Mycena haematopus (Pers.) P. Kumm.
Fürh. Pilzk. p. 108. 1871.
Photo: Growing on buried wood
Common Name: none
Cap 1-3.0 cm broad, hemispheric to campanulate, the margin irregularly hairy, becoming convex and conspicuously striate, occasionally faintly furrowed; surface smooth, dry, hygrophanous, dull vinaceous-brown fading to pale pinkish-brown; flesh, thin, pallid unchanging; odor and taste mild.
Gills subdecurrent, moderately broad, close to crowded, dull pinkish-buff, bruising reddish-brown, lamellulae alternating with gills.
Stipe 2.5-7.0 cm tall, 0.2-0.3 cm thick, thin, fragile, hollow; equal or tapering to a narrowed base; surface dry, powdery, drab vinaceous-brown, becoming smooth and polished where handled, sometimes with scattered fibrils; flesh bleeding a reddish juice, particularly at the base when cut; veil absent.
Spores 7.5-9 x 4.5-5.5 µm, elliptical, amyloid, smooth; spore print white.
Gregarious to clustered on rotting wood; fruiting from mid to late-winter.
Questionable, described as edible by some by authors but untried locally. In any case, too small to be of culinary value.
Mycena haematopus is characterized by a vinaceous-brown to pinkish-brown, conspicuously striate cap, often with a hairy margin when young and the tendency of the stipe to bleed a reddish juice when cut. It can be distinguished from other bleeding Mycenas by its preference for fruiting on rotting wood. There is also a form of this species with reddish, marginate gills.
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