Spathularia flavida Fr.
fairy fan
Cudoniaceae
Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
Introduction to the Macrofungi
fairy fan
Cudoniaceae
Species account author: Ian Gibson.
Extracted from Matchmaker: Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest.
Introduction to the Macrofungi
Species Information
Microscopic:
spores 30-75(95) x 1.5-3 microns, needle-like, smooth, with 0-several septa, colorless under microscope but often yellow-brown in mass, especially when dry, (Arora), ascospores very variable in size 30-95 x 1.5-2.5 microns, acicular [needle-like], rounded in upper part, gradually narrowing in lower part, "0-several-septate, commonly continuous, the wall with a gelatinous layer swelling to 1.5-3 microns thick; conidia subspherical, ellipsoid or obovoid, 1-2 x 1-1.5 microns, 1-celled, hyaline, produced by the ascophores on sterigmata, sometimes replacing the ascospores and filling the asci"; asci 85-125 x 8-12 microns, clavate; paraphyses filiform [thread-like], simple or branched in lower part, not or irregularly branched in upper part, strongly curved or circinate [twisted round, coiled] or straight in upper part, colorless, (Mains), spores 35-65 x 2-3 microns, narrowly clavate to broadly filiform, colorless, multiseptate with scattered oil droplets, arranged parallel within asci; asci 8-spored, 100-125 x 11.5-14 microns, clavate, inamyloid; paraphyses slender, compound, tips spiraled and bent, (Castellano)
EDIBILITY
said to be edible, but rather tough, (Arora)
Habitat and Range
SIMILAR SPECIES
Spathularia velutipes (Spathulariopsis velutipes), found at least in ON, MI, NC, NH, NY, and TN, differs from S. flavida by having orange mycelium and a dark brown farinaceous stem and by having a well-developed veil that often persists along the margin of the spore-bearing surface or less frequently as patches on it, (Mains). The spore-bearing tissue of S. velutipes is slightly duller in color and stem is brown and velvety, Castellano(2). |Pachycudonia spathulata (=Spathularia spathulata) is known from CA, with reports from OR, AK, YT, ME, MI, TN, and VA on MyCoPortal. It has fruiting bodies that vary from spathulate to capitate (with a head), short spores (18-26 x 2 microns), and asci that are narrowed in lower part, (Mains). It is described and illustrated in Siegel(3). |Neolecta and Mitrula species are somewhat similar, but S. flavida is less brightly colored and has a more consistently flattened head, (Arora).Habitat
"scattered to gregarious or even clustered, sometimes in lines or circles, on humus or rotten wood under conifers (especially pine) or sometimes hardwoods", (Arora), cespitose [in tufts], gregarious, or scattered, sometimes growing in circles, on humus and rotten wood, (Mains)
Status Information
Synonyms
Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Byssonectria violacea (J.C. Schmidt ex Fr.) Seaver
Mitruliopsis flavida Peck
Nectria violacea (J.C. Schmidt ex Fr.) Fr.