Lycoperdon umbrinum Pers.
no common name
Agaricaceae
Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
Introduction to the Macrofungi
no common name
Agaricaceae
Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
Introduction to the Macrofungi
Species Information
Summary:
Features include 1) a white to yellowish or brownish pear-shaped fruitbody that is often grooved or pleated in lower part, 2) the outer layer with a scurfy or granular coating mixed with very slender short dark brown spines that are relatively persistent (or finally breaking up into concentric zones on base or areolate patches over the top), 3) the inner layer yellowish to dull brown when old, smooth (not reticulate), with a pore at the top, 4) a spore mass that is cottony, olive-yellow to yellow-brown or olive-brown, confined to upper third of interior, the lower part a sterile base that is white to violaceous-medium gray, 5) small rhizomorphs, and 6) growth under conifers or occasionally on wood.
Odor:
mild to slightly unpleasant (Miller)
Taste:
mild (Miller)
Microscopic:
spores 4.5-5.5 x 4.5-5.5 microns, round, with distinct fine warts, yellow, with short pedicel, without broken pedicels lying free; basidia 2-spored, 10-15 x 4.5-7 microns, short-clavate, without basal clamp connection; capillitial threads 2.5-6 microns wide, brownish, in parts knotty-sinuous, +/- thick-walled, with numerous pores, (Breitenbach), spores 4-5(5.5) x 4-5(5.5) microns in diameter including spines, round with a small pedicel, minutely spiny at a magnification of 950x with some appearing smooth, almost colored as capillitium; capillitium 3.5-5(6.5) microns wide, yellow-brown with walls up to 0.8(1.6) microns thick, "pitted, branched, occasionally septate, irregular thickenings along the edge, tapering, sinuous in the thinner portions", (Bowerman)
Spore Deposit:
yellow-brown (Breitenbach)
Notes:
Lycoperdon umbrinum has been reported from WA, OR, MT, (Ramsey). The New York Botanical Garden herbarium has collections from WA (collected by J.M. Grant), OR (det. by C.T. Rogerson and looked at by V. Demoulin), ID (determined by V. Demoulin), ON, PQ, CA, CO, CT, LA, MA, ME, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, TN, and TX (NYBG). The University of British Columbia has S. Redhead collections from BC and AB. It is also found in Europe (including Switzerland) and Asia (Breitenbach).
EDIBILITY
fairly mediocre (Lincoff(1))
Habitat and Range
SIMILAR SPECIES
Lycoperdon molle also has brownish spines even when young, but spores are red-brown in mass, spores are coarsely verrucose, there are abundant broken pedicels, and it occurs principally under hardwoods, (Breitenbach for Switzerland). See also the SIMILAR section of L. molle. Lycoperdon nigrescens also has brownish spines when young but has a distinct reticulate pattern on the inner layer after spines fall off and spores are almost smooth to slightly verrucose, (Breitenbach).Habitat
single to gregarious or subcespitose [somewhat tufted] on leaf mold under conifers, occasionally on wood, September to November, (Ramsey), mainly in dry parts of hardwood or coniferous woods (Lincoff(1)), usually gregarious, in montane spruce forests on soil among needle litter, grasses, and herbs, as well as on burned ground, commonly in clearcuts; summer to fall, (Breitenbach)
Status Information
Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Stereum diaphanum (Schwein.) Cooke in Sacc.
Thelephora diaphana Schwein. in Berk. & M.A.