zz agaric (stem; gills white/cream)

Cook, ACT

zz agaric (stem; gills white/cream) at Cook, ACT - 28 May 2021
zz agaric (stem; gills white/cream) at Cook, ACT - 28 May 2021
zz agaric (stem; gills white/cream) at Cook, ACT - 28 May 2021
zz agaric (stem; gills white/cream) at Cook, ACT - 28 May 2021
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Identification history

zz agaric (stem; gills white/cream) 1 Jun 2021 Heino1
Lepiota s.l. 31 May 2021 drakes

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User's notes

Cap about 3 cm across. Mt Painter Reserve Wildflower Triangle near dam.

3 comments

Heino1 wrote:
   1 Jun 2021
I cannot tell whether the gills are free from the stem or not. The gills clearly rise up a little way from the stem and the question is: Do they meet the stem in the out of sight area? Also, there's no ring of tissue around the stem. All told the evidence in favour of Lepiota s.l. is not strong.
drakes wrote:
   2 Jun 2021
I've added a fourth photo that shows where the gills meet the stem better. I think that shows the gills to be 'free' - but please advise. Is the fringe hanging from the edge of the cap a 'cortina'? There is certainly no ring.
Heino1 wrote:
   2 Jun 2021
It's still not clear if they are free or not. In some of the free-gill species the gill-free channel is wide and very easy to see but in others it is very narrow and hard to make out. You also get mushrooms with almost-free gills (a very slight connection with the stem). Here (https://canberra.naturemapr.org/sightings/4228079, 2nd photo) is another possibility. The gills rise up but then turn horizontal and meet the stem at right angles. That is easy to see, but if the gills were densely packed or if the gills rise up much closer to the stem (to give an almost straight rise before the horizontal turn) you could think you had free gills. In this sighting (Limacella pitereka) I was not sure of what the gills did until I cut a specimen in half to get clear side-on view (4th photo).

The fringe is too solid for a cortina, which is cobwebby (albeit wispy to densely cobwebby, depending on species). Here (Cortinarius sp. (Cortinarius)) are two very immature mushrooms, each with an intact cortina. Here (Cortinarius sinapicolor (Slimy Yellow Cortinar)) is a mushroom with an expanded cap and now the cortina has been broken. Numerous rusty brown streaks run along the upper half of the stem. They are spore-covered remnants of the cortina that have collapsed against the stem. Even before the cortina breaks spores (rusty brown in this genus) are being shed from the gills and fall onto the intact cortina. Parts of the cap margin show a very narrow rusty brown edge, markedly darker than the general cap colour. It's possible that there you see more spore-covered cortina remnants - but you'd need to check that microscopically to make sure.

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