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[ Basidiomycota > Agaricales > Pluteaceae > Pluteus . . . ] Pluteus tomentosulus by Michael Kuo, 18 March 2025 This attractive species of Pluteus appears to be most common in northern and montane North America, where it favors the deadwood of conifers—especially that of spruces and eastern hemlock. However, I have also found Pluteus tomentosulus happily spreading through landscaping woodchips in the Midwest, and it is reported from Florida, the Southwest, and the Pacific Northwest. When young the cap, gills, and stem of Pluteus tomentosulus are all white, and the surfaces are very finely granular-tomentose. In age, however, the mushrooms become more bald, and the gills become pink as the spores mature. Microscopic features that help define Pluteus tomentosulus include its pileipellis (a cutis that lacks clamp connections), its cystidia (thin-walled, without hooks), and its spores (broadly ellipsoid or subglobose). Description: Ecology: Saprobic; growing alone, scattered, or gregariously on decaying logs of spruces, eastern hemlock, and other conifers (but occasionally reported on the wood of hardwoods, especially in the lower Appalachians, and also found on woodchips in landscaping); often appearing in low, wet areas; summer and fall; originally described from New York (Peck 1885); possibly widely distributed in North America, but most often reported from northern and montane areas. The illustrated and described collections are from Colorado and Illinois. Cap: 2.5–-6 cm; conico-convex at first, expanding to broadly bell-shaped; dry; when young finely granular-tomentose but becoming silky to bald with age; white, sometimes developing pinkish hues near the margin and brownish hues over the center; the margin sometimes faintly lined at maturity. Gills: Free from the stem or nearly so; close or nearly crowded; short-gills frequent; white at first, becoming pale pink and eventually brownish pink. Stem: 4–7 cm long; up to 1 cm thick; tapering slightly to apex; base slightly swollen; finely granular-tomentose when young, becoming bald; sometimes finely longitudinally grooved; white, discoloring a little brownish with age; basal mycelium white. Flesh: White; unchanging when sliced. Odor: Not distinctive. Chemical Reactions: KOH negative to faintly yellowish on cap surface. Spore Print: Brownish pink. Microscopic Features: Spores 5.5–7 x 5–6 µm; globose, subglobose, or broadly ellipsoid; smooth; hyaline and uniguttulate in KOH; inamyloid. Basidia 30–35 x 6–7 µm; subclavate; 4-sterigmate. Cheilocystidia 60–125 x 20–40 µm; utriform to widely lageniform, or sometimes subcapitate, with a subglobose knob 10–15 µm across; thin-walled but sometimes developing thickened, golden-refractive walls toward the apex; hyaline in KOH. Pleurocystidia similar to cheilocystidia. Pileipellis a cutis; elements 3–10 µm wide, smooth, hyaline in KOH; pileocystidia (check young specimens) 70–150+ x 10–30 µm; tapering-fusiform; smooth or a little encusted; walls to 0.5 µm thick; hyaline to brownish- or brown-walled in KOH; clamp connections not found. REFERENCES: C. H. Peck, 1885. (Atkinson, 1903; Murrill, 1917; Kauffman, 1918; Singer, 1956; Smith, Smith & Weber, 1979; Schalkwijk-Barendsen, 1991; Barron, 1999; Baroni, 2017; Sturgeon, 2018; McKnight et al., 2021.) Herb. Kuo 08200806, 06211501. This site contains no information about the edibility or toxicity of mushrooms. |
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Cite this page as: Kuo, M. (2025, March). Pluteus tomentosulus. Retrieved from the MushroomExpert.Com Web site: /pluteus_tomentosulus.html |