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Species Information
Summary: Food field marks are the violet color that fades to tan or reddish-tan, a smooth dry cap, a usually off-center to lateral stem, decurrent gills, and growth in groups or clusters on wood. The description derived from Arora(1) except where noted.
It is included in the Pacific Northwest Key of Brown(1). It has been specifically reported for BC (Redhead(5)), and CA (Arora). There are collections at the University of British Columbia from BC. There are collections at the University of Washington from WA, AK, MI, and NY.
Cap: 4-17cm, broadly convex becoming flat or broadly depressed when old, "margin often wavy, at first inrolled"; vinaceous brown or violet-tinted when young and moist, fading to brownish, reddish brown, or tan when old or as it dries; dry, smooth or minutely downy, often cracked into small scales when old, (Arora), pink-lilac when young, later paler to ocher-brownish or yellow-brownish, (Breitenbach)
Flesh: rather tough, firm; white
Gills: "decurrent, fairly close, narrow", often forking near stem; "tan to buff, or when moist often violet-tinted"
Stem: 2-5cm x 0.5-3cm, "off-center to lateral or sometimes central", tough, solid, usually narrowing downward; "colored more or less like cap", "covered with fine hairs at least when young", (Arora), covered with fine, violet-tinted hairs, (Brown)
Veil: absent
Odor: unpleasantly like Clitocybe nebularis (Breitenbach), sometimes slight aniseed (Lincoff), mild (Miller)
Taste: mild (Arora), mild to faintly bitterish (Breitenbach), sometimes faint earthy (Lincoff)
Microscopic spores: spores 5-7 x 2.5-3.5 microns, elliptic, smooth, inamyloid; (Arora), spores 5-7.5 x 2.8-3.3 microns, elliptic, smooth, iodine-negative, colorless, some with droplets; basidia 4-spored, 27-32 x 0.5-6 microns, narrowly clavate to cylindric, with basal clamp connection; pleurocystidia 30 x 6 microns, narrowly clavate, thick-walled, cheilocystidia abundant, 25-50 x 8-13 microns, clavate, thick-walled, (Breitenbach)
Spore deposit: white (Arora), pale cream (Breitenbach)
Habitat / Range
single or in small groups or clusters :on hardwood logs, stumps, and fallen branches, (Arora), spring, summer, fall, and on the west coast in winter, (Miller)
Similar Species
Pleurotus ostreatus can have similar colors when young, (Breitenbach). Sarcomyxa serotina is similar but Panus conchatus has a +/- lilac-brownish, but never greenish cap, has a lateral stem, and appears earlier in the year, (Breitenbach).
