Macrotyphula juncea (Alb. & Schwein.) Berthier
fairy thread
Typhulaceae
Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
Introduction to the Macrofungi
fairy thread
Typhulaceae
Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
Introduction to the Macrofungi
Species Information
Odor:
sourish (Breitenbach), unpleasant, sour, (Buczacki)
Taste:
sometimes acrid [peppery] (Arora), sourish (Breitenbach), unpleasant, sour, (Buczacki)
Microscopic:
spores 6-12 x 3.5-5.5 microns, elliptic or almond-shaped, smooth, (Arora), spores 7-10 x 3.5-4 microns, amygdaliform [almond-shaped], smooth, inamyloid, colorless; basidia 1-4-spored, 30-35 x 7-9 microns, clavate, clamped; caulocystidia toward base of stem up to 150 x 4 microns, hair-like, colorless, +/- thin-walled, sinuous; hyphal system monomitic, hyphae 2-9 microns wide, with clamp connections, (Breitenbach), spores 7-12 x 3.5-7 microns, almond-shaped, smooth, inamyloid; basidia 1-4-spored, 30-35 microns; hyphal system monomitic, (Buczacki)
Spore Deposit:
white (Arora)
EDIBILITY
unknown (Bessette)
Habitat and Range
SIMILAR SPECIES
Macrotyphula fistulosa has a very long (7-30cm), slender (0.2-0.8cm), hollow fruitbody that is yellowish to brownish, and grows on dead sticks and debris, especially of Alnus [alder], (Arora). Typhula phacorrhiza has a sclerotium (like other Typhula species) and has larger spores, (Breitenbach).Habitat
scattered to gregarious "in humus and leaf litter, on rotting twigs, etc.", in California on oak and tanoak leaves and redwood needles and "fairly common in the fall and winter, especially along streams and in other dank places", (Arora), usually gregarious, on "decomposing stems of herbs, bud scales, remains of leaves and twigs, in damp humusy locations", fall, (Breitenbach for Switzerland), on litter, especially on petioles of rotting leaves in damp hardwood woodland, most usually seen on ash, (Buczacki for Britain/Ireland)
Status Information
Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Ceriporiopsis rivulosa (Berk. & M.A. Curtis) Gilb. & Ryvarden
Clavaria juncea Fr.
Clavaria triuncialis var. juncea Alb. & Schwein.
Clavariadelphus junceus (Fr.) Corner
Polyporus rivulosus Berk. & M.A. Curtis