Nidula niveotomentosa (Henn.) Lloyd
white barrel bird's nest
Agaricaceae
Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
Introduction to the Macrofungi
white barrel bird's nest
Agaricaceae
Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
Introduction to the Macrofungi
Species Information
Summary:
{See also Common Bird''s Nests Table.} Features include small size; slender mug shape with mouth turned out and white-fringed; white velvety-tomentose exterior which may become darker or smoother; shiny gold to gold-brown smooth interior; numerous small reddish brown eggs in a gelatinous matrix without a cord; and growth on bracken ferns, sticks, or canes, often among moss.
Microscopic:
spores 6-9 x 5-6 microns, elliptic to nearly round, (Brodie)
Notes:
Nidula niveotomentosa is abundant in western North America from BC south as far as CA, and also occurs in Jamaica, Argentina, Chile, Venezuela, Japan, New Zealand, (Brodie). It occurs also in WA and MT (White), and is common in OR (L. Norvell, pers. comm.).
Habitat and Range
SIMILAR SPECIES
Nidula candida has a larger fruitbody (0.8-1.5cm high), rougher and more shaggy exterior which when fresh is gray in color or even light wood-brown, and larger eggs 0.15-0.3cm across, (Brodie). N. candida is like a flower pot, 1-1.5cm high, covered by gray or gray-brown shaggy tomentum, whereas N. niveotomentosa is like a slender mug, 0.4-0.6cm high, covered with whitish velvety tomentum, (Fay).Habitat
usually on sticks or in moss, (Arora), often seen growing among mosses, in BC grows invariably in close association with bracken fern, (Brodie), on old wood, bracken, berry canes, (Fay)
Status Information
Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Cyathus niveotomentosa Henn.
Nidula microcarpa Peck in White