Fungi -- Great Britain -- Identification; Mushrooms -- Identification
_General Information_: This is one of our commonest members, and one
of the largest in the genus _Mycena_; many species in this genus are
quite small yet are nevertheless very important components of the
woodland flora decomposing leaves, twigs, etc., and contributing in
this way to the recirculating of organic matter.
The name _Mycena_ is derived from the same Greek word as that which
refers to the country around the ancient city of Mycenae in the plain
of Argos, and from whence Agamemnon came and gathered his forces to
invade Troy to reclaim Helen his wife. It has been suggested that this
similarity in name came about through the necessity for an army
stationed in Argos, early in the history of Ancient Greece, to rely on
the mushrooms found on the plains about to save the soldiers from
starvation.
_Illustrations_: F 17a; Hvass 119; LH 109; NB 133⁸; WD 26³.
[Illustration: Plate 14. Fleshy fungi: Spores white and borne on gills]
~Pluteus cervinus~ (Fries) Kummer
Fawn pluteus
_Cap_: width 40-100 mm. _Stem_: width 10-15 mm; length 75-125 mm.
_Description_:
Cap: conical, rapidly expanding and then becoming plano-convex or
flattened with only a slight but persistent umbo, dark brown, umber or
vandyke brown, viscid when wet and often with radiating fibrils.
Stem: white, streaked to varying degrees with dark brown fibrils,
cylindrical or slightly swollen towards the base, where it is attached
to the substrate.
Gills: remote, very crowded, thin, at first white then distinctly
salmon-pink.
Flesh: with pleasant smell, white and soft.
Spore-print: dull salmon-pink.
Spores: medium-sized, very faintly buff under the microscope, broadly
ellipsoid and 7-8 × 5-6 µm in size.
Marginal cystidia: flask-shaped, the majority with three or four hooks
at the distinctively thick-walled apex.
Facial cystidia: similar to marginal cystidia but sometimes intermixed
with those lacking hooks.
_Habitat_ & _Distribution_: This fungus grows singly or in groups on
old stumps and fallen trunks throughout the year except for the most
wintry months; it is commonest in autumn.
_General Information_: This fungus may also grow on old sawdust heaps,
a habitat which is often very worth while examining in detail by the
interested amateur during wet seasons. In summer sawdust heaps dry out
but after a good soaking, which, of course, can be applied
artificially by frequent watering with a hose or watering-can, many
interesting fungi develop. On sawdust heaps containing conifer debris
a larger species with black or dark brown edge to the gills is
found--_P. atromarginatus_ Kühner.
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