Identification of the Larger Fungi. Roy Watling
43. Gills attached to and descending down the stem (decurrent); cap often depressed at the centre and sterile cells absent from the gills and the surface of the cap Clitocybe & Omphalina
Gills attached to the stem but not descending down the stem (adnate to adnexed) or if descending then distinct sterile cells on the gills, cap and stem 44
44. Cap-edge straight and usually striate when young; cap thin and somewhat conical and gills descending down the stem or not Mycena & related genera
Cap-edge incurved, non-striate and cap rather fleshy; gills not descending down the stem 45
45. Stem dark and woolly at least in the lower half and the cap viscid; fruit-bodies growing in clusters on tree-trunks Flammulina
Stem not dark and woolly 46
46. Cap viscid and stem usually rooting; fruit-body growing directly on wood or attached to wood by long strands or cords of mycelium (rhizomorphs) Oudemansiella
If cap viscid then fruit-body neither attached to wood by cords of mycelium nor stem with a rooting base Collybia & related genera
47. Stem central and gills often interconnected by veins; cap can be dried and later revived, purely by moistening Marasmius & related genera
Stem not attached to the centre of the cap and fruit-body although persistent not easily revived to natural shape after once being dried 48
48. Spore-print blue-black with solutions containing iodine 49
Spore-print yellowish in solutions containing iodine 50
49. Gills toothed or notched along the edges Lentinellus
Gills even along their edges and not toothed Panellus
50. Gills appearing as if split down their middles Schizophyllum
Gills not splitting 51
51. Gills notched or toothed along their edges Lentinus
Gills even along their edges and not toothed Panus
52. Spore print yellowish, purplish, black or pink 53
Spore-print some shade of brown, but without purplish flush 56
53. Spore-print yellowish or pinkish 54
Spore-print purplish brown or blackish 55
54. Spore-print yellowish Gyroporus
Spore-print pinkish Tylopilus
55. Spore-print purplish brown Porphyrellus
Spore-print blackish and spores ornamented Strobilomyces
56. Cap glutinous and stem with or without girdling veil (ring); within the tubes the sterile cells (cystidia) cluster together Suillus
Cap at most viscid and then only in wet weather and sterile cells within the tubes individually placed 57
57. Stem-surface covered with distinct black or dark brown or white then darkening scales; spore-print clay-brown with or without a flush of cinnamon-pinkish brown Leccinum
Stem-surface covered completely or in part with a network or pattern of faint lines or pale yellow or red-rust but never black dots; spore-print olivaceous buff Boletus & related genera
(i) Agarics of woodlands and copses
(a) Mycorrhizal formers
Leccinum scabrum (Fries) S. F. Gray Birch rough stalks or Brown birch-bolete.
Cap: width 45–150 mm. Stem: length 70–200 mm; width 20–30 mm.
Description: Plate 1.
Cap: convex and becoming only slightly expanded at maturity, pale brown, tan or buff, soft, surface dry, but in wet weather becoming quite tacky, smooth or streaky-wrinkled and cap-margin not overhanging the tubes.
Stem: white, buff or greyish, roughened by scurfy scales which are minute, pale and arranged in irregular lines at the stem-apex, and enlarged and dark brown to blackish towards the base.
Tubes: depressed about the stem, white becoming yellowish brown at maturity, with small, white pores which become buff at maturity and bruise distinctly yellow-brown or pale pinkish brown when touched.
Flesh: watery, very soft in the cap lacking distinctive smell and either not changing on exposure to the air or only faintly becoming pinkish or pale peach-colour.
Spore-print: brown with flush of pinkish brown when freshly prepared.
Spores: very long, spindle-shaped, smooth, pale honey-coloured under the microscope and more than 14 µm in length (14–20 µm long × 5–6 µm broad).
Marginal cystidia: numerous and flask-shaped. Facial cystidia: sparse, similar to marginal cystidia.
Habitat & Distribution: Found in copses and woods containing birch trees, or even accompanying solitary birches.
General Information: This fungus is recognised by the pale brown cap, the white, unchanging or hardly changing flesh and the cap-margin not overhanging the tubes. There are several closely related fungi which also grow with birch trees but they need some experience in order to distinguish them. This fungus was formerly placed in the genus Boletus, indeed it will be found in many books under this name. Species of Leccinum are edible and considered delicacies in continental Europe. The majority can be separated from the other fleshy fungi with pores beneath the cap, i.e. boletes, by the black to brown scaly stem and rather long, elongate spores. The scales on the stem give rise to the common name ‘Rough stalks’ which is applied to this whole group of fungi.
Illustrations: F 39C; Hvass 253; LH 122; NB 1556; WD 891.
Suillus grevillei (Klotzsch) Singer Larch-bolete
Cap: width 30–100 mm. Stem: width 15–20 mm; length 50–70 mm.
Description: Plate 2.
Cap: convex or umbonate at first, later expanding and then becoming plano-convex, golden-yellow or rich orange-brown, very slimy because of the presence of a pale yellow sticky fluid.
Stem: apex reddish and dotted or ornamented with a fine network, cream-coloured about the centre because of the presence of a ring which soon collapses, ultimately appearing only as a pale yellow zone; below the ring the stem is yellowish or rusty brown, particularly when roughly handled.
Tubes: adnate to decurrent, deep yellow but becoming flushed wine-coloured on exposure to the air, with angular and small sulphur-yellow pores which become pale pinkish brown to lilaceous or pale wine-coloured when handled.
Flesh: with no distinctive smell, pale yellow immediately flushing lilaceous when exposed to the air, but finally becoming dingy red-brown, sometimes blue or green in the stem-base.
Spore-print: brown with distinct yellowish tint when freshly prepared.
Spores: long, ellipsoid, smooth and pale honey when under the microscope, less than 12 µm in length (8–11 µm long × 3–4 µm broad).
Marginal cystidia: in bundles and encrusted with amorphous brown, oily material. Facial cystidia: similar in shape and morphology to marginal cystidia.
Habitat & Distribution: Found on the ground accompanying larch trees either singly or more often in rings or troops.
General Information: