Chromosera cyanophylla
no common name
Hygrophoraceae

Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.

Introduction to the Macrofungi

Photograph

© Adolf Ceska     (Photo ID #19159)


Map

E-Flora BC Static Map

Distribution of Chromosera cyanophylla
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Species Information

Summary:
Chromosera cyanophylla is characterized by 1) omphalinoid habit, 2) viscid yellow cap and stem, that become dingy yellow, 3) strikingly differently colored gills that are either bluish, lilac, or rosy depending upon pigment intensity, fading when old, and 4) growth on conifer wood. C. cyanophylla is not uncommon in the Pacific Northwest, fruiting in spring or fall.
Cap:
0.3-2.5cm across, convex with a flattened to depressed center, edges even to scalloped; darkest centrally, pale luteous to amber or honey or olivaceous buff, "cream color" to "Naples yellow", with faint rosy vinaceous tints to larger caps or buttons; viscid to lubricous, bald, translucent-striate, (Redhead), 0.8-2.5cm across, broadly convex with flattened disc and incurved margin when young, when old with flattened or somewhat depressed disc, "the margin usually remaining sloped abruptly downward", "Naples yellow" on disc, "cream color" toward the margin (bright to pale yellow), buttons often dull lavender but quickly changing to yellow; viscid to glutinous, bald, translucent striate, (Smith), 0.6-2.6cm across, broadly convex, disc flattened to depressed; grayish lavender soon becoming dingy yellow with paler margin; viscid when fresh, smooth, translucent-striate, (Bessette)
Flesh:
amber colored, (Redhead), pale yellow (Bessette)
Gills:
arcuate decurrent, neither crowded nor distant, with 1-2 tiers of subgills; pale vinaceous, pale rosy vinaceous, rosy vinaceous, or "pale lilac", fading with age, edges colored as faces, (Redhead), "unequally decurrent, at first arcuate to subdecurrent", subdistant to moderately close, 23-26 reaching stem, 2 tiers of subgills, narrow (about 0.2cm); "pale lilac", gradually becoming pallid or retaining a lilac tinge; edges even, (Smith), subdecurrent, subdistant to close, 2 tiers of subgills; bright lilac when young, fading to pale dull lilac when old; edges even, (Bessette)
Stem:
1-3(4.5)cm x 0.1-0.25cm, equal above a slightly swollen base, cartilaginous, hollow; amber with a grayish rose to vinaceous-tinted apex and often with vinaceous to lilac tints at base; viscid, (Redhead), 1-3(4.5)cm x 0.1-0.25cm, "equal or the base slightly enlarged, tubular, cartilaginous-fragile"; colored as gills when very young, lower part soon becoming yellow but the basal mycelium remaining lilac, when old pallid in upper part or with a persistent lilac tint; slimy-viscid, bald, (Smith), 1-3.5cm x 0.1-0.15cm, nearly equal, fragile; lilac fading to yellowish with a lilac tint when old; slimy when fresh, smooth, may have lilac basal mycelium, (Bessette)
Veil:
[presumably none]
Odor:
not distinctive (Redhead, Smith, Bessette)
Taste:
not distinctive (Smith, Bessette)
Microscopic spores:
spores 6.5-9(11) x 3.5-4.5 microns, almond-shaped to elliptic with a prominent tapered apiculus, smooth, inamyloid, thin-walled, not cyanophilous; basidia 4-spored, 20-25(29) x 4-5(6.5) microns, clavate, lacking siderophilous granules; pleurocystidia and cheilocystidia absent; clamps mentioned for cap cuticle and stem trama, (Redhead), spores 6-7 x 3-3.5 microns, subelliptic, smooth, inamyloid; basidia 4-spored; pleurocystidia and cheilocystidia not differentiated, (Smith), spores 6-7 x 3-4 microns, elliptic, smooth, inamyloid, (Bessette)
Spore deposit:
white (Bessette)
Notes:
Redhead(41) examined collections from BC, WA, OR, MB, NB, ON, QC, CA, and MI. It is indicated by Smith(15) for ID and TN. It is reported also from NS, NY, France, Germany, Sweden, and Switzerland, (Redhead(41)).
EDIBILITY
unknown (Bessette)

Habitat and Range

SIMILAR SPECIES
C. cyanophylla is distinguished from viscid Mycenas by combination of flattened to depressed cap center, color that is lilac when very young, lasting longer on the usually decurrent gills, and growth on conifer wood. See also SIMILAR section of Baeospora myriadophylla.
Habitat
single, scattered or cespitose [in tufts] on exposed white-rotted, wet, coniferous wood (often cut ends and sides of logs or branches) on the forest floor, (Redhead), scattered, gregarious or subcespitose [more or less in tufts] on decaying wood of balsam, fir, or hemlock, spring and fall, (Smith), scattered or in groups on decaying conifer wood, especially balsam fir and hemlock, May to October, (Bessette for northeastern North America), spring, summer, fall

Synonyms

Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Clitocybe lilacifolia Singer
Mycena lilacifolia (Peck) A.H. Sm.
Omphalia cyanophylla (Fr.) Quel.
Omphalia lilacifolia (Peck) Peck
Omphalina cyanophylla (Fr.) Courtec. & Bon
Omphalina lilacifolia (Peck) Murrill