Summary: Subgenus Leptonia Section Cereicaules (brown, yellow-green or orange stems). Leptonia strictipes is characterized by 1) a yellowish brown to dark brown cap that is opaque in very young fruitbodies and quickly becomes translucent-striate with age and expansion, 2) white gills when young, 3) a light yellowish brown stem that darkens with age, and 4) spores with average length in a given collection 10.0-10.8 microns. It is a member of the Leptonia formosa group and a member of the Leptonia earlei group. The description is derived from Largent(1). It is very common in the western United States, (Largent(1)). The name Entoloma strictipes was considered invalid in the online Index Fungorum accessed August 8, 2019 due to Melbourne code Article 39.1 which refers to the absence of a Latin description for names published within certain dates.
Cap: 2.5-5cm across, convex to flat-convex to expanded bell-shaped - truncate, uplifted when old, margin incurved then decurved [downcurved], at times wavy, at times minutely crenulate-fringed [scalloped-fringed]; hygrophanous, "dark yellowish brown on the disc and striations", medium brown to light brown or even dark brown elsewhere; dry, dull, tomentulose [with dense short erect fibrils] on disc, appressed-fibrillose toward margin and appressed-fibrillose to bald at margin, opaque when young, quickly becoming translucent-striate at least on margin or typically to the disc with age and expansion
Flesh: up to 0.2cm near gill attachment
Gills: adnate to adnexed, subdistant, narrow to broad, 0.4-0.7cm broad; white at first, [presumably becoming pinkish], edges the same color and smooth
Stem: 6-10cm x 0.25-0.6cm, equal to widening downward, 0.25-0.7cm wide at base, stem round in cross-section, stuffed then hollow; light yellowish brown, often darkening when old; bald except at times minutely and slightly longitudinally striate; basal tomentum moderate, white, unchanging
Veil: [absent]
Odor: not distinct
Taste: not distinct
Microscopic spores: spores 8.4-12.2(13.2) x 5.5-9.5 microns, 5-6 sided, distinctly angular, [smooth, inamyloid], average length in a given collection 10.0-10.8 microns; basidia 4-spored 31.5-53 x 9.6-12.7 microns; pleurocystidia absent, cheilocystidia in variable numbers, then 34.6-70 x 5.1-9.6 microns, cylindric to cylindroclavate, colorless; pigmentation intracellular in cap cuticle; clamp connections absent in all tissues
Spore deposit: [presumably pinkish brown]
Notes: Collections were examined from BC, WA, ID, and CA, (Largent).
EDIBILITY
Habitat and Range
SIMILAR SPECIES
Other members of the Leptonia formosa group and the Leptonia earlei group are similar: see L. formosa and L. earlei.
Habitat
single, scattered or gregarious in humus under conifers