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)
White Spored SuborderSpore print "light-colored": white or buff, sometimes tinged with pink or tan. Greenish and (except for the Russulales) yellow spore prints also go here
Stalk fibrous, not fracturing like a piece of chalk
Tricholomataceae FamilyNone of the special features distinguishing the other white-spored genera:
Gills not free, as in the Lepiotas and Amanitas
Basidia not extra-long, as in the Hygrophoraceae
Spores smooth, except for Lentinellus
Lignicolous Trich SubfamilyGrowing on trees or dead wood, leaves, or sticks, or organic debris, often in moss
Normal LignoTrich TribeShaped like a “normal mushroom”
Small and fragile to medium-sized, except for one large, grey-capped species
Small Ligno Trich SubtribeFruiting body small: cap up to 1 1/4" across (and most clearly smaller than that)
Omphalinoids SemiTribeMature fruiting body with an omphalos, never bell-shaped or conical. Never even flat except when very young.
Usually more colorful than the other choices
Often growing in or among a lichen
Omphalina Genus Quélet
Diagnosis
Microscropic Characters
Comments
Originally "Omphalia"
Narrow down your identification:
Omphalina ectypoidesCap 1- 2 1/2" across, various shades of yellow to brown, at first with minute dark scales or hairs
Not striate; margin wavy but not scalloped
Omphalina ericetorumCap up to 1 1/2" across, usually less than an inch; brown fading to yellow; in age, cap pleated and margin scalloped by the gills
Growing with a lichen which is so inconspicuous that it may be obscured by the moss that it also often grows with