Group C - Gilled fungi with a central to eccentric stem, no annulus,
even gill edges, attached or free gills, and white or pinkish spores
1. Spore print white to buff
2. Cap 5-15 cm wide, whitish at first, with age, becoming tannish, often cracking and forming minute scales
or scaly patches; gills attached, whitish to cream; stalk whitish, stout, eccentric, 5-10 cm long, 1-2 cm thick, often
bending from point of attachment; occurring singly or in small groups on hardwoods, often from wounds
on living box elder (Acer negundo) trees ................................................................. Hypsizygus ulmarius
2. Not with above combination of characteristics
3. Cap with conspicuous fibers, fibrous scales, or hairs of a different color than the cap background color
4. Gills free, cap with long, radially arranged tawny hairs....................................... Crinipellis zonata
4. Gills attached
5. Cap brownish-grey, streaked with dark, radial fibers; gills white; white rhizomorphs
at base of stalk................................................................................... Megacollybia platyphylla
5. Cap yellowish to yellowish-orange; gills yellow; stalk without rhizomorphs
6. Cap yellowish with blackish, fibrous scales over the center.................... Tricholomopsis decora
6. Cap yellowish-orange with reddish, fibrous scales.......................................Tricholomopsis rutilans
3. Cap smooth, without conspicuous hairs or fibrous scales different in color than cap background color
7. Basidiocarp very small (caps from 2 mm to 3 cm wide, stalks up to 1.5 mm thick);
caps pleated, sunken in center, gills attached to a collarium (collar)
8. Cap white; stalk tough, shiny, black; gills attached to a collar surrounding the
stalk...........................................................................................................Marasmius rotulu
8. Cap brownish; stalk velvet-brown; gills attached to a collar; mushroom has a
foul odor............................................... .............................................Micromphale foetidum
7. Basidiocarp not as above: cap not pleated or sunken in the center, collarium absent
9. Stalk very long (8-20 cm) above ground and having an equally long rooting portion
below ground, attached to a root; cap brownish and sticky, sometimes
wrinkled; gills white...................................................................................Xerula furfuracea
9. Stalk not as above; mushroom on wood
10. Mushroom orangish with conspicuous red-orange gill edges or mushroom reddish-brown
with flesh and stalk exuding blood-red juice where cut
11. Gill edges red-orange......................................................................Mycena leaiana
11. Flesh and stalk exuding blood-red juice...................................Mycena haematopus
10. Mushroom without red-orange gill edges or blood- red juice
12. Cap sticky and tawny in color; stalk yellowish above and velvety dark below with short
brown to blackish-brown hairs below; gills cream to yellow ........... Flammulina velutipes
12. Not as above
13. Cap convex to nearly flat, reddish-brown fading to tan; stalk reddish-brown with base
covered by white mycelium; odor and taste not distinctive; often growing in cespitose
clusters on conifer logs and decayed wood ...........................Gymnopus acervatus
13. Cap conical to bell-shaped to hemispherical, brownish to grayish, paler toward
the margin; stalk not reddish-brown above, base covered or not by white mycelium;
odor and taste unpleasant; single or in cespitose clusters on decayed hardwood logs
and stumps ....... Mycena galericulata, Mycena inclinata, other Mycena spp.
1. Spore print pink or pinkish/salmon
Note: A large genus, Pluteus, will key out here. Unfortunately, most Pluteus species can only be reliably
separated from each other using microscopic characters. Only a few common and conspicuous
Pluteus species are keyed below. Some of the additional diversity within the genus is illustrated
on the Pluteus spp. page.
14. Cap reddish to pinkish and conspicuously netted with ridges and pits;
gills attached and pinkish....................................................................................Rhodotus palmatus
14. Cap yellowish or brownish; gills free and pinkish at maturity
15. Cap and stalk yellow................................................................................ Pluteus admirabilis
15. Cap brownish
16. Cap dark brown; gill edges dark brown to black; stalk whitish,
covered by small dark fibers .............................................................Pluteus atromarginatus
16. Cap brownish; gill edges same color as gill; stalk whitish .............................Pluteus cervinus
This page © 2006 by Gary Emberger, Messiah College |