Clavariadelphus occidentalis Methven
no common name
Clavariadelphaceae
Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
Introduction to the Macrofungi
no common name
Clavariadelphaceae
Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
Introduction to the Macrofungi
Map
Distribution of Clavariadelphus occidentalis
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Species Information
Chemical Reactions:
tissue dark green in FeCl3; no reaction in KOH, (Methven(4))
Odor:
not distinct (Castellano, Methven(4))
Taste:
not distinctive (Methven(4)), "not distinct or bitter" (Castellano)
Microscopic:
spores 10.5-14 x 6-7.5 microns, broadly elliptic, broadly ovate or amygdaliform [almond-shaped], smooth, inamyloid, colorless to pale yellow, thin-walled, (Castellano), spores 9-13.5 x 5-6.5 microns, broadly ovate to amygdaliform, smooth, inamyloid, pale yellow in KOH, thin-walled, contents multiguttulate and refringent to aguttulate and amorphous; basidia (2-)4-spored, 70-125 x 9.5-14 microns, clavate, clamped, sterigmata 8-12 microns long; leptocystidia scattered and scarcely projecting, 55-85 x 2.5-5 microns, "cylindric to narrowly clavate, at times apically or subapically branched", walls thin and smooth, with uninflated clamp connections, contents amorphous, pale yellow in KOH; hymenium extending over the apex of the fruitbody; subhymenium rudimentary; hyphae of trama 4-12 microns wide, "more or less parallel to longitudinally interwoven basally, more loosely interwoven upward, radially interwoven beneath the subhymenium, uninflated, inflated (-13 microns) or broadly undulate, branched", walls thin or irregularly thickened to 1 microns wide, smooth, contents amorphous, colorless in KOH, clamp connections uninflated or inflated (-16 microns), sometimes medallion or ampulliform, gloeoplerous hyphae 2.5-5 microns wide, "arising from generative hyphae at clamp connections, scattered throughout the trama, more abundant downward, uninflated, inflated (-8 microns) or strangulated, branched", walls thin and smooth, contents subopalescent, yellow in KOH, refractive under phase contrast, clamp connections uninflated or inflated (-12 microns), sometimes medallion or ampulliform, (Methven(4)), spores 9.5-13 x 5.5-7 microns, (Methven(3))
Spore Deposit:
white to pale yellow, (Castellano), white (Methven(4))
Habitat and Range
SIMILAR SPECIES
Clavariadelphus subfastigiatus has a pallid flesh-color to light cinnamon fruitbody, a forest green staining reaction with KOH, and smaller spores (8-10.5 x 5-6 microns), (Methven(4)). Clavariadelphus caespitosus has a pinkish cinnamon to pinkish lavender fruitbody with a subacute top, cespitose growth, and slightly smaller spores (8-11 x 4.5-6.5 um). Clavariadelphus truncatus has a pinkish cinnamon to lavender-brown mature fruitbody with the sterile apex yellow-orange, orange or reddish, and blunt becoming truncate, excavated, or perforated (umbonate in var. umbonatus), cherry red to fire-engine red reaction of surface to KOH, sweet taste, and spores 9.5-13 x 5.5-7 microns. Small immature fruitbodies of C. occidentalis might be confused with Clavariadelphus ligula or Clavariadelphus sachalinensis, which both have different spores that are narrowly elliptic to boletoid in profile (rather than broadly ovate to amygdaliform in profile for C. occidentalis), (Methven(4)).Habitat
single to gregarious or in cespitose clusters of 2 or 3, on soil or duff in mixed hardwood-coniferous forests or hardwood forests, mostly September through February but also in May, (Castellano), "Scattered to gregarious, infrequently in cespitose clusters; terrestrial; duff; coniferous or mixed deciduous-coniferous forests", (Methven(4))