbach & Kränzlin (vol. 4): sp. 460 (D, I, & CP)
  • Jordan: p. 262 (D & CP)
  • Lincoff: p. 730 (D), plate 46 (CP)
  • Miller: sp. 198 (D)
  • Orr & Orr: p. 138 (D)
  
  

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