| Major Groups > Gilled Mushrooms > Pale-Spored > Collybioid > Callistosporium luteo-olivaceum |
|
[ Basidiomycota > Agaricales > Callistosporiaceae > Callistosporium . . . ] Callistosporium luteo-olivaceum by Michael Kuo, 10 May 2025 This little mushroom is a decomposer of deadwood—primarily the wood of conifers. It has a golden yellow to olive yellow cap, yellow gills, and a white spore print. Ho-hum. Truth be told, Callistosporium luteo-olivaceum is pretty boring, though it becomes slightly more interesting with the application of KOH (its cap turns purplish red) or under the microscope, where its tissues turn purple in KOH. Tricholomopsis decora and Tricholomopsis sulphureoides can look similar, and also turn red with KOH (despite at least one erroneous report in a field guide). But these species have scaly to fibrillose caps (at least, when fresh), mild taste, and several important microscopic differences. Xeromphalina tenuipes is also similar, and also turns red in KOH. However, it is found on the wood of hardwoods and features tough, nearly rubbery flesh, and a dark stem that becomes finely granular-scaly when it dries; microscopic features also separate it. Callistosporium graminicolor, separated by Lennox (1979) and re-affirmed as a phylogenetic species (Vizzini et al. 2020), differs in its longer spores (6–8 µm long) and smaller fruiting bodies; it is found in the Pacific Northwest. In 2020 researchers (Vizzini et al.) noted three phylogenetically separated groups within the collections of Callistosporium luteo-olivaceum they studied, representing North American, European and Asian collections. The authors designated these groups as "lineages" within a single species, but held out the possibility that future inquiries may separate species—in which case the North American species would retain the name luteo-olivaceum, since the original description (Berkeley & Curtis 1859) was from the northeastern United States. Thanks to Joanne and Bob Solem for collecting, documenting, and preserving Callistosporium luteo-olivaceum for study; their collection is deposited in The Herbarium of Michael Kuo. Description: Ecology: Saprobic on well-decayed deadwood of conifers—occasionally on wood so far decayed that the mushrooms appear terrestrial, and sometimes on buried wood; usually growing gregariously; summer, fall, and winter (in warm climates); originally described from "New England" (Berkeley & Curtis 1859); widely distributed in North America and in Europe; reported from Central America, the Caribbean, South America, eastern Asia, and Oceania. The illustrated and described collections are from Illinois, Maryland, and North Carolina. Cap: 1–4 cm; convex, becoming planoconvex, broadly bell-shaped, or flat; bald or, when young, sometimes with a hoary or frosty appearance; moist when fresh; dull golden yellow; hygrophanous, changing color to yellowish buff, creating a two-toned appearance; the margin not lined, or only faintly so at maturity. Gills: Broadly attached to the stem, sometimes by means of a notch; close; short-gills frequent; usually yellow or pale yellow, but sometimes whitish. Stem: 2–4 cm long; 2–3 mm thick; when young finely dusted overall, becoming bald over the upper half or overall with age; hollowing; colored like the cap; basal mycelium white. Flesh: Thin; insubstantial; yellowish or whitish. Odor and Taste: Odor not distinctive, or a little fragrant; taste bitter. Chemical Reactions: KOH on cap surface purple to purplish red. Spore Print: White. Microscopic Features: Many tissues purple to purple-red when mounted in KOH. Spores 3–5 x 2–4 µm; ellipsoid; smooth; with an apiculus; inamyloid; hyaline and uniguttulate in KOH when fresh, and when free floating in mounts of dried material—but containing purple inclusions when in contact with the hymenium or other tissues in dried specimens. Lamellar trama parallel. Basidia 20–25 x 4–6 µm; clavate; 4-spored; some developing purple inclusions in a KOH mount. Pleurocystidia not found. Cheilocystidia not found. Pileipellis a cutis of elements 3–5 µm wide, with pileocystidia (especially in young specimens) that feature clavate to subclavate apieces and refractive-ochraceous contents in KOH. Clamp connections not found. REFERENCES: (M. J. Berkeley & M. A. Curtis, 1859) R. Singer, 1946. (Lennox, 1979; Redhead, 1982; Arora, 1986; Noordeloos, 1995; Gándara & Guzmán, 2006; Miller & Miller, 2006; Roberts, 2009; Trudell & Ammirati, 2009; Kuo & Methven, 2014; Jančovičová et al., 2016; Siegel & Schwarz, 2016; Vesterholt & Holec, 2018; Læssøe & Petersen, 2019; Kibby, 2020; Vizzini et al., 2020.) Herb. Kuo 08290202, 07250401, 10010501, 06301601, 08271603, 08111907. This website contains no information about the edibility or toxicity of mushrooms. |
© MushroomExpert.Com |
|
Cite this page as: Kuo, M. (2025, May). Callistosporium luteo-olivaceum. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: /callistosporium_luteo-olivaceum.html |