Helvella maculata N.S Weber
fluted brown elfin saddle
Helvellaceae
Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
Introduction to the Macrofungi
fluted brown elfin saddle
Helvellaceae
Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
Introduction to the Macrofungi
Species Information
Summary:
{See also Elfin Saddle Table.} Features include 1) a saddle-shaped to trilobate or irregularly lobed, brown to gray brown, usually mottled cap that is free from the stem, 2) a cap underside that is finely hairy, and pale with grayish brown areas developing when old, 3) a white stem often with brownish mottling and with prominent ribs that may extend onto the basal third of the cap underside, and 4) microscopic characters.
Microscopic:
spores 18-23.4 x 11-14 microns, broadly elliptic, smooth, colorless, with one oil droplet that is large, central, and broadly elliptic to nearly round; asci 268-300 x 15.2-19 microns; paraphyses 5.6-9 microns wide at tip, clavate, widened gradually to abruptly at tip, "brown, finely granular", (Abbott), spores (18)20-23 x 12-13.5 microns, bluntly elliptic or oblong, "smooth, with one central oil droplet", (Arora), spores 20-23 x 12-13.5 microns, rounded oblong to bluntly elliptic, smooth, with one large central droplet and often some small droplets at each end; asci 8-spored, 250-380 x 15-20 microns, pleurorhynchous [with a lateral beak or snout]; paraphyses colorless or with light ochraceous brown pigment in the upper cells (in water and KOH), clavate, clava 4.5-8 microns wide, base 3-3.5 microns wide, many anastomosing in lower part but no branching observed, (Weber)
Notes:
Collections were examined from BC, WA, OR, ID, AB, MB, and AK, (Abbott), Collections were examined from CA, CO, ID, NM, OR, and UT, (Weber). It has also been reported from China, (Abbott).
EDIBILITY
unknown (Arora)
Habitat and Range
SIMILAR SPECIES
Helvella vespertina (as H. lacunosa) has a reflexed [turned down] cap margin even in immature fruiting bodies and the margin is fused to the stem, (mottling is not conclusive - it may occur in H. vespertina (as H. lacunosa) and may be absent in H. maculata), (Abbott). Helvella vespertina is bald on the underside of the cap whereas H. maculata is villose on the underside of the cap. Helvella crispa is white to cream when fresh, though often drying tan to yellowish brown, and does not develop gray-brown discoloration.Habitat
single, gregarious or scattered "on soil or duff in coniferous or mixed woods", from August 1 in AB to November 30 in coastal WA, but typically in fall, (Abbott), single to gregarious in mixed woods and under conifers, (Arora), scattered to gregarious under conifers, late summer and fall, (Weber), "normally appearing late summer through fall but can appear early spring in coastal areas", (Beug)
Status Information
Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Phallus duplicatus Bosc