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Species Information
Summary: Neolentinus lepideus is distinguished by its scaly whitish cap, tough white flesh, serrated gills, membranous veil, growth on wood, white spore deposit, and cylindric inamyloid spores. It is called train-wrecker because it destroys railroad ties, potentially causing derailments. The description is derived from Arora(1) except where noted.
There are collections from BC, WA, and ID at the University of British Columbia. It is found also in AZ, CT, ME, NH, and NY, (Martin, K.J.(3)), CA (Arora, Phillips), QC and FL, (Lincoff(2)), and elsewhere in North America and Europe.
Cap: 5-15(20)cm across, convex to flat; "whitish to buff or pale yellow"; "usually with darker (brownish) scales", dry or slightly viscid, "margin sometimes beaded with droplets when young", (Arora), 5-12(28)cm across (Phillips)
Flesh: thick, tough, not decaying readily; "white, but often aging or bruising yellow"
Gills: "usually decurrent but sometimes notched or adnate"; "whitish to buff or in one form yellow", often bruising brownish and/or yellowish when old; edges entire when young but often serrate when old, (Arora), 38-45 reaching stem, 3-5(7) subgills between neighboring gills, (Breitenbach)
Stem: 3-5cm x 1-3cm, central to somewhat off-center, narrowed at base, solid, tough, hard; colored more or less as cap, usually with brownish to reddish brown scales or fibrils below ring, (Arora) 3-10cm x 1-1.5cm, solid, either narrow at the base or bulbous; white, to reddish brown when old; minutely hairy above ring, scaly below ring, (Phillips)
Veil: membranous, forming a pallid, superior to apical ring on stem which may be slight or disappear when old
Odor: "usually distinctive (pungent or fragrant)", (Arora), sweetish, like anise or balsam, (Breitenbach), fragrant, like anise, (Phillips)
Microscopic spores: spores 9-12 x 4-5 microns, nearly cylindric, smooth, inamyloid, (Arora), spores 7.5-12.0 x 3-4.5 microns, cylindric to cylindric-elliptic, smooth, iodine-negative, colorless, some with droplets; basidia (2-)4-spored, 30-50 x 6-8 microns, narrowly clavate, with basal clamp connection; cheilocystidia: marginal cells 25-30 x 2-3.5 microns, cylindric, filiform, sometimes flexuous [wavy]; cap cuticle of +/- parallel to irregular hyphae 3.5-6.5 microns wide, septa with indistinct clamp connections, (Breitenbach)
Spore deposit: whitish
Habitat / Range
single, scattered, or in small groups "on conifer logs, stumps, fence posts, and other lumber, sometimes also on oak", (Arora), single, scattered, or in clusters "on logs, stumps, fence posts, railroad ties, decaying conifer wood, and occasionally hardwoods", (Phillips), spring and fall (Miller(14)), spring, summer, fall, (Buczacki)
Similar Species
Neolentinus ponderosus is larger with a thick stem, has narrow, close gills, lacks a partial veil, and lacks thickened, recurved scales on cap and stem, (Bessette(1)). N. ponderosus 1) is a large species with a very thick stem, 2) lacks a veil during all stages of development, 3) has more pink in the cap, 4) has a stem that is smooth or with scattered tufts of fibrils (only in extreme age having recurved squamules on a few specimens, whereas N. lepideus contains thickened recurved squamules in buttons even before the cap expands), and 5) typically has reddish brown dots and coloration over the lower part of the stem (N. lepideus usually pallid to light tan with dingy brown coloration only on the root-like base), (Miller(12)).
"quite good, but the tough flesh requires thorough cooking", use only young caps, as older specimens may have unpleasant taste, (Arora), not edible (Phillips)
