Key to Gilled Mushrooms KeyThis is a key to gilled mushrooms, that is, mushrooms having a definite cap with a fertile surface consisting of gills. The fruiting body usually also has a stem, although that may be lateral or absent (usually, then, the mushroom is growing from wood). You can use this key to identify mushrooms that you find.
Agaricales OrderFruiting body containing fibers (usually in the stalk)
Brown, Olive, Orange or Tan Spored SuborderGills not free
Spore print tan, orange, deep ochre, yellowish olive, olive brown, rusty or cinnamon brown or deep brown
Ring usually either absent or not membranous
Terrestrial Brown Spored FamilyGrowing on the ground
Diagnosis
- Cap with prominent radial fibers, often splitting radially
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All parts of the mushroom often scaly, scurfy, or tufted with minute hairs (barely visible on the stem in this image)
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Cap usually less than 2" across
Microscropic Characters
- The cystidia are usually of a type that I call "crowned bowling pin" cystidia: ventricose, with a spiky cluster of crystals at the end
Comments
This genus is unusual among mycorrhizal species in that it often grows in grassy or open areas near its host trees, rather than right with them
In age, the cap surface of the SilkyInocybes will break up and begin to resemble that of the CoarselyFibrilloseInocybes, but in this case the stuff on the cap will be long threads of material attached to the cap at the center (like streamers on a maypole). Check both sections if you're not sure
Narrow down your identification:
Coarsely Fibrillose Inocybe Section- Cap with conspicuous pointed bundles or tufts of fibers; often with a torn appearance
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Typically straw-colored or tan
Dark Brown Scurfy Inocybe Section- Cap and stem covered with chunky scales and tufts of hyphae; typically dark brown
Silky Inocybe Section- Cap surface silky; lacking chunky scales or coarse bunches of fibers
Inocybe fuscodiscaCap up to 1" across; brownish, with prominent, pointy blackish umbo
Odor spermatic
With conifers
Inocybe lilacinaCap up to 1 1/2" across; greyish lilac; sometimes slightly umbonate
Odor unpleasant or spermatic
