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Species Information
Summary: Section Typicae (Smith), Section Filipedes (Maas Geesteranus). Mycena metata is characterized by vinaceous-brown to fawn or gray-brown or olive-brown or pale gray color, a faint but sharp odor, stalked spiny cystidia, and habitat under conifers, (Smith(1)). The description is from Smith(1) except where noted.
Mycena metata has been found at least in WA, OR, ID, ON, NS, CA, MI, NY, PA, and Europe. There are collections from BC at the University of British Columbia. There are collections from WA and AK at the University of Washington.
Cap: (0.5)1-2.5cm across, obtusely conic to convex, sometimes bell-shaped, the margin often flaring and split; "army brown" to "fawn color" or "avellaneous" over disc, with "warm buff" to grayish to whitish margin, or sometimes entire cap pale ash-gray with tinge of vinaceous; at first with faint bloom, becoming bald, somewhat translucent-striate
Flesh: thin, very fragile; pallid to avellaneous
Gills: adnate, usually with tooth, ascending, close, narrow to moderately broad; white at first, soon tinged creamy to vinaceous-buff (dull incarnate), edges pallid; edges even
Stem: 3-9cm x 0.1-0.25cm, equal, very fragile, straight or flexuous [wavy]; sometimes blue black when young but fading to "wood brown" or pale avellaneous, top pallid; faintly pruinose in upper part, strigose [hairy] base, otherwise bald, stem translucent when moist
Odor: sharp, rather faint (hardly alkaline), (Smith), none or hard to describe when fresh, of iodoform on drying out, (Maas Geesteranus), +/- iodoform-like (Breitenbach)
Microscopic spores: spores 7-10(12) x 4-6 microns, narrowly elliptic to somewhat pear-shaped, smooth, amyloid, smooth; basidia 2-spored to 3-spored, occasionally 4-spored; pleurocystidia and cheilocystidia similar, rare to scattered on sides, abundant on edges of gills, 27-38 x 9-17 microns, "clavate to capitate, pedicel usually slender", head echinulate [finely spiny]
Spore deposit: whitish (Breitenbach)
Habitat / Range
scattered to gregarious under conifers, (Smith), summer to late fall (Buczacki)
Similar Species
Mycena filopes has a cap lacking any pink tinge, the cap margin of the young fruiting bodies closely surrounding stem like a collar, sessile cheilocystidia that are more abundant than stalked ones, and hyphal ends of cortical layer of stem that are numerous, whereas M. metata has flesh-reddish tones from young stages or at least when old, the cap not narrowly enclosing the stem when young, cheilocystidia that are mostly stalked, and terminal cells of cortical layer of stem that are rare or absent or rare and difficult to find, (Breitenbach(3)). Mycena filopes is differentiated as follows by Maas Geesteranus. For M. filopes, "(i) Pileus surface giving the impression of being rimose, with the innate fibrils splitting much in the way of the superficial fibrils of the pileus of some Inocybe, and (ii) imparting a silvery lustre on drying out. (iii) Margin of the pileus in very young specimens embracing the stipe like a cuff, (iv) projecting beyond the lamellae in later stages. (v) Pileus not known to become tinged with pink, (vi) lamellae only rarely turning slightly pinkish. (vii) Sessile cheilocystidia often more frequent than the stipitate ones. (viii) Stipitate cheilocystidia up to 30 um long. (ix) Terminal cells of the cortical hyphae of the stipe always present, numerous and easy to find". For M. metata, "(i) Pileus surface either not rimose or without apparent texture (appearing silky), (ii) without silvery lustre. Margin of the pileus, although sometimes (iv) projecting beyond the lamellae in later stages, not (iii) embracing the stipe in very young specimens. (v) Pileus and/or (vi) lamellae usually becoming tinged with pink. (vii) Stipitate cheilocystidia often more frequent than the sessile ones. (viii) Stipitate cheilocystidia often greatly varying in size and the bigger ones usually much more voluminous than their counterparts in M. filopes, reaching more than 70 um in length. (ix) Terminal cells of the cortical hyphae of the stipe absent or, if present, rare and mostly hard to find". (Maas Geesteranus, with Latin names in italics and the Greek letter mu used in place of u for um). See also SIMILAR section of Mycena piceicola.
Smith(1) (colors in quotation marks from Ridgway(1)), Breitenbach(3)* (Mycena metata (Fr.) Kummer), Maas Geesteranus (Mycena metata (Fr.) Kummer), Buczacki(1)* References for the fungi
