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kukeseen-vesinutt (Hygrocybe cantharellus)(sealt on vaja otsida)
[ Basidiomycetes > Agaricales > Tricholomataceae > Hygrocybe . . . ]
Taxonomy in Transition: Hygrophoroid/Omphalinoid > Hygrophoraceae Group
by Michael Kuo
If you enjoy spending long hours looking through a microscope and pouring over technical mycological treatises, I highly recommend you pick some little red waxy caps, bring them home, and try to figure out what they are. Hygrocybe miniata is not Latin for "many look-alikes," but it ought to be. The mushroom's defining features include its dry convex cap, its gills (which are attached to the stem or begin to run slightly down it, but do not really run down it), its dry stem, and microscopic features. Nearly all of these features--even the microscopic ones--are variable, however, so it's probably not a good idea to bet the house on your identification! A few of the more easily separated look-alikes are presented in the right-hand column.
As a matter of principle, no mushroom that is so difficult to identify should be eaten. Field guides often list Hygrocybe miniata and Hygrocybe cantharellus (see the right-hand column) as "edible," but a sticky-capped look-alike, Hygrocybe punicea, is mildly poisonous for some people--while edibility is unknown for a fairly large number of other similar looking mushrooms. I do not recommend experimenting.
Description:
Ecology: Saprobic in hardwood forests and mixed woods; on soil or in moss; sometimes on rotting logs; growing gregariously; summer through winter; widely distributed in North America.
Cap: 2-4 cm; broadly convex with an incurved margin when young; becoming broadly convex or nearly flat; dry or slightly moist; smooth or minutely scaly/hairy; scarlet when young and fresh, but often fading to orange or yellow; the margin sometimes thinly lined.
Gills: Attached to the stem, but sometimes beginning to run down it; close or almost distant; thick; colored like the cap or paler.
Stem: 3-5 cm long; 3-4 mm thick; equal; dry; smooth; colored like the cap but fading more slowly.
Flesh: Colored like the cap or paler; thin.
Taste: Not distinctive; odor not distinctive.
Spore Print: White.
Microscopic Features: Spores 6-8 x 4-5 µ; smooth; elliptical. Basidia 34-48 µ long. Cystidia none. Gill tissue nearly parallel, composed of cells 7-19 µ wide.
REFERENCES: (Fries) Kummer, 1871. (Hesler and Smith, 1963; Smith, Smith & Weber, 1979; Arora, 1986; Lincoff, 1992.) Herb. Kuo 07140302.
Hygrophorus miniatus is a synonym.
Variable Features
Field guides often distinguish Hygrocybe miniata from Hygrocybe cantharellus on the basis of its attached, rather than decurrent (running down the stem) gills. This feature is variable, however, as the top illustration demonstrates. According to Hesler & Smith (1963), gill attachment in Hygrocybe miniata varies "considerably." They continue:
One would naturally assume that a mushroom with adnexed, ventricose gills was distinct from one in which the gills were truly decurrent. However, after studying many collections we are inclined to doubt the validity of maintaining such a distinction. The gills of Hygrocybe miniata are typically bluntly adnate. From this condition they may become ventricose and adnexed if the pileus does not expand completely, or subdecurrent if it does. (158)
The fact that the cap of Hygrocybe miniata often fades from scarlet to orange or yellow should also not be given too much importance; mushrooms, especially red ones, are subject to fading--or not fading--depending on a whole host of conditions the mushrooms have no control over!
Other macrofeatures often used to separate Hygrocybe miniata from look-alikes include the length of its stem, and the scurfiness of its cap. In the case of the stem, however, longer than typical growth can occur when the mushroom has to conquer a soft, deep substrate (sphagnum, for example)--and then there is Hygrocybe miniata var. longipes (nearly identical but with a longer stem) to consider. As for the cap texture, Hygrocybe miniata varies from fairly smooth to fairly scurfy.
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