The North American species of Psathyrella.

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MEMOIRS OF THE NEW YORK BOTANICAL GARDEN

[VOL. 24

Spores 8-10 x 4-5 pt, smooth, apical pore present but apex not truncate, shape
in face view elliptic to ovate, in profile obscurely inequilateral to obscurely beanshaped, color in KOH chocolate-brown becoming dark chocolate-color but finally
fuscous-gray, in Melzer's reddish tawny, wall about 0.3 p thick.
Basidia 4-spored, clavate, 24-30x9-11 I, hyaline. Pleurocystidia scattered,
42-56 x 10-17,/, fusoid-ventricose, apex obtuse to subacute (in age), wall thin,
smooth and hyaline, cell content empty. Cheilocystidia mostly 18-30x8-14 pl,
clavate, hyaline, a few fusoid-ventricose.
Pileus trama pale vinaceous-brown to pallid (finally), walls of hyphae smooth
or nearly so. Cuticle of pileus a layer of vesiculose cells 2-3 deep, cells thinwalled, hyaline and smooth (in KOH). Clamps present.
Type locality. Near Lake Henshaw, San Diego County, California.
Habit and habitat. Gregarious on sandy soil near an oak log, March.
Distribution. California. Thiers 25079 (type).
Observations. This species is close to P. psammophila in some respects but
looks quite different dried and the spores are larger. The pleurocystidia vary from
rounded to obtuse at first but are nearly all merely obtuse when mature.
395. Psathyrella pseudocoronata A. H. Smith, sp. nov.
Pileus 1-3 cm latus, late conicus, melleus vel subspadiceus, dein pallidus glaber;
lamellae confertae, latae, pallidae, demum violaceo-fuscae; stipes 3-4 cm longus;
2-2.5 mm crassus, albidus, dissiliens, glaber; velum nullum; sporae 7-9 x 4-4.5 u;
pleurocystidia 36-58 x 10-18 /, obtuse fusoideo-ventricosa; fibulae adsunt. Typus.
Smith 34822 (MICH); legit prope Laramie, Wyoming.
Illust. Text Fig. 838.
Pileus 1-3 cm broad, obtusely conic, glabrous, naked, moist, hygrophanous,
pale watery buckthorn brown (honey brown) to nearly avellaneous (when spores
mature), fading to whitish, striate on margin; no veil present. Context thin, color
of surface either moist or faded, odor not distinctive, taste not recorded.
Lamellae close, broad, ascending-adnate, pallid becoming dark brownish gray
(near "benzo brown"), edges pallid.
Stipe 3-4 cm long, 2-2.5 mm thick at apex, equal, whitish, fragile and splitting
lengthwise when collected if the base is broken, naked, veil none.
Spores 7-9x4-4.5,u, smooth, apical pore indistinct and apex not truncate,
shape in face view oblong to elliptic or narrowly ovate, in profile obscurely
inequilateral to subelliptic, color in KOH dull cocoa-color but soon a medium
dark chocolate-color, in Melzer's reddish tawny, wall about 0.3 t thick.
Basidia 4-spored, 20-26 x6-9 p, clavate, hyaline in KOH. Pleurocystidia
abundant, 36-58x 10-18 t, fusoid-ventricose, neck tapered to an obtuse to subacute apex, wall thin, smooth and hyaline, content not distinctive in KOH or
Melzer's. Cheilocystidia similar to pleurocystidia or shorter and varying to
broadly fusoid, wall thin and hyaline, occasionally with debris adhering, when
fresh with a large globule in the interior (mounts in H20), as revived in KOH
"empty" or a few with an amorphous highly refractive irregularly shaped
inclusion.
Gill and pileus trama hyaline in KOH. Cuticle of pileus a layer of vesiculose
to clavate cells one cell deep but not forming a true palisade. Clamp connections
present.
Type locality. Pole Mountain, near Laramie, Wyoming.
Habit and habitat. Scattered on moist earth under aspen.