Conocybe aurea is a basidiomycete fungus in the family Bolbitiaceae.[2][3]

Conocybe aurea
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Basidiomycota
Class: Agaricomycetes
Order: Agaricales
Family: Bolbitiaceae
Genus: Conocybe
Species:
C. aurea
Binomial name
Conocybe aurea
Synonyms[1]
  • Galera aurea Jul.Schäff. (1930)
  • Conocybe tenera var. aurea (Jul.Schäff.) Kühner (1935)
  • Conocybe tenera f. aurea (Jul.Schäff.) Enderle (1999)
  • Conocybe aurea var. hololeuca Hauskn. (2000)

Taxonomy edit

The fungus was first described to science in 1930 by German mycologist Julius Schäffer, who called it Galera aurea. Tsuguo Hongo transferred it to the genus Conocybe in 1963.[4] In 2000, Anton Hausknecht published the variety C. aurea var. hololeuca, but this taxon is not considered to have independent taxonomic significance by Index Fungorum.[5]

The species is related to Conocybe tenera.[6]

Habitat and distribution edit

Conocybe aurea is a saprobic fungus that prefers to grow in nitrate-rich soils, fields, woodchip mulch, old compost, and greenhouses. A rare but widespread species, it is found in Europe, Asia, North America, and South America.[7]

Description edit

The cap is orangish yellow, and up to 5 cm in diameter.[6] The gills and stipe are beige, the former browning with age.[6]

Cap: 0.8-2.2 cm wide or more, starting globose to campanulate before expanding to convex. The surface is smooth but not sticky and is golden yellow to orangy yellow with a deeper colour in the centre of the cap. The cap dries to a chrome yellow colour with paler centre flesh when dry. Gills: Adnate and subdistant with a ventricose bulge. 1.5-3mm wide. They start whitish before developing a cinnamon colour. Stem: 2.5-6.5 cm long and 2-3mm thick and equal across its length or tapering slightly upwards with a slightly bulbous 4-6mm thick base. The interior is hollow and the exterior surface is pruinose with striations and pale yellowish but often discolours to a brownish yellow (fulvous). Flesh: Thin, soft and the same colour as the surface of the cap. Smell: Slight. Taste: Mild. Spores: 10.5-13.5 x 6-7 μm. Elliptical and smooth with a hyaline, apical germ pore. Under the microscope they are yellow. Basidia: 29-37 x 11-12 μm. Four spored. Cheilocystidia: 22-30 x 8-11 μm. Pin-headed and hyaline with a thin wall. Caulocystidia: 22-30 x 7.5-10 μm. Similar to the cheilocystidia.[4]

Etymology edit

The specific epithet aurea is Latin for golden yellow.[8]

Toxicity edit

The toxicity is unknown. Related species are known to be toxic.[9]

Similar species edit

Conocybe apala is common, but with a whiter and more fragile conical cap.[6]

References edit

  1. ^ "GSD Species Synonymy: Conocybe aurea (Jul. Schäff.) Hongo". Species Fungorum. CAB International. Retrieved 2015-12-08.
  2. ^ "Species fungorum - Conocybe aurea (Jul. Schäff.) Hongo". www.speciesfungorum.org.
  3. ^ "Mycobank Database - Conocybe aurea".
  4. ^ a b Hongo, Tsuguo (1963). "Notes on Japanese larger fungi (16)". The Journal of Japanese Botany. 38 (8): 233–240. doi:10.51033/jjapbot.38_8_4966.
  5. ^ Hausknecht A. (2000). "Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Bolbitiaceae 6. Die Conocybe tenera-Gruppe in Europa, Teil 1". Österreichische Zeitschrift für Pilzkunde (in German). 9: 73–109 (see p. 86).
  6. ^ a b c d Trudell, Steve; Ammirati, Joe (2009). Mushrooms of the Pacific Northwest. Timber Press Field Guides. Portland, OR: Timber Press. p. 180. ISBN 978-0-88192-935-5.
  7. ^ Overall A, Hodge V. (2015). "Conocybe aurea, a rare British native or another coloniser?". Field Mycology. 16 (1): 14–15. doi:10.1016/j.fldmyc.2015.01.006.
  8. ^ Harrison, Lorraine (2012). Latin for Gardeners (PDF). University of Chicago Press. p. 35. ISBN 978-0-226-00919-3.
  9. ^ Siegel, Noah; Schwarz, Christian (2016). Mushrooms of the Redwood Coast: A Comprehensive Guide to the Fungi of Coastal Northern California. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press. p. 145. ISBN 9781607748175.

External links edit