Fleshy Fungi of New Brunswick >> Clitocybe ramigena

Clitocybe ramigena H.E. Bigelow

Scattered (14) in soil around old conifer stump in area dominated by Abies balsamea. Kennedy Lakes Protected Natural Area,, New Brunswick (03-07-19/03).

Basidiospores white in spore print, ellipsoidal to subdacryoid, smooth, not amyloid or dextrinoid, 3.9-5.3(5.8) X 2.5-3.0 µm, Q = 1.48-2.03 (average[35]: 4.4 X 2.6 µm, Q = 1.68). Basidia 4-spored, clamped at the base. Hymenial cystidia none. Pileipellis a cutis of narrow hyphae, hardly different from the tissues of the trama below. Clamp connections abundant in all tissues.

Clitocybe ramigena is one of a group of species frequently found early in the season. It it characterized by its strongly white-canescent pileus and stipe that appear frosty but water-soaked when fresh. The canescence is often cracked, revealing the slightly darker tissues below. The species is apparently closely related to C. pruinosa, a European species with a similar but darker pileus. Clitocybe albirhiza, a western "snowbank fungus" is similar in appearance, having white rhizomorphs at the base of the stipe, but with these more pronounced. Steve Trudell has provided excellent photographs of that species on the Burke herbarium Image Collection website.

The geography of C. ramigena is still unclear. Mycoportal has records of the species across North America, although the greatest concentration of collections is in New England. There are two Canadian records on Mycoportal, both from Ontario. Interestingly there are several collections from northern Maine, all made by Dr. H. E. Bigelow. These are all from the mountainous parts of the state. There appear to be no reports from Atlantic Canada other than this one.

Photograph: D. Malloch (03-07-19/03).