The North American Species of Crepidotus
8. Crepidotus alabamensis Murr., North Amer. Flora 10: 150. 1917.
Pileus 1-2 (4.5) cm broad, sessile, reniform, flabelliform, or semiorbicular, convex, whitish, viscid, glabrous or obscurely pruinose, more rarely white-fibrillose, white-tomentose behind, margin even or faintly short-striate when wet. Context white, somewhat tough, more or less rubbery, not readily decaying.
Lamellae radiating, thin, narrow to moderately broad, close or crowded, white then pale-isabelline, finally darker, edges gelatinous, concolorous.
Spores in deposit: "Dresden brown." Spores (5.5) 6-8.5 x 4-5 µ, ellipsoid, inequilateral in profile, smooth, brown in 2% KOH. Basidia 22-28 x 5-7 µ, 4-spored. Pleurocystidia none; cheilocystidia often gelatinous, 37-60 x 6-10 µ, clavate, fusoid, ventricose, or bottle-shaped, at times irregularly shaped or constricted. Gill trama subparallel, hyphae 6-12 µ broad. Pileus trama interwoven. Cuticle a thick (75-300 µ or more) gelatinous zone of loosely interwoven hyphae, bearing on the surface more or less erect, colorless hyphae, the terminal elements as pileocystidia , which may be forked, branched, sharp-pointed or capitate, forming more or less of a turf. Clamp connections none. No brownish hyphae present on the pileus.
Habit, Habitat, and Distribution: On deciduous stumps, logs, trunks, and limbs, Southeastern United States, May-October.
Material Studied: ALABAMA: Earle, the type (NY) from Palmetto Swamp, near Auburn, on persimmon, Sept. 1, 1899; FLORIDA: Hesler 19624 (collected by Murrill); MISSOURI: Hesler 13241 (collected by J. B. Routien, No. 1049); NORTH CAROLINA: Hesler 24893; TENNESSEE: Hesler 5388, 8966, 9208, 12227, 19654, 21871, 22996, 24963, 25817.
Observations: This differs from mollis in its lack of brown, incrusted hyphae, and exhibits a turf of colorless hyphae and pileocystidia.