Endoptychum agaricoides "Gastroid Lepoita"

Sample #15: Endoptychum agaricoides “Gastroid Lepiota”

Figure 1: dehydrated young sample; spore casing retains spine-like structures from partial veil

Figure 2: rehydrated detail of spore sack; stipe clearly continues into the sack; spores an immature cream color

Phylum: Basidiomycota

Family: Agaricaceae

Collection Date: 15 September, 2016

Collector: Kristen Maslach

Habitat: solitary, scattered or in groups in open soil; common in lawns, fields, flower beds

Location: ledges of soil, Nelson’s Ledges, Ohio

Description: variously shaped spore mass “cap” on a short stalk; spore mass loosely compartmentalized, spore change from white to yellow or brown as they mature; stalk precurrent, thickest at base, discolors with age; veil not usually discernable from cap

Key Used: Arora, David (1986).  Mushrooms Demystified.  New York City, New York: Ten Speed Press: an association of Random House Inc. 

Steps to Key:

                Basidiomycota

                Puffballs and Earthstars: pg 54

                Doesn’t consist of a “nest” and “eggs” structure (pg 676)

                Not emerging as a “phallic, branched, tenticled or latticed structure” from a vulva or sack; no slimy coating or odor (pg 676)

                “Fruiting body with a stalk below the spore case or “cap” (pg 676)”

                Stalk penetrates through the spore case, usually extending to the top (pg 676)

                Spore mass solid, no gills or cavities (pg 724)

                Not found on “living or dead wood or other debris” (pg 724)

                Not covered in “shaggy scales or fibrils (pg 724)”

                Flesh not orange, spore mass not grey to black (pg 724)

                Flesh not bright yellow at stalk base, nor are spores chambered (pg 724)

                Wasn’t growing on wood

                Cap not conical

                “fruiting body [not] agaricus-like”

                “fruiting body… puff-like…spore mass often white at first…growing mainly in grass, cultivated earth”

                “Spore mass enclosed for a long time”; no “gills” hanging from the underside (pg 727)

                Found in an open soil area

                Spore mass white becoming yellow

                No peridioles

               

Resources:

http://e-ecodb.bas.bg/rdb/en/vol1/Endagari.html

http://www.mycobank.org/name/Endoptychum%20agaricoides