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Species Information
Summary: Principal fieldmarks are small size, a depressed, somewhat hygrophanous light brown to yellowish tan cap, decurrent gills, a thin stem, and an association with the green granules at and near its base. The squamules are the vegetative stage, the mushroom is the reproductive stage, and the joint organism forms a basidio-lichen which Bigelow called Botrydina vulgaris, later considered a synonym of L. umbellifera. The associated alga is said to be in the genus Coccomyxa. L. umbellifera is probably the most common arctic agaric and is also common further south.
It has been found in BC, WA, OR, ID, NS, NL, NU, ON, QC, YT, AK, CA, MI, MT, and NY, (Redhead(6)), MB, NC, NH, and VT, (Bigelow), and Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia.
Cap: 0.5-2.5(3.5)cm across, at first flat with an incurved margin, becoming deeply depressed or funnel-shaped when old, margin often wavy; "dull cinnamon to brownish, fading to yellowish or straw color or paler as it ages"; smooth, not viscid, margin striate, (Arora), 0.5-1.5(3.5)cm across, flat at first with margin decurved [downcurved], disc soon shallowly depressed, when old sometimes broadly funnel-shaped; somewhat hygrophanous, brown when young becoming paler and more yellowish when old and with loss of moisture, finally pale yellowish to whitish, disc often remaining dark for some time; moist but not viscid, bald, margin striate when moist and often somewhat crenate [scalloped], plicate [pleated] at times, opaque when old and fading, (Bigelow)
Flesh: very thin, pliant, (Arora), very thin, pliant; colored as cap, (Bigelow)
Gills: decurrent, well-spaced; pale yellowish; sometimes veined, (Arora), "moderately decurrent to long decurrent (evenly), subdistant or distant, narrow to moderately broad", 0.1-0.3cm broad, thin, arched, at times forking, sometimes interveined; pale yellowish to pale creamy; edges even, (Bigelow), decurrent, widely spaced, pale yellowish, (Phillips)
Stem: 1-3cm x 0.1-0.3cm, equal or widened at base, pliant, often curved; pale reddish brown in upper part, yellow-brown to pale brown in lower part, often pale yellowish when old; smooth, (Arora), 1-2.5(3)cm x 0.1-0.2(0.3)cm at top, equal or either end slightly enlarged, round in cross-section, often curved, solid or hollow, cartilaginous-appearing but pliant; vinaceous brown at top when young, paler below, top remaining with vinaceous brown tint for some time but fading to pale yellowish in lower part; bald or nearly so in upper part, base with slight white tomentum, sometimes pubescent in upper part if embedded in wet moss, (Bigelow)
Odor: not distinctive (Bigelow)
Taste: not distinctive (Bigelow)
Microscopic spores: spores 7-9 x 4-6 microns, elliptic, smooth, inamyloid, (Arora), spores 7-9(10) x 4-6(7) microns and up to 12 x 8 microns from 1-spored basidia, elliptic, smooth, inamyloid; basidia often 2-spored but also 1-, 3-, or 4-spored, 23-40 x 5-8.5(10) microns, sterigmata long, proliferated at times; cystidia not differentiated; clamp connections absent, (Bigelow)
Spore deposit: white (Bigelow), white to yellow (Arora)
Habitat / Range
usually in groups on old lichen-laden conifer logs, or scum-covered soil, always in association with the lichen Botrydina vulgaris, (Arora), scattered to gregarious, associated with the lichen Botrydina vulgaris, on moss, conifer logs or soil, from June to September in temperate and arctic regions, on Pacific coast also March through May and October and November, (Bigelow), probably all year (Buczacki), spring, summer, fall, winter
Similar Species
Lichenomphalia hudsoniana has an orange-yellow to dull butter yellow color when fresh and moist - it has a pale buff to pale orange-yellow spore deposit, its stem is pubescent, it is associated with the lichen that has been called Coriscium viride and has conspicuous peltate squamules 0.1-0.2cm across, green on one side and white on the other, whereas Lichenomphalia umbellifera has a white spore deposit, its stem is bald or only slightly pubescent, and it is associated with the lichen that has been called Botrydina botryoides. Rickenella fibula on moss is more brightly colored and orange. Arrhenia epichysium may be considered if the funnel is very deep. Two other Lichenomphalia spp. could occur in the Pacific Northwest - 1) Lichenomphalia velutina, with hyphae below the granules 2-3 microns wide, spores (5)6-8.5(9) x (2.5)3-5(5.5) microns, on 2-spored basidia, cap and stem mainly dark brown to gray-brown, drying lighter, cap 0.5-1.1cm across, gray brown, brown, or yellowish brown, stem 1.5-3.0 x 0.1-0.3cm, slightly pubescent with brownish hairs, and 2) Lichenomphalia alpina (=Omphalina luteovitellina), occurring from Yukon to Newfoundland, with cap and stem bright yellow to orange (even with faded cap stem rich yellow), cap 0.5-1.5cm, stem 1.0-1.5 x 0.15-0.25cm and pubescent throughout, spores 6.5-9.5 x 3.5-4.5 microns, the associated lichen forming a green granular crust with granules usually less than 100 microns, versus up to 300 microns in L. umbellifera. (McCune(2) discussing L. velutina and L. alpina). See also SIMILAR section of Chrysomphalina grossula and Rickenella swartzii.
