On an observation similar to this in that they have the same brownly pigmented cells. I will check in water =)

edit:
I just checked in water and they are still pigmented a golden color

When I saw them, they didn’t seem to be restricted to either the face or edge of the gill & many were deeply embedded in the gills leaving them hard to document.

Gloeocystidia of some nature. For instance, Phaeocystidia are versiform, pigmented and may have granular contents. Determining where the cell originates and it’s amyloidoty would help to describe any terminal cell.

Another possibility would be cystidioles, malformed or developing cystidia.

I don’t think they are basidioles or basidia, basidioles & basidia look different in Panaeolus, not so funky/irregular.

Your sulphidia is likely pigmented basidioles and basidia, I have yet to see anything that resembles pigmented or reflective cystidia in my observations

I don’t think Christine’s photos look much like that either, however they do look much like what Workman has been calling sulphidia, so I will go with that. :)

https://sporeworks.com/photo_gallery.php?cid=6
https://sporeworks.com/photo_gallery.php?pid=13
https://sporeworks.com/photo_gallery.php?pid=24

Basidia in Gerhardt 75349 are much more elongated than the spherical sulphidia noted by Gerhardt. though the “sulphidia” in MO 136028 appear smooth.

Looking at the illustration Byrain referenced, Christine’s classic definition of sulphidia proves true as well.

I don’t think these are pigmented basidioles, I have Gerhardt’s line drawings but I am not certain. I would really like to get to the bottom of this.

Are you sure they aren’t just colored basidioles? His illustrations don’t look much like these and he does seem to illustrate the refractive part…

Edit: Christine, I revised my opinion, these “sulphidia” look nothing like the sulphidia Gerhardt illustrated in Abb. 54, pg.88, I think you just have basidioles here which would correspond with the colored basidia you have been taking pictures of.

Yes, I think there is a problem with the translation, from somewhere I had gotten the impression that they were supposed to be “refractive” but that is clearly not the case with these, maybe that is the case at least some of the time, but I will really need to post some pictures of sulphidia in sulfovanillin.

I’ve encountered problems of sulphidia before (description, definition, recognition). It seems like you have much more experience with them now. I wonder if I could convince you to write a little summary of what you’ve found regarding their definition and recognition, and post it here. I think it would be a big help for people learning microscopy, and to make sure that more experienced microscope workers are interpreting it consistently.

Feel free not to do this, but thanks in advance if you do decide to share!

I think this one is a good example of Panaeolus fimicola:

- Spores within the described range (9) 11-14 (15) x 7-8 (9) x 6-8 microns, these were 13.35 × 9.39 Q=1.42 a little wider.
- Spores are smooth
- germ pore distinctly oblique
- Sulphidia present, what I thought were sulphidia in previous observations were not, these are clearly the sulphidia I’ve been looking for (finally!)

Edit: Spore measurements
Avg 13.35 x 9.39 microns Q=1.42, n=25

Max 16.15, 11.24, 1.62
Avg 13.35, 9.39, 1.42
SD 1.04, 0.63, 0.10
Min 11.42, 8.21, 1.20

13.54 x 9.32
13.44 x 9.15
13.55 x 8.39
14.31 x 9.22
13.51 x 9.50
14.15 x 9.21
12.54 x 9.57
13.79 x 8.97
11.76 x 9.80
12.34 x 9.49
13.36 x 9.31
11.42 x 8.84
12.49 x 9.52
16.15 x 11.24
11.65 x 8.21
13.81 x 9.31
12.54 x 9.09
13.33 x 9.55
13.92 x 10.20
13.81 x 8.51
14.22 x 10.21
12.93 x 9.35
14.48 x 9.96
13.38 x 9.54

Skilled mycologists (More so than me) have difficulties identifying these to species macroscopically, how do you do it so easily?