page_title: Stropharia caerulea
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Stropharia caerulea / Description
caption_attribution_description: Stropharia caerulea
context_page_description: Stropharia caerulea, commonly known as the blue roundhead, is an inedible species of agaric fungus in the family Strophariaceae. It is a common species found in Europe and North America, where it grows as a saprophyte in meadows, roadsides, hedgerows, gardens, and woodchip mulch. S. caerulea was officially described to science in 1979, although it was known to be a distinct species for about two centuries before that. The taxon Stropharia cyanea, as defined by Risto Tuomikoski in 1953, and used by several later authors, is a synonym of S. caerulea.
  The fruit bodies of Stropharia caerulea feature a greenish-blue cap sparsely covered in white flecks of veil at the margin, and a sticky, glutinous surface texture. Gills on the cap underside have an adnate or sinuate attachment to the stipe. They are initially pale purplish-brown, becoming darker brown in age as the spores mature. The greenish stipe is covered in white scales up to a thin, transient ring. It is similar in appearance to its less common relative Stropharia aeruginosa, but that species has a more robust ring on its stipe, more scales on the cap, and darker gills with white edges.
context_section_description: Fruitbodies have conical to flattened caps measuring 2–7.5 cm (0.8–3.0 in) in diameter. They usually have a low, broad umbo. The colour of the cap depends on its age, ranging from pale blue-green to yellowish-bluish green. There is often a whitish zone around the margin, which invariably has bluish-green tints. When moist, the cap is sticky with a cuticle that may be readily peeled; dry caps are smooth and shiny. Gills are initially pale purplish-brown, becoming darker brown in age as the spores mature. They have an adnate or sinuate attachment to the stipe. The stipe has a short-lived annular (ring) zone; above this zone the stipe is smooth, while below it is fibrous and scaly. The flesh is colourless, although it may have tinges of blue in the cap and stipe, and lacks any distinctive odour or flavour. Stropharia cyanea fruit bodies are not edible.
  The spore print is brown. Spores typically measure 8.0–9.0 by 4.0–5.5 µm, and have an ellipsoid to oblong to ovoid shape, depending on the viewing angle. Basidia (spore-bearing cells) are narrowly club-shaped, four-spored, and have dimensions of 24–40 by 7–12 µm. The cheilochrysocystidia (found on the gill edge) are club-shaped, measuring 30–55 by 4–40 µm, with a neck that is 2–5 µm wide. Pleurochrysocystidia (on the gill face) are 40–60 by 5–18 µm with a 2–4 µm-wide neck. Clamp connections are abundant in all tissues of S. caerulea. The fungus produces acanthocytes, spiny cells produced on short branches on the mycelium.
caption: A prominent characteristic is the smooth and scaly surface upper and lower stipe texture, divided by a short-lived annular zone.
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