Fleshy Fungi of New Brunswick >> Crepidotus variabilis

Crepidotus variabilis (Pers.:Fr.) P. Kumm.

Gregarious on small twigs of Abies balsamea, Nepisiquit Protected Natural Area, New Brunswick.

Basidiospores light brown in spore print, narrowly ellipsoidal, finely roughened with small warts, 4.7-5.5 X 2.6-3.3 μm, D/d = 1.55-1.94 (average [33]: 5.1 X 2.9 μm, D/d = 1.72). Cheilocystidia irregularly clavate to lobed.

Most authors state that C. variabilis grows on dead wood and branches of hardwood trees and only rarely on twigs of conifers. This difference in habitat begs molecular invesitigation. The gills of mature basidiomata are pale orange, leading to a possible misdiagnosis as a species of Entoloma such as E. byssisedum. However species of Entoloma have strongly angular basidiospores that are very different from those of any species of Crepidotus.

Photograph: D. Malloch (13-08-16/06).