Coprinus flocculosus (DC.: Fr.) Fr.
Epicrisis Systematis Mycologici: 245. 1838.

Common Name: none

Synonym: Coprinellus flocculosus (DC) Vilgalys, Hopple, & Johnson

• Pileus

  Cap cylindrical-ovoid in youth, up to 3.0 cm tall, 1.5 cm wide, becoming obtuse-conic to campanulate, eventually broadly-conic to nearly plane, 2.0-4.0 cm fully expanded; margin decurved at first, slightly wavy, striate to near the disc, soon plicate, in age recurved and torn; surface dull yellowish, mustard-brown, to buff at the disc, paler towards the margin, greyish at maturity; cap surface covered with evanescent, whitish to buff, felty, universal veil fragments, these concentrated at the disc; context thin, approximately 1.0 mm at the disc, colored like the disc; deliquescent; odor and taste not distinctive.

• Lamellae

  Gills free, crowded, relatively broad, up to 6.0 mm, obtuse at the margin; edges and faces minutely hairy (use hand lens), cream-colored, then greyish, finally blackish from maturing spores; lamellulae three to four-seried.

• Stipe

  Stipe 2.0-6.0 cm long, 2.0-7.0 mm thick, equal except enlarged at the base, hollow at maturity, fragile; surface whitish, sparsely pruinose, striate, to glabrous in age; partial veil absent; a thin, white, collar-like volva often found at the base of young specimens.

• Spores

  Spores 11.0-15.5 x 6.5-8.5 µm, smooth, elliptical to almond-shaped in face-view, slightly narrowed in side-view; germ pore eccentric, up to 2.0 microns broad; hilar appendage inconspicuous; spores blackish in deposit.

• Habitat

  Solitary, scattered, to gregarious on wood chips, sawdust, and stable straw, but not dung; fruiting after moist periods year-round; common

• Edibility

  Unknown.

• Comments

  Coprinus flocculosus bears a resemblance to Coprinus micaceus, a familiar and well-known species that grows in clusters, usually at the base of dying trees or rotting stumps. Coprinus flocculosus differs in its scattered fruitings, usually on sawdust, woodchips, straw etc. It is also has a different type of veil, consisting of felt-like fragments rather than the clumps of globose cells which give rise to the glistening appearance of C. micaceus. Additionally, remnants of the universal veil in Coprinus flocculosus may form a thin collar at the base of the stipe. Another species similar to Coprinus flocculosus is C. domesticus. It differs in having a cap with a more tawny-brown disc, a somewhat granular appearing veil, and a preference for fruiting on hardwood logs and stumps. Microscopically it is distinguished by thick-walled rather than thin-walled velar cells, and smaller spores with a central, not eccentric germ pore.

• Other Descriptions and Photos
  • Kees UljΘ Coprinus site: Coprinus flocculosus (D & CP)
  • Kinoko-ya: Coprinus flocculosus (D & CP)
  • Breitenbach & Kränzlin (v. 4): sp. 277 (D, I, & CP)

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