Baeospora myosura (Fries) Singer
Rev. Mycol. 3: 193. 1938.

Common Name: none

• Pileus

  Cap 1.0-2.5 cm broad, convex, expanding to nearly plane, the disc occasionally slightly raised; margin at first decurved, then plane, not striate, or if so, obscurely; surface dry, glabrous at the disc, sometimes becoming fibrillose toward the margin; color: tan-brown at the disc, shading to buff-brown at the margin; context thin, less than 1 mm thick, colored like the cap; odor and taste mild.

• Lamellae

  Gills adnexed, sometimes appearing free, crowded, narrow, pallid, becoming pale-buff in age; lamellulae up to 4-seried.

• Stipe

  Stipe up to 5.0 cm long, 0.5-1.5 mm thick, round, equal, pliant; surface pruinose, pallid to buff at the apex, becoming dull vinaceous-buff below, the base hairy, non-instititious; partial veil absent.

• Spores

  Spores 3.0-4.0 x 2.0-2.5 µm, ellipsoid, smooth, amyloid; spore print white.

• Habitat

  Solitary to clustered on cones of Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii), and Sitka Spruce (Picea sitchensis); fruiting from late fall to mid-winter.

• Edibility

  Unknown, insignificant.

• Comments

  Baeospora myosura is one of a relatively small number of mushrooms that fruit primarily on conifer cones. It is recognized by a tan, glabrous to appressed-fibrillose cap, crowded gills, and a stipe that is pallid at the apex and brown to pale vinaceous-brown at the base. It is often confused with Strobilurus trullisatus, also common on Douglas Fir and Sitka Spruce cones, but the latter has a whitish, striate cap, close, not crowded gills, and a stipe that is pallid at the apex, shading to a yellowish to tawny-brown base. The two species are also distinct microscopically, Baeospora myosura having a cuticle of repent hyphae and small, amyloid spores while Strobilurus truillisatus has a cellular type cuticle and somewhat larger, inamyloid spores.

• Other Descriptions and Photos
  • Fred Stevens: Baeospora myosura (CP)
  • Fred Stevens: Strobilurus truillisatus and Baeospora myosura (CP) -- the lower cone has the Baeospora
  • Michael Wood: Baeospora myosura (CP)
  • Michael Wood: Baeospora myosura (CP)
  • George Barron's Fungi of Canada (East): Baeospora myosura (D & CP)
  • Pilze, Pilze, Pilze: Baeospora myosura (CP)
  • Desjardin (1987): p. 14 (D), p. 15 (I)
  • Breitenbach & Kränzlin (vol. 3): sp. 140 (D, I, & CP)
  • Jordan: p. 142 (D & CP)
  • Lincoff: p. 738 (D), plate 9 (CP)
  • Miller: p. 135 (D)

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