Alboleptonia sericella (Fries) Largent & Benedict
Mycologia 62(3): 448. 1970.

Common Name: none

• Pileus

  Cap 1.0-4.5 cm in diameter, at first deeply convex, expanding to broadly convex, the disc depressed or raised; margin occasionally wavy, incurved when young, decurved to plane in age; surface appressed-fibrillose, sometimes appearing silky, white to cream-buff, sporadically bruising pale salmon to cream-yellow; context thin, 2-4 mm thick at the disc, white; odor mild; taste somewhat farinaceous.

• Lamellae

  Gills adnate, notched, to subdecurrent, close, thin, relatively narrow, up to 4 mm in width, white to cream in youth, tinged pinkish in age from maturing spores; lamellulae up to 3-seried.

• Stipe

  Stipe 2.5-5.5 cm long, 4.0-8.0 mm thick, fragile, cartilaginous, more or less equal, stuffed to hollow at maturity, round to grooved longitudinally; surface of apex pruinose, elsewhere inconspicuously striate with scattered cottony scales, white tomentose at the base; partial veil absent.

• Spores

  Spores 9.0-11.5 x 7.0-8.5 µm, angular, hilar appendage conspicuous, with a central guttule; spore print pink.

• Habitat

  Solitary to scattered in open areas of mixed hardwood/conifer woods; fruiting from late fall to mid-winter; locally common.

• Edibility

  Unknown.

• Comments

  Alboleptonia sericella is typically found in Tanbark-Oak/Coast Redwood associations (Lithocarpus densiflora & Sequoia sempervirens). A fragile mushroom, it is recognized by a whitish color, attached gills that become pinkish in age, and a slightly farinaceous taste. It resembles Clitopilus prunulus, another pink-spored mushroom, but the latter has distinctly decurrent gills, a grey cap, and a pronounced farinaceous odor. Other look-alikes include Inocybe geophylla, which can be distinguished by brownish gills, and a green corn odor, and some white species of Hygrophorus. These, however, typically have thick, waxy gills, and white spores. The angular spores of Alboleptonia sericella are distinctive will help to confirm an identification.

• Other Descriptions and Photos
  • Michael Wood: Alboleptonia sericella (CP)
  • Mycology at Humbolt State University: Alboleptonia sericella (D & CP)
  • Arora (1986): p. 252 (D), p. 253 (P)
  • Breitenbach & Kränzlin (vol. 4): sp. 78 (D, I, & CP) [as Entoloma sericellum]
  • Largent (1994): p. 358 (D), p. 359 (I), p. 484 (CP)
  • Orr & Orr: p. 147 (D)
  • Phillips: p. 137 (D & CP)

  (D=Description; I=Illustration; P=Photo; CP=Color Photo)