Weraroa cucullata (Seaver & Shope) Thiers & Watling
Madrono 21: 2. 1971.

Common Name: none

Synonyms: Galeropsis cucullata (Seaver & Shope) Singer; Bolbitius cucullata Seaver & Shope

• Pileus

  Cap narrowly conic, 1.0-2.5 cm tall, 0.5-1.0 cm broad near margin, the latter often pinched and persistently adherent to the stipe; surface wrinkled, faintly striate, lustrous, cream-buff with scattered tawny-brown squamules concentrated at the margin; in age, cap ochre-buff at disc, cream-grey near margin; context thin, < 1 mm, soft, colored like the cap surface; odor and taste mild.

• Lamellae

  Gills adnexed, relatively narrow, up to 2.0 mm broad, crowded anastomosing, medium-brown to mahogany-brown at maturity.

• Stipe

  Stipe 3.0-10.0 cm long, 2.0-4.0 cm thick, slender, pliant, straight to slightly sinuous, more or less equal, stuffed at maturity; surface of apex obscurely striate, elsewhere furfuraceous to minutely squamulose, the ornamentation pallid to buff over a darker ground color; context fibrous, medium-brown where cut; partial veil evanescent, squamulose, leaving scattered fragments on the young cap and margin.

• Spores

  Spores 11.0-14.0 x 6.5-8.0 µm, elliptical to almond-shaped in face-view, slightly inequilateral in side-view, smooth, moderately thick-walled, truncate at the apex, with a germ pore; hilar appendage distinct; spore print lacking.

• Habitat

  Solitary to scattered in moist montane meadows or edges of marshes; fruiting in late spring; uncommon

• Edibility

  Unknown.

• Comments

  Weraroa cucullata is a small, seldom collected montane mushroom with secotioid development. Typical of secotioid species, the cap usually remains attached to the stipe and the gills anastomose, thus appear deformed. Weraroa cucullata sometimes occurs with Galeropsis polytrichoides, a secotioid cousin. Like Weraroa cucullata it has a cap that resembles a moss spore capsule, in particular, species of the genus Polytrichum. Galeropsis polytrichoides can be distinguished from Weraroa cucullata by a darker brown, more obtuse-conic pileus, and a noticeably fibrillose cap margin.

• References

  Seaver, F.J. & Shope, P.F. (1935). New or Noteworthy Basidiomycetes from the Central Rocky Mountain Region. Mycologia 27: 642-651.
  Thiers, H.D. & Watling, R. (1971). Secotiaceous Fungi from Western United States. Madroņo 21: 1-9.

• Other Descriptions and Photos
  • Boleslaw Kuznik: Weraroa cucullata (CP)
  • Michael Wood: Weraroa cucullata (CP)
  • Michael Wood: Weraroa cucullata (CP)
  • Michael Wood: Weraroa cucullata (CP)
  • Arora (1986): p. 734 (D & P)
  
  

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