Bolbitius reticulatus (Pers.) Ricken
Die Blätterpilze 1: 68. 1915.
Common Name: none
Synonym: Bolbitius aleuriatus (Fries) Singer
Cap 1.5-3.0 cm broad, convex to campanulate, expanding to nearly plane, sometimes centrally depressed or with a low umbo; margin striate-plicate, decurved when young, plane to slightly raised in age; surface viscid when moist, disc glabrous to reticulate, greyish-brown to greyish-purple, shading to a light-grey margin; context white, unchanging, soft, thin, up to 2 mm thick; odor and taste not distinctive.
Gills adnexed, sometimes appearing free, close to crowded, narrow, 2.0-3.0 mm broad, pallid to faintly pinkish when young, buff-brown to ochre-brown, occasionally tinged rusty-brown at maturity; lamellulae 3-4 seried, edges minutely fringed.
Stipe 1.5-3.0 cm long, 1.5-3.0 mm thick, more or less equal, fragile, hollow to stuffed at maturity; surface moist, pallid to cream-yellow, pruinose to furfuraceous at the apex, less conspicuously ornamented towards the base, in age sometimes weathering away and appearing glabrous; partial veil absent.
Spores 8.5-11.0 x 4.5-6 µm, broadly ellipsoid, smooth, relatively thick-walled, with an apical pore, hilar appendage not evident; spore print brown to dull reddish-brown.
Mostly solitary on well-rotted wood; fruiting from late fall to mid-winter.
Unknown, insignificant.
Bolbitius reticulatus is a widely distributed but inconspicuous woodland species. A delicate mushroom, it is recognized by a viscid when moist, striate, greyish-purple cap, ochre-brown, sometimes tinged rusty-brown gills, and a pruinose to furfuraceous ornamented stipe. Bolbitius reticulatus is most likely to be confused with Pluteus longistriatus, another small wood-rotter with a striate margin, but it can be distinguished by a typically brown, non-viscid cap, free gills which are pinkish at maturity, and a pinkish, not brown to reddish-brown spore print.
Our California species probably needs a new name. Boltitius reticulatus (= B. aleuriatus) seems to be restricted to Europe.
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