Vampire's Bane

Appearance

The species can be described as follows:
⤷ The cap is red brown and is hygrophanous, drying to a paler colour. It is sometimes slightly wrinkled and grows to 1–3 cm in diameter.
⤷ The gills are white and fairly crowded, and the attachment to the stem varies from adnate to almost free. The spore powder is white.
⤷ The stem can grow to 6 cm tall but is only up to 2 mm in diameter. It is bald and pale at the apex, reddish brown lower down, and dark brown or blackish at the base.
⤷ The smell and taste are strongly of garlic.
⤷ The spores are roughly ellipsoid and measure 7-11 µm x 3-5 µm.
⤷ The cheilocystidia are of the "broom cell" type, that is, they are club-shaped with a number of finger-like protuberances.

Naming

The species epithet is a Latin adjectival form of the Greek word for garlic, ''scorodon'' .
This species was originally documented as ''Agaricus scorodonius'' by Fries in 1815 and in 1836 the same author established its long-standing designation ''Marasmius scorodonius''. However following a 2005 paper it was decided to separate a group of garlic-smelling species, including this one, off into genus ''Mycetinis'' .

''Mycetinis virgultorum'' is a closely related species, or a variety within the same species. In the latter classification, the two forms are called ''M. scorodonius'' var. ''scorodonius'' and ''M. scorodonius'' var. ''virgultorum''. The ''virgultorum'' form has smaller fruiting bodies, a scaly dull stem, and smaller spores.

Distribution

It is fairly common in northern and central Europe, present in the remainder of Europe, and reported from eastern North America, North Africa and Asia, including Israel.

Habitat

This mushroom is found from summer to late autumn especially on conifer needles, but also on sticks and other debris, on bark of conifers and deciduous trees, and on grasses and other plants. While usually a saprophyte, it has also been reported as a parasite of grass.