Summary:
Features of Conocybe apala include 1) a bluntly conic, pallid to milk-white cap, 2) adnexed or free, close gills that are pallid to pale ocher becoming bright rust yellow to brown, 3) a thin, fragile, wilting, whitish stem that is often pruinose or scurfy in its upper part, 4) growth in grass, and 5) an ocher-brown to reddish-brown or cinnamon spore deposit. |Conocybe lactea according to Hallen(1) "is distinguished by its conical, white to buff pileus. The spores are smooth, ochre-brown and possess a large germ pore. There are four spores per basidium and distinctive lecythiform marginal cystidia are present.". |The use of the name Conocybe lactea for the reports of this species according to Lincoff(2) in northern North America, Gulf Coast and Mexico, CO, and CA, and for the specimens from OR, MI, WY, in Hallen(1) is the subject of a detailed discussion in Hallen(1) and they conclude (with Latin names italicized): "Until further molecular comparisons can be made between European and North American specimens, we encourage the adoption of C. albipes to refer to North American specimens that have been referred to C. lactea, and C. albipes var. crispa for North American C. crispa specimens. The name ''C. lactea'' is problematic (Hausknecht 1998, Watling, pers. comm.) and ought not to be used". |The online Species Fungorum, accessed May 13, 2012, synonymized Conocybe lactea (J.E. Lange) Metrod and Conocybe albipes Hauskn. with Conocybe apala (Fr.) Arnolds.

Gills:
adnexed or free, close, very narrow; pallid soon becoming cinnamon brown to tawny-ocher or brown, (Arora), "adnexed then free, crowded, narrow", soft and collapsing with age; pale cinnamon becoming rust; edge white, floccose when fresh, (Watling), finely adnexed, 20-25 reaching stem, 3-5 subgills between neighboring gills, broad; "pale ocher, later bright rust-yellow", faces brown-spotted from spores; edges smooth, (Breitenbach)

Stem:
3-11cm x 0.1-0.2cm, "very thin and fragile, equal or with a small basal bulb, hollow"; white or whitish; often pruinose or scurfy in upper part, often wilts in heat so that mushroom disappears before noon, (Arora), 5-11cm x 0.1-0.25cm, widening slightly downward to a distinct basal bulb; white, with age only slightly tinged cream; minutely pubescent-striate throughout, (Watling)

Veil:
absent (Watling)

Odor:
not distinct (Watling)

Taste:
not distinct (Watling)

Microscopic spores:
spores 11-16 x 6-10 microns, elliptic, smooth, with germ pore, (Arora), spores (10)11-14 x 7.5-8.5(10) microns, broadly elliptic to oval, deep ocher in water and sienna tinged rust in alkali, thick-walled, with large germ pore; basidia 4-spored, 20-30 x 11-15 microns, pyriform, colorless; pleurocystidia absent, cheilocystidia 20-25 x 7.5-12 microns, lecythiform, colorless, head (3)4-5 microns wide, neck narrow and up to 5 microns long; cap cuticle a hymeniform layer of pyriform to spheropedunculate cells; stem cuticle of parallel, cylindric, colorless hyphae covered with flexuose hairs and irregularly shaped, sometimes capitate sterile cells; clamp connections not seen, (Watling)

Spore deposit:
ocher-brown (Hallen), reddish brown or cinnamon (Arora), sienna tinged rust (Watling), rust-brown (Breitenbach)

Notes:
According to the sources used above, and the concept described above, Conocybe apala has been found at least in OR, CA, CO, MI, WY, Mexico, and elsewhere in North America. Watling(1) said it has been recorded from all major areas of the British Isles. Breitenbach(4) gave a distribution that included at least Europe (presumably including Switzerland), Asia, and North Africa. There are collections from BC as Conocybe lactea at the University of British Columbia. Schalkwijk-Barendsen illustrated it from AB.

EDIBILITY

unknown (Arora)

Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Pluteolus apalus (Fr.) Quel.