North American species of Mycena.

GLUTINIPES: FULIGINELLAE

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and with fingerlike prolongations over the apex, gelatinizing as in
M. vulgaris, hyaline; pleurocystidia scattered, 60-70 X 8-12 t,, narrowly fusiform to subeylindric with abruptly pointed apices, some
with slightly thickened walls; gill trama vinaceous brown in iodine;
pileus trama with a typical thin subgelatinous pellicle over the surface,
then a region of floccose tissue with enlarged hyphal cells (appearing
parenchymatous in tangential section), below this a region 75-1920,
thick of gelatinous hyphae, the remainder floccose, all floccose tissue
vinaceous brown in iodine; stipe tissue vinaceous brown in iodine
except for the outer gelatinous layer.
Habit, habitat, and distribution.-Densely gregarious under Douglas fir, Sitka spruce, and redwood; Washington, Oregon, and California. In Ontario and Nova Scotia in Canada and in New York it
usually occurs under red spruce or balsam fir. It is very common
in the fall but apparently rare in the spring in the western United
States.
Material studied.-Smith, 3409, 3433, 3456, 3503, 3936, 4761,
7968, 7978, 8016, 8191, 8250, 8789, 9483, 14431, 17649. Kauffman,
October 1, 1925, Washington (as M. rugosoides). Zeller, 9037.
Observations.-This is a very distinctive Mycena. It can be
quickly recognized by its taste, very tenacious consistency, gray
color (no yellow or green present), and viscid stipe. With the possible exception of M. viscosa, I know of no other gray Mycena having
a viscid stipe which has such a bad taste. While testing the constancy of the taste of numerous carpophores one morning I was taken
with a mild attack of dizziness and headache. As a result of this
experience, I suspect the species of being poisonous. Microscopically
the combination of the gelatinous gill edges, the large pointed pleurocystidia, and the four layers of tissue in the pileus make it equally
distinctive.