Gilled Mushroom flashcards

do gills describe a single lineage

no, they describe a form

field identification sequence

look broadly at whole thing, then hymenophore, veils and surfaces, flesh/context, ecology/environment and spore deposit (start with spore color)

Whole basidiome

photograph before handling, then collect entire stipe base

Hymenophore

make sure there’s actually gills, record gill attachment, spacing, and edges

veils and surfaces

look for volva (base skirt) and annulus (skirt-like ring)

context

take note of texture, latex, odor, bruising, and color changes

Ecology

Nearby environment: substrate, growth habit (growing singularly or in groups), nearby trees, habitat, season

what to check with spores

confirm color, then use microscopy or a regional key

Universal veil

encloses entire young basidiome, can show up as a volva, rings around the base, patches, or warts on the cap

partial veil

protects the developing gills, (what Mushroom’s veil is) may remain as an annulus (skirt-like ring), hanging margin fragments, or a cobweb-like cortina. It can change with age

reaction types

hygrophanous, bruising, staining, or darkening, note time course

context types

brittle, fibrous, cartilagenous, latex color and change, odor

substrate types

soil, turf, leaf litter, dung, buried wood, logs, stumps, another fungus

growth habit types

solitary, scattered or arranged in arcs and rings

biotic association

looking at plant life nearby, look at hosts if the fungi has one and substrate if the fungi decays wood

waxcaps

gill texture is the clue (thick, wavy, often widely spaced gills)

useful field record

whole basidiome in habitat, underside and gill attachment, excavated stipe base, cap surface and margin, section through cap and stipe, grouping, substrate and nearby trees

sticky/slimy cap

viscid

hair-like filaments on cap

fibrillose

densely matted/wooly hair on cap

tormentose

grainy cap

granular

hygrophanous

mushroom changes color / transparency depending on how much water is absorbed

grow in groups but not with a shared base

gregarious

grows in dense clusters with stems packed close together

cespitose

when multiple mushroom caps overlap each other

imbricate