The North American species of Psathyrella.

1972]

PSATHYRELLA

343

Spores 11-13x 6-7.5 /,, smooth, truncate from a broad apical pore, shape in
face view oblong to elliptic, in profile elliptic to obscurely inequilateral, color in
KOH dark chocolate-color.
Basidia 4-spored, 10-12 M wide, hyaline in KOH. Pleurocystidia scattered to
rare, hyaline, thin-walled, 30-40 x 9-12 g, ventricose with subacute apex (typically
fusoid-ventricose), wall thin, smooth and hyaline, cell content not distinctive.
Cheilocystidia either similar to the pleurocystidia or some vesiculose and up to
14 g broad, yellowish in the wall in the basal portion as revived in KOH.
Gill trama dingy reddish tawny as revived in KOH. Pileus having a cuticle
of inflated cells hyaline in KOH and 1-2 cells deep. Hyphae of the context dark
tawny to reddish brown as revived in KOH.
Type locality. Pasadena, California.
Habit and habitat. Rich soil along gutters or in canyons.
Distribution. Known only from the type locality.
Observations. The color of the spores in KOH indicates to me that this species
is a Psathyrella, not a Panaeolus. The color of the hyphae of the subcuticular
region of the pileus, even though poorly revived, also indicates Psathyrella. Its
relationships appear to be with P. gracilis but it falls in series Tenerae since
apparently no pink tints developed, either on the pileus or the gill edges.
315. Psathyrella ammophila (Durieu & Leveille) Orton, Trans. Brit. Mycol. Soc.
43: 180. 1960.
Agaricus ammophilus Durieu & Leveille, Fungi Atlas Fl. Algerie, t. 31. 1848.
Psilocybe ammophila (Durieu & Lev.) Gillet, Les Hymen. 1: 587. 1874.
Deconica ammophila (Durieu & Lev.) Moser apud Gains, Kleine Krypt. Fl. Europa,
200. 1953.
Drosophila ammophila (Durieu & Lev.) Kihner & Romagnesi, Fl. Anal. 358. 1953.
Pileus 1.5-4 cm broad, convex with an incurved margin, expanding to broadly
convex or plane, margin thinly fibrillose at first but soon naked, color dull rusty
brown, fading to tan but soon bleached to nearly white, when dried dingy
ochraceous to pinkish cinnamon. Context thick and fleshy (for this genus), odor
and taste not distinctive.
Lamellae broad, depressed, adnate, close, thin, dingy brown becoming
chocolate-brown and drying blackish, edges even and pallid.
Stipe 3-7 cm long, 3-5 mm thick, sunken in the sand for an additional 2-4 cm,
relatively firm and fibrous, tubular, readily separable from pileus, surface
unpolished, nearly concolorous with pileus; no veil remnants evident on stipe
in the material studied.
Spores 9-14 x 6-8 g, smooth, obscurely truncate from an apical pore, shape in
face view broadly elliptic to slightly ovate, in profile obscurely inequilateral to
subelliptic, color in KOH coffee-bean brown becoming dark chocolate-color,
reddish tawny in Melzer's, wall about 0.5 / thick.
Basidia 4-spored, 25-32x9-12 g, clavate, hyaline in KOH. Pleurocystidia
scattered, 38-55x9-14 /, fusoid-ventricose, apex acute to subacute, wall thin,
smooth and hyaline, cell content not distinctive. Cheilocystidia similar to the
pleurocystidia but varying to clavate or subglobose-pedicellate, hyaline.
Gill trama pale yellowish cinnamon fading to hyaline (revived in KOH),
interwoven. Pileus trama darker than gill trama but hyphal walls smooth and
thin. Cuticle of pileus (in tangential section), a layer of vesiculose cells 2-3 cells
thick and the cells 15-30 tu wide, their walls smooth, thin and concolorous with the
hyphae of the trama. Clamps present.