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Species Information
Summary: {See also Xeromphalina Table.} Features include 1) a hygrophanous, striate cap that may be umbonate or umbilicate and is orange to brown in the center and yellowish marginally, 2) adnate to short decurrent, orange-yellow to orange buff gills, 3) a dry, horny stem that is pale at the top and dark brown in the lower part, the stem with orange hairs becoming bald, 4) mild taste, 5) growth on conifer needles, and 6) microscopic characters. Xeromphalina cirris is "largely confined to western mountains" - "alpine and subalpine forms differed from the lower elevation forms by shorter stipes and more distinct stipe vestiture", (Redhead(2)).
Collections were examined from BC, WA, OR, ID, ON, CA, CO, NM, UT, and WY, (Redhead(2)).
Cap: 0.7-2.6cm across, convex and subumbonate [somewhat umbonate] to flat and umbilicate; hygrophanous, "xanthine orange" to "argus brown" towards center and "deep chrome" marginally; margin translucent-striate
Flesh: brownish
Gills: broadly adnate to short decurrent, close to subdistant; "light orange-yellow" to orange buff with paler margins
Stem: 1.5-2.5cm x 0.1-0.25cm, horny; pale at top, dark brown below; dry, pubescent, with orangish hairs, becoming bald, basal mycelium colored "raw sienna"
Microscopic spores: spores 5.5-8.5 x 3.8-5 microns, broadly elliptic to broadly oval, smooth, amyloid, colorless, thin-walled; basidia 4-spored, 25-27 x 5-6 microns, narrowly clavate, with clamp connections; cheilocystidia scattered, sometimes inconspicuous, 31-36 x 3-4 microns, "broader in branched area, with thin but refringent walls"; prominent bundles of elongated pileocystidia which are not confined to marginal area (along with "relatively smooth, yellowish to orangish pileipellis and subpellis hyphae as seen in KOH") help distinguish X. cirris from X. campanelloides, X. cauticinalis, X. cornui, and X. parvibulbosa: cap cystidia are 28-50 x 4-5 microns, broader in branched part, sometimes dichotomously lobed, golden in KOH, refractive, smooth, with long pedicels, the pileocystidia "very conspicuous against the nonrefractive, nearly colourless, filamentous hyphae when viewed in scalp sections"; cap cuticle a thin layer of repent, mostly smooth, filamentous hyphae 4-4.5 microns wide, giving rise to repent fascicles on thick-walled, obtusely lobed cystidia or cystidioform ends scattered over the entire surface of the cap; cap trama distinctly duplex, the subpellis a broad layer 1/3 to 1/2 the thickness of the cap, golden brown in KOH, the hyphae smooth to vaguely incrusted, mostly 7-11 microns wide, the walls slightly thickened, "this subtended by a densely compact zone, which becomes less compact towards the hymenium", the hyphae filamentous, thin-walled, prominently incrusted, 4-5 microns wide or occasionally wider, "the incrustations red to vinaceous brown in KOH"; stem cuticle hyphae dark reddish brown in KOH, 4-5 microns wide, roughened, "with slightly thickened walls, bearing fascicles of caulocystidia mostly concentrated near the apex"; caulocystidia 35-45 x 4-10 microns, broader in branched part, often narrowly clavate to somewhat strangulate-fusoid, often with one or more growths at tip, the walls thickened, reddish brown in KOH; clamp connections present
Spore deposit: [presumably pale]
Habitat / Range
type on conifer needles; often in mountains
Similar Species
Xeromphalina campanella has decurrent gills, habitat on logs and stumps, and narrower spores. Xeromphalina brunneola has decurrent gills, a disagreeable (bitter) taste, habitat on logs, and narrower spores. Xeromphalina campanelloides has a bitter taste, habitat on rotting conifer wood as opposed to conifer needles, and smaller spores. Xeromphalina fulvipes has a bitter taste and smaller spores. Xeromphalina cornui has decurrent to arcuate decurrent gills and habitat on conifer debris or in sphagnum bogs. Xeromphalina cauticinalis var. cauticinalis has a bitter taste, habitat on conifer litter, and smaller spores. Xeromphalina parvibulbosa has a mild to astringent or bitter taste, habitat on conifer debris, and somewhat smaller spores; in addition, according to Redhead, Xeromphalina cirris is distinguished from X. cornui, X. cauticinalis ssp. cauticinalis, and X. parvibulbosa microscopically by its prominent fascicles of elongated pileocystidia that are not confined to the marginal areas and that remain yellowish in KOH, and the relatively smooth, yellowish to orangish pileipellis and subpellis hyphae in KOH.
