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Species Information
Summary: Section Cosmeoexonema. Nolanea sericea is distinctive macroscopically by 1) its fuscous to dark gray brown cap that is opaque at first but quickly becomes translucent-striate, 2) dark gray-brown gills, 3) a silvery translucent-striate stem that is light brown at first and darkens with age, and 4) a farinaceous odor. Microscopically it has 5) isodiametric spores, 6) incrusted pigmentation only and 7) clamp connections at the base of basidia, (Largent(1)). This is one of the commonest Nolanea species throughout western North America.
Material was studied from BC, WA, OR, ID, AK, CA, CO, MI, and NM, (Largent).
Cap: 1.5-6cm across, convex to broadly convex, typically broadly to acutely umbonate, often depressed around umbo when old, margin incurved to decurved [downcurved] then decurved and in many eventually flat to upturned and at times wavy, frequently extending past gills by up to 0.1cm; hygrophanous, at first fuscous to black to very dark gray-brown, becoming on picking dark gray brown and quickly fading to dark brown with lighter margin, eventually fading entirely pale gray brown to brownish orange with a gray tint; bald, shiny then dull, opaque at first and quickly becoming translucent-striate at least partway to disc, (Largent), 2-4(6.5)cm, convex becoming flat or with slight umbo; hygrophanous, dark brown (umber) to dark olive-brown to grayish brown or hazel brown when moist, "paler or grayer with a silky, often streaked appearance when dry"; smooth but not viscid, (Arora)
Flesh: 0.1-0.5cm at gill attachment; colored as cap, then grayish pallid, (Largent), thin, watery, (Arora)
Gills: "narrowly adnexed to uncinate and in some even sinuate, subdistant, moderately broad to often broad and rarely ventricose", 0.25-0.9cm broad; dark grayish brown when young, [presumably becoming pinkish], edges colored as faces; edges smooth then eroded, (Largent), adnate to adnexed to notched, or nearly free; "pallid to grayish or tinged cap color, then dusted pinkish with spores", (Arora)
Stem: 3-7cm x 0.2-0.6cm at top, equal to widened downward, 0.2-0.9cm wide at base, round in cross-section or often compressed and then up to 0.4cm x 0.9cm at top; at first grayish to light grayish brown, and quickly darkening to dark gray brown from handling or naturally, the very base lighter; "silvery and longitudinally striate", (Largent), 2.5-5(10)cm x (0.2)0.3-0.8cm, equal or with a slightly wider base, often short, fragile; grayish brown or colored like cap, the base whitish; "longitudinally fibrillose-striate and silky when dry", (Arora)
Veil: [absent]
Odor: strongly farinaceous, particularly when crushed or cut, typically not rancid but more like cucumber, (Largent), usually farinaceous, at least when crushed, (Arora), of clean linen (Schalkwijk-Barendsen)
Taste: strongly farinaceous (Largent)
Microscopic spores: spores (6.3)7.4-10.0(11.4) x (5.6)6.0-9.3(9.8) microns, 5-6 sided, distinctly angular, [smooth, inamyloid]; basidia 4-spored, 32.4-48.1 x 9.3-13.2 microns; pleurocystidia absent, cheilocystidia absent; pigmentation "strongly and coarsely incrusting and in form of plaques or rings on external walls of most of hyphae" in cap trama and cap cuticle, "particularly evident on more slender hyphae, rarely weakly to moderately incrusting in other areas", cytoplasmic pigment absent, pileocystidia rarely with granules; clamp connections typically present at base of basidia but very difficult to see because of the strong clumping nature of basidia, typically absent elsewhere, (Largent), spores 8-13 x 6-9 microns, elliptic but angular-nodulose, inamyloid, (Arora)
Spore deposit: deep salmon pinkish or cinnamon pinkish (Arora)
Habitat / Range
single, scattered, or rarely gregarious "in lawns, grassy areas, or in mossy humus on hard-packed soil, typically in the open, along roadsides, or along trails"; fall, winter, and spring, (Largent), scattered to gregarious "in pastures, on lawns or hillsides, in waste places, sometimes also in woods or under willows", tends to fruit during rainy spells rather than following them, (Arora)
Similar Species
Nolanea fusco-ortonii has a broadly umbonate, broadly convex, bald cap, a mild odor, and habitat under oaks or conifers, (Largent). Nolanea edulis has a depressed, convex, bald cap, a mild odor, and habitat under conifers or in grass, (Largent). Nolanea incanosquamulosa has a broadly convex cap that is hoary or has colorless fine scales, a farinaceous odor, habitat under conifers, and isodiametric spores, (Largent). Entoloma alpicola has a gray to brown cap with an olive margin, at most a slightly farinaceous odor, habitat under conifers, and abundant clamp connections on the hyphae of the cap cuticle. See also SIMILAR section of Nolanea edulis var. edulis, Nolanea fusciceps, and Nolanea proxima forma proxima.
