Created: 2008-06-10 09:46:20

By: Douglas Smith (douglas)

Summary: Some of the terms

Well, one reference that will have the terms and examples in one place is “How to indentify mushrooms to genus III: Microscopic features”, D. largent, D. Johnson, R. Watling. This will have the microscopic terms and photos of examples that will get used. A search on “mushrooms to genus III” on Amazon shows copies for sale for $21.

But the Cheilocystidia will be the sterile terminal cells at the edges of the gills (lamellae), and Pleurocystidia will on the faces of the gills. In some genus is it easy to tell, because the gill edge will be sterile (no basidia), and you’ll see all the cheilocystidia in a tight group on their own, and the pleurocystidia will be on the fertile gill face, and will be singular and surrounded by basidia.

In the second drawing you have there, you show a pleurocystidia. Also you say the cap surface is a brickwork, some call this “cellular”. If there is a gelatin matrix you get spaces between the cell walls that obscure the focus. But what you draw there looks like an epithelium, upward facing globose cells.

So, with pleurocystidia and no gelatin on the cap surface, its not a Hebeloma. With the cellular cap and the brown spore color, this kinda points to Agrocybe as the genus. Although I’m not sure the cystidia look like Agrocybe, but then again I’ve never looked at Agrocybe cystidia… I’ve been picking up some little guys at work for the past couple weeks, and keep meaning to get them under the scope, but I’ve got too many other samples to go first. Looking at the Flora Neerlandica I see that a few Agrocybes do have almost pointed cystidia with some form of incrustation on the end.

So, unless you want to do more work, my guess at this point would be Agrocybe.