page_title: Mythicomyces
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Mythicomyces / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: A collection of fruit bodies of the agaric fungus Mythicomyces corneipes (Fr.) Redhead &amp; A.H. Sm. Collected near Trout Lake, Washington, USA. "Notes: Growing in duff/moss on the side of a small stream of water. Spore print light brown (but rather weak). Spores 6-8 × 4-5 microns."
context_page_description: Mythicomyces is a fungal genus in the family Mythicomycetaceae. A monotypic genus, it contains the single species Mythicomyces corneipes, first described by Elias Fries in 1861. The fungus produces fruit bodies with shiny yellowish-orange to tawny caps that are 1–3 cm in diameter. These are supported by stems measuring 2–5.7 cm long and 1–2 mm thick. A rare to uncommon species, it is found in northern temperate regions of North America and Europe, where it typically fruits in groups, in wet areas of coniferous forests. There are several species with which M. corneipes might be confused due to a comparable appearance or similar range and habitat, but microscopic characteristics can be used to reliably distinguish between them.
context_section_description: The cap is initially somewhat conical with margins rolled inward, and expands to become bell-shaped or broadly convex in maturity, reaching a diameter of 1–3 cm (0.4–1.2 in). The cap sometimes has an umbo, which is rounded to conical. The color of the cap ranges from dull to bright orange when young, to yellowish-brown (tawny) in maturity. It is hygrophanous, and the color fades to yellowish-buff. The cap surface is smooth and polished, and somewhat translucent, such that the radial gill lines can be seen on the margin. The gills are closely spaced, and have two tiers of interspersed lamellulae (short gills). Gills have an adnate to adnexed attachment to the stem, although the gills tend to secede (separate from the stem) in maturity. They are initially pallid to whitish in color before turning brownish when the spores mature. The smooth stem measures 3–5.7 cm (1.2–2.2 in) long by 1–2 mm thick. Yellowish to pale orange near the top and dark reddish brown below, it has tawny mycelium at the base. In maturity the stem turns black from the base upward. In 1907, Morgan noted the stipe to be remarkably similar to that of Marasmius cohaerens. The mushroom flesh has an odor that ranges from indistinct to somewhat of geraniums, while its taste is indistinct to faintly bitter. The edibility of the mushroom is unknown.
  The spore print is pale purplish brown. Spores are ovoid (egg-shaped) to somewhat ellipsoidal, binucleate (visible when stained with acetocarmine solution), often contain a single oil droplet, and measure 6–8.5 by 4–5.5 µm. The spore walls are roughened with small points and ridges, and have a small plage. The basidia (spore-bearing cells) are club-shaped, four-spored, and measure 24–26 by 6–8.5 µm. Cystidia on the gill face (pleurocystidia) are abundant. They are spindle-shaped with swollen middles, and thick tips that are occasionally encrusted with translucent crystals. They have dimensions of 43–86 by 10–24 µm, with walls that are pale brown to translucent, and up to 3 µm thick. Cystidia on the gill edge (cheilocystidia) are roughly the same morphologically, but shorter. The cap cuticle comprises a layer of radially arranged gelatinized hyphae measuring 1–4 µm in diameter. Clamp connections are present in the hyphae.
caption: A collection from Washington, USA
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