Fleshy Fungi of New Brunswick >> Infundibulicybe gibba

Infundibulicybe gibba (Pers.) Harmaja

Two collections:

• 1. Clustered in leaf litter beside a dead conifer log in mixed forest of Acer saccharum, Abies balsamea, Betula alleghaniensis and B. papyrifera, Nepisiguit Protected Natural Area, New Brunswick (15-08-16/05).

  • Basidiospores pale orange yellow (HSV50:03:100) and hydrophobic in spore print, dacryoid, 5.6-8.1 X 3.9-5.6 µm, D/d = 1.31-1.71 (average[30]: 6.7 X 4.8 µm, D/d = 1.40).

• 2. Gregarious (5) among mosses (especially Polytrichum sp.) in centre of a woods road, in forest dominated by Picea rubens, Pinus strobus, Abies balsamea and Betula papyrifera, Kennedy Lakes Protected Natural Area, New Brunswick (06-07-19/03).

  • Basidiospores white in spore print, dacryoid to ellipsoidal to obovate, smooth, unchanging in Melzer’s Solution, 4.9-6.9 x 3.4-4.5 µm, Q = 1.35-1.86 (average[39]: 5.8 X 3.8 µm, Q = 1.53). Hymenial cystidia lacking. Pileipellis a cutis of encrusted hyphae, with some of the surface hyphae becoming suberect and tangled. Clamp connections abundant.

A relatively large Clitocybe-like species with a depressed to funnel-like cap and strongly decurrent gills. The very pale yellow spore print in Collection 15-08-16/05 is unusual for this species, which is described by most authors as white. Under the microscope the spores are completely colourless. To make them clearer for this illustration they were first dyed in aqueous Congo Red, giving them their orange colour, and then mounted in water. The unusual term 'dacryoid' applied to the shape of these spores means tear-shaped. Most of the ones in the photo are shown in lateral view where they have a somwhat un-tear-like shape, but a few fit that description somewhat.

Photo: D. Malloch (15-08-16/05, 06-07-19/03).