Cudonia circinans (Pers.) Fr.
common cudonia
Cudoniaceae
Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
Introduction to the Macrofungi
common cudonia
Cudoniaceae
Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
Introduction to the Macrofungi
Species Information
Microscopic:
spores (28)32-40(46) x 2 microns, needle-like, smooth, sometimes septate but usually not, colorless, (Arora), spores 30-45 x 2 microns, clavate-filiform, broadest above the middle or at the distal end, fasciculate, colorless, smooth, asci 8-spored, up to 85-130 microns long and 8-10 microns wide, club-shaped, apex narrowed, not blue with iodine; paraphyses "hyaline, filiform, strongly curved above, often branched, tips only slightly thickened, 2 microns thick," (Seaver), spores (28)32-40(46) x 2 microns, wall thin and gelatinous, 1-celled or sometimes several-septate, "conidia commonly produced on short sterigmata by the ascospores, subspherical to broadly ellipsoid, 3-4 x 2 microns, hyaline, sometimes replacing the spores in the asci"; asci 90-150 x 8-10 microns, clavate; paraphyses filiform, branched in lower part, strongly curved or uncinate [hooked] in upper part, colorless, (Mains), spores 28-46 x 2 microns, with multiple cross-walls when mature, (Trudell), paraphyses filiform, bent over at the apex and spirally inrolled, (Breitenbach)
EDIBILITY
poisonous, said to contain high concentrations of monomethylhydrazine (gyromitrin), (Arora)
Habitat and Range
SIMILAR SPECIES
Pachycudonia monticola "is a mostly spring-fruiting, less yellowish species" with shorter (18-24 microns) spores, normally with one or no crosswalls (as opposed to multiple cross-walls for C. circinans), (Trudell), P. monticola is pinkish-cinnamon to pinkish-buff to grayish brown, occurs mainly in spring and summer, and has smaller spores; Cudonia grisea is drab or dark gray, and has smaller spores (18-22(24) microns long); Leotia lubrica is gelatinous, thicker-fleshed, and more brightly colored sometimes with green tints, and has different sporesHabitat
scattered to gregarious or often in dense clusters in humus, soil, and on rotting wood; particularly common under conifers, but also found with hardwoods, (Arora), single or gregarious on rotten wood or humus among leaves, often under conifers, (Seaver), gregarious to clustered or in fairy rings, in coniferous forests on needle litter and among mosses, (Breitenbach), several to gregarious "on humus, well-decayed wood, under or near conifers", late summer and fall, (Miller)
Status Information
Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Pustularia rosea Rea
Tarzetta rosea (Rea) Dennis