The North American species of Psathyrella.

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MEMOIRS OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN

[VOL. 24

4-7 cm longus, 1.5-3 (-4) mm crassus, squamulosus, glabrescens, deorsum demum
ochraceo-brunneus; sporae 8-11 x5-6 [; pleurocystidia 36-58(-62) x 12-18 A,
fusoide ventricosa vel utriformia; fibulae adsunt. Typus. Smith 78108 (MICH);
legit prope Brevoort Lake, Michigan.
Illust. P1. 56, fig. a; P1. 57, fig. b; Text Figs. 330-333.
Pileus 1-3.5 cm broad, broadly conic to convex, becoming somewhat campanulate to broadly convex, moist and hygrophanous beneath a thin coating of grayish
pallid outer veil remnants, margin at first fringed by veil remnants, soon entirely
glabrescent, translucent-striate moist, when young and moist reddish cinnamon
(about like Pholiota confragosa), becoming "burnt umber" before fading, old
pilei dark yellow-brown ("Prout's brown") before fading, dingy reddish tan to
tan when faded or grayer from the spores. Context thin and fragile, odor and
taste not distinctive.
Lamellae pale to dark dull cinnamon ("Sayal brown"), becoming "burnt
umber" and finally dark chocolate-color, broad, close, adnate but soon seceding,
edges even.
Stipe 4-7 cm long, 1.5-3(-4) mm at apex, equal in age, narrowly clavate
young, surface white-fibrillose to squamulose, pruinose-scabrous over apical
region, context becoming yellow-brown or darker from the base upward.
Spores 8-11 x 5-6 x, smooth, truncate from an apical pore, shape in face view
elliptic to ovate, in profile subovate to obscurely inequilateral, color in KOH soon
chocolate-black, in Melzer's dark bay-brown, wall about 0.4 A thick.
Basidia 4-spored, 12-24 x 7-9,u, clavate, hyaline in KOH. Pleurocystidia
scattered, 36-58(-62) x 12-18 ~u, utriform to fusoid-ventricose with obtuse apex,
thin-walled, smooth, hyaline in KOH, content not distinctive in KOH or Melzer's.
Cheilocystidia clavate to saccate and 15-25 x 9-15 /u or similar to pleurocystidia
but more frequently fusoid-ventricose. Caulocystidia 22-46 x 12-18 u, many odd
shapes present, some surface hyphae with intercalary cells inflated like cystidia,
all with smooth, thin, hyaline walls and lacking distinctive content.
Cuticle of pileus a layer of vesiculose cells about 2 deep, the walls (as seen
on sections) weakly ochraceous to hyaline, content empty (in either KOH or
Melzer's). Hyphae of subcutis with pale cinnamon walls in KOH and walls
smooth to minutely roughened. Clamps present.
Type locality. Brevoort Lake, Mackinac County, Michigan.
Habit and habitat. Cespitose to gregarious or scattered but often very
abundant on or along little used sand roads, summer and early fall.
Distribution. United States: Michigan. Canada: Ontario.
Observations. This species features a thin coating of grayish pallid fibrils
over the pileus at first, colors much as in Pholiota confragosa (before they change
with the maturation of the spores), very dark colored spores both in KOH and
in Melzer's, pleurocystidia intermediate between utriform and typically fusoidventricose types, and finally in the versiform caulocystidia.
Material examined. UNITED STATES. Michigan: Ammirati 1763, 2890;
Smith 32548, 33325, 50424, 50434, 67040, 77958, 77959, 77960, 77962, 78108
(Type). CANADA. Ontario: Smith 26568.
148. Psathyrella saponacea Moller, Fungi of the Faer6es, 179. 1945.
Illust. 1. c. fig. 79, pl. 3h.
Pileus 1-2.5 cm broad, subglobose becoming campanulate to broadly hemispheric, when young with white minute flocci from a rudimentary outer veil, soon