Fleshy Fungi of New Brunswick >> Crepidotus applanatus var. diversus

Crepidotus applanatus var. diversus (Fr.) Hesler & A.H. Smith

Clustered on partly buried wood (hardwood - possibly Betula sp.) in path, associated with Picea rubens and Abies balsamea, Nepisiguit Protected Natural Area, New Brunswick (19-08-16/03).

Gregarious on rotten hardwood log under Fagus grandifolia and Acer sp., Caledonia Gorge Protected Natural Area, New Brunswick (14-08-12/03).

Basidiospores nearly spherical, brown, not dextrinoid, echinulate, 4.2-5.2 X 3.8-5.2 μm, D/d = 1.00-1.11. Cheilocystidia forming a sterile margin, cylindrical to narrowly clavate, usually lobed or branched at the apex.

The fruiting bodies in the upper photo of 14-08-12/03 are too yellow. The lower photo is closer in colour to that described in the field notes. In their 1965 monograph of Crepidotus, Hesler and Smith stated that the variety C. applanatus var. diversus differs from C. applanatus var. applanatus in having forked, branched or knobbed cheilocystidia. The collections illustrated here seem to fit that concept. In her Ph.D. thesis (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 2001) M. Catharine Aime rejected the variety, stating that the characteristic cheilocystidia fall within the normal variation of C. applanatus var. applanatus. This decision, however, was not based on genetic evidence.

Photograph: D. Malloch (14-08-12/03, 19-08-16/03).