Fleshy Fungi of New Brunswick >> Inocybe subcarpta

Inocybe subcarpta Kühner & Boursier

Solitary in humus and duff, in forest dominated by Picea rubens, Abies balsamea and Betula papyrifera, Kennedy Lakes Protected Natural Area, New Brunswick (06-07-19/05).

Basidiospores yellow brown in spore print, prominently nodulose, often with a rectangular outline in profile, 6.5-8.6 X 4.3-5.8 µm, Q = 1.25-1.82 (average[30]: 7.5 X 5.1 µm, Q = 1.46). Cheilocystidia abundant and forming a continuous sterile margin, clavate to ventricose, less commonly sublageniform, thin-walled, unchanging in 3%KOH, 42-76 X 11-16 µm, Q = 2.56-5.88. Pleurocystidia numerous and conspicuous, cylindrical to ventricose, less commonly sublageniform, thin-walled, unchanging in 3% KOH, 49-72 X 11-21 µm, Q = 3.43-6.02. Pileipellis a dry cutis, with upper layers recurving densely to form the scales, composed of strongly encrusted clamped brown hyphae.

Inocybe subcarpta is a relatively sturdy member of its genus having a densly scaly pileus and fibrillose stipe. The basidiospores, characteristically quadrangular in profile, and the thin-walled cystidia are also diagnostic. It is similar to I. soluta in stature, colour and microscopic anatomy, but that species has a nearly smooth pileus lacking coarse scales. It might also be mistaken for one of the species related to I. lanuginosa, such as I. stellatospora, which also have coarsely scaly caps, but these differ in their usually smaller size and in having conspicuously scaly stipes and non-quadrangular basidiospores.

Photo: D. Malloch (06-07-19/05).