Marasmius wynneae

Marasmius wynneae (sometimes incorrectly spelt Marasmius wynnei) is a species of gilled mushroom found in European woods.

Marasmius wynneae
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Fungi
Division:
Basidiomycota
Class:
Agaricomycetes
Order:
Agaricales
Family:
Marasmiaceae
Genus:
Marasmius
Species:
M. wynneae
Binomial name
Marasmius wynneae
Berk. & Broome (1859)
Marasmius wynneae
float
Mycological characteristics
gills on hymenium
cap is convex or conical
hymenium is adnexed
stipe is bare
spore print is white
ecology is saprotrophic
edibility: inedible

Naming

This species was originally described in 1859 by the mycologists Miles Joseph Berkeley and Christopher Edmund Broome in the British "Annals and Magazine of Natural History".[1] The original collection was done on the Coed Coch estate in Denbighshire, Wales, which then belonged to the Wynne family. The entry for the new species explicitly mentions Mrs. Wynne, and so it is clear that the mushroom was named for her and not her husband.[2] A Latinized species name takes the genitive ending -i (or -ii) if it is dedicated to a man and it takes -ae (or -iae) if it is for a woman. Therefore the spelling wynneae is correct here, even though the spelling in the original description of the species was wynnei.[3]

In English this fungus has the common name "Pearly Parachute".[4]

Description

The same set of references[3][5][6][7] applies to this section throughout.

The hygrophanous cap is hemispherical and white to greyish or ochre when young. Later it expands to become flat and may turn grey or also take on violet tints. The diameter is from about 1 cm to 5 cm.

The whitish thick and distant gills are almost free to emarginate. There is no ring or other veil remnant.

The tough[8] stem is up to about 7 cm long and up to 0.5 cm in diameter. Initially it is whitish and it becomes red brown from the base.

The taste is mild and the smell is pleasant initially (of hay, melilot[5] or bitter almonds[3]) but after a moment it becomes unpleasant (of acid,[3] or a drying facecloth[6]).

The spore powder is white and the spores are ellipsoid, sometimes elongated (with an aspect ratio up to about 2) and are around 6-8 µm by 3.5-4.5 µm. There are cheilocystidia which are club-shaped to spindle-shaped with lobes at one end.

Distribution, habitat, ecology and human impact

This saprobic mushroom grows in clusters on humus and litter in beech woods or other broad-leaved woods. The conspicuous white mycelium can bind leaf litter together in sheets.[8]

This mushroom is widespread from August to January in Europe,[8] and has been reported from Algeria, Morocco,[3] and Texas,[9] but not from other regions. It is common in western temperate Europe, especially under beech.[3]

References
  1. "Marasmius wynneae page". Species Fungorum. Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Retrieved 2020-06-07.
  2. See page 358 of Berkeley, Miles Joseph; Broome, Christopher Edmund (1859). "Notices of British Fungi". The Annals and Magazine of Natural History; Zoology, Botany, and Geology. 3 (3): 358. Retrieved 2020-06-07.
  3. Antonín, V.; Noordeloos, M. E. (2010). A monograph of marasmioid and collybioid fungi in Europe. Postfach 1119, 83471 Berchtesgaden, Germany: IHW Verlag. p. 67–71. ISBN 978-3-930167-72-2.CS1 maint: location (link)
  4. "Marasmius wynneae page". Bwlchgwyn, Rhydlewis, Llandysul SA44 5RE, Wales: First Nature. Retrieved 2020-06-08.CS1 maint: location (link)
  5. Bon, Marcel (1987). The Mushrooms and Toadstools of Britain and North-Western Europe. Hodder & Stoughton. p. 174. ISBN 0-340-39935-X.
  6. Eyssartier, G.; Roux, P. (2013). Le guide des champignons France et Europe (in French). Belin. p. 430. ISBN 978-2-7011-8289-6.
  7. Knudsen, H.; Vesterholt, J., eds. (2018). Funga Nordica Agaricoid, boletoid, clavarioid, cyphelloid and gasteroid genera. Copenhagen: Nordsvamp. p. 360. ISBN 978-87-983961-3-0.
  8. Læssøe, H.; Petersen, Jens (2019). Fungi of Temperate Europe. Princeton University Press. p. 309. ISBN 9780691180373.
  9. "Marasmius wynneae – pearly parachute". Texas Mushrooms. Retrieved 2020-06-08.
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