The North American species of Psathyrella.

1972]

PSATHYRELLA

89

moist and hygrophanous, at first more or less covered by particles of fibrils from
the outer veil, the veil remnants pallid to buffy tan, margin appendiculate at first,
soon glabrescent over all, even at first but at times slightly corrugated at maturity,
margin sometimes translucent striate, color "cinnamon-brown" on the disc and
"buckthorn brown" elsewhere, fading to "pale ochraceous-buff" or "pinkish buff,"
old remoistened pilei livid at least along the margin; when dried generally with
a cinnamon-tan tone. Context very thin and fragile, buffy tan to pallid, livid in
age, odor and taste not distinctive.
Lamellae close, narrow, adnate, often seceding, equal, whitish to dull grayish
buff when young, changing slowly to dull purplish brown, edges even.
Stipe 3-6 (-10) cm long, 2-5 (-10) mm thick, white, hollow, equal or tapering
upward, very fragile, lower portion at first with loose fibrils from the veil but soon
glabrescent, upper portion faintly pruinose and striate.
Spores 6-8(-9) x (3.5-)4-4.5(-5) )u, smooth, apical pore present but not conspicuous, shape in face view elliptic to oblong, in profile view subelliptic to
obscurely bean-shaped, color in KOH dull cocoa-color slowly becoming chocolategray to grayish brown, in Melzer's merely tawny, wall about 0.2, thick.
Basidia 4-spored, 16-18 x 8-9 [, hyaline in KOH. Pleurocystidia none. Cheilocystidia abundant, 32-46 (-50) x 10-18 A, saccate, subcylindric, utriform or
broadly fusoid-ventricose with rounded apex, wall thin, hyaline and smooth, cell
content not distinct. Caulocystidia scattered, more or less like the cheilocystidia.
Pileus with a cuticle of vesiculose cells 1-2 deep, the cells with hyaline to pale
cinnamon walls as revived in KOH, wall smooth and thin. Hyphae of the trama
pale rusty to vinaceous-brown in KOH but fading somewhat, in old pilei often
nearly hyaline, where colored the wall often found to be thinly incrusted. Clamp
connections present. No distinctive reactions when revived in Melzer's.
Type locality. Adirondack Mts., New York.
Habit and habitat. Scattered to gregarious on humus and debris under hardwoods or along the edges of roads or bogs.
Distribution. Alabama, California, Florida, Michigan, Montana, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee, Vermont, Washington in the United States and Ontario
in Canada.
Observations. The spores of this species vary in size from 6-6.6 (-7) x 3.5-4
to 8-9 x 4-5 IA, but mostly measure 6.5-8 x 4-4.5 A. Anyone studying P. candolleana in detail should also include this species and its satellites. Aside from the
cinnamon pigment of the pileus, the two intergrade. Psathyrella varicosa Pearson
lacks a veil, but is otherwise very close to P. hymenocephala.
Material examined. UNITED STATES. Alabama: Burke 716, AV, AX, EA,
EE. California: Rea 152. Florida: Singer F-2747. Michigan: Ammirati 3666,
3830; Hoseney 5a, 607; Mazzer 4029, 6-15-67; Potter 3369, 3502, 3573, 3574, 3676,
5653, 6014, 6129, 6330, 9821, 9839, 10357, 11348, 12317; Smith 1571, 6430, 6453,
6479, 6481, 6543, 6611, 6690, 6722, 6970, 7006, 7027, 7238, 7239, 15236, 18541,
18542, 18556, 18557, 20521, 21743, 21757, 21807, 21810, 21869, 21870, 21871, 21873,
25482, 25861, 25941, 25946, 25954, 26234, 32284, 32285, 32416, 32371, 32417, 32472,
32476, 32646, 32680, 32718, 32801, 39172, 41447, 41752, 41869, 41880, 41881, 41889,
41919, 42487, 50084, 51224, 57126, 57278, 57282, 63722, 63738, 64268, 66807, 74419,
74432, 75098, 78203, 33-523, 33-573, 33-586, 33-587, 33-1071; Shaffer 2287, 2556;
Thiers 3989. Montana: Kauffman 7-1-28. North Carolina: Korphage 92. Oregon: Gruber A-2. Tennessee: Hesler 11471, 18625; Smith 9957, 10704. Vermont:
Shaffer 3465, 3547, 3548. Washington: Smith 28914. CANADA. Ontario: DAOM
11299; Smith 26370, 26379, 26516, 26519, 26559.