Goldenhaired Inkcap

Appearance

The fungus produces fruit bodies with caps that are initially egg-shaped with margins curled inward; as the cap expands, it becomes conical and eventually flat or slightly depressed in the center, ultimately reaching a diameter of 6 cm. The fruit bodies are hygrophanous, and so will change color depending on their state of hydration. When the fruit bodies are young and fresh, the caps are reddish brown and can glisten, especially if wet. As the mushroom matures, the outer edge of the cap turn a greyish color while the center remains reddish brown. Radial grooves extend from the center of the cap to the margins. The caps have minute hairs that are visible through a hand lens.

The gills are free from attachment to the stem, and have a width of 0.2–0.4 cm. They are initially whitish before turning greyish brown, and eventually become blackish with a dark margin as the spores mature. Unlike some other coprinoid mushrooms, the gills do not deliquesce—a process whereby the gills dissolve into an inky black mass as they release their spores. The whitish stem is up to 12 cm long and 0.4 cm thick, hollow, and fragile. Young fruit bodies can have abundant, thick-walled hairs at the base of the stem, but these typically disappear as the mushroom matures. The flesh is thin, fragile, yellowish to brownish, and lacks any appreciable odor or taste. The spore print is brownish-black. The edibility of "P. auricoma" is not known with certainty, but the fruit bodies are small and insubstantial.

The spores are ellipsoid, have a central germ pore, and measure 10–14 by 5.75–8 μm. The basidia are club-shaped and four-spored. The colorless pleurocystidia measure 70–140 by 20–45 μm, and are roughly elliptical to flask-shaped, while the similarly shaped cheilocystidia measure 50–95 by 15–25 μm. Clamp connections are present in the hyphae of all tissues of "P. auricoma". The cap cuticle comprises a layer of club-shaped, thin-walled cells measuring 25–40 by 10–30 μm interspersed with long, dark, thick-walled setae. Yellowish-brown setae are plentiful on the cap surface, and consist of an elongated, hair-like segment up to 315 μm long, attached to the surface by a bulbous base that is 3–9 μm wide.

Naming

Several characters serve to help distinguish "Parasola auricoma" from similar coprinoid mushrooms that grow in woodchips, including a lack of deliquescence, and the lack of a veil. Microscopically, it is characterized by the long, gold-pigmented, thick-walled setae on the cap, and ellipsoid spores with a germ pore. The distinctly grooved and pleated cap margin indicates that it is allied with the coprinoid species and not with the genus "Psathyrella". Similar "Parasola" species include the common and widespread "P. plicatilis", "P. leiocephala", "P. lilatincta", and "P. kuehneri". Only microscopy will definitively separate these from "P. auricoma"—none of them have setae on the cap.

Distribution

"Parasola auricoma" is a saprobic species, and so obtains nutrients by breaking down organic matter into simpler molecules. The fruit bodies grow either singly or in groups, often in large numbers, at road sides in deciduous forests, or on grassy areas. The mushrooms are short-lived, usually lasting only for a few hours before collapsing. Common in Europe and North America, it has also been recorded from Japan. In Europe, fruit bodies appear most commonly in spring and summer months, while in North America, fruiting is more common in the late summer and autumn, after rains.

Habitat

"Parasola auricoma" is a saprobic species, and so obtains nutrients by breaking down organic matter into simpler molecules. The fruit bodies grow either singly or in groups, often in large numbers, at road sides in deciduous forests, or on grassy areas. The mushrooms are short-lived, usually lasting only for a few hours before collapsing. Common in Europe and North America, it has also been recorded from Japan. In Europe, fruit bodies appear most commonly in spring and summer months, while in North America, fruiting is more common in the late summer and autumn, after rains.