The North American Species of Crepidotus

18. Crepidotus bicolor Murr., Mycologia 5: 28. 1913.

Illustration: Fig. 60.

Pileus 5-8 mm broad, sessile, dimidiate or flabelliform, usually narrowed behind, convex or applanate, testaceous to latericious (brick red), dry, glabrous or subglabrous, margin undulate and somewhat sulcate with age or on drying. Context thin, rather firm.

Lamellae radiating, ochraceous-ferruginous, broad, distant, ventricose.

Spores 7-8 x 5-6 µ, broadly ellipsoid, smooth, conspicuously thick-walled, reddish-brown to rusty-brown in 2% KOH. Basidia 19-30 x 5-7 µ, 2-4-spored, mostly 4-spored. Pleurocystidia none; cheilocystidia 23-46 x 3.5-6 µ, clustered, cylindric to slender-clavate, often irregular to slightly constricted. Gill trama of undulating subparallel hyphae 3-6 µ broad. Pileus trama interwoven. Cuticle of repent hyphae forming a narrow, conspicuous zone which is rusty-brown. Clamp connections none.

Habit, Habitat, and Distribution: On dead wood, British Honduras.

Material Studied: BRITISH HONDURAS: Morton E. Peck, the type (NY), 1906.

Observations: The description of microscopic characters above is based on a study of the type. This species seems to be unique in its pileus colors, its smooth, broadly ellipsoid spores, and in the structure of the pileus cuticle.