Mycena oregonensis Smith
Mycologia 28: 413. 1936.

Common Name: none

• Pileus

  Cap 2-8 mm broad, hemispheric becoming convex; margin decurved, slightly undulate; surface moist, faintly pruinose when young, soon glabrous, translucent-striate, indistinctly so when dry; bright yellow, sometimes yellow-orange at the disc, fading to pale yellow or almost white; context thin, yellowish, unchanging; odor and taste mild.

• Lamellae

  Gills adnate to subdecurrent, subdistant, pale yellow, non-marginate; lamellulae 1-2 seried.

• Stipe

  Stipe 1-2.5 cm long, < 1mm thick, fragile, more or less equal; surface pruinose, translucent yellow, instititious, i.e. inserted on conifer needles and leaves of hardwoods; veil absent.

• Spores

  Spores 6.5-8.5 x 3-3.5 µm, tear-shaped, smooth, nonamyloid; spore print white.

• Habitat

  Solitary to gregarious on rotting conifer needles and leaves of hardwoods, e.g. Coast Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens), and Tanbark Oak (Lithocarpus densiflora).

• Edibility

  Unknown; too small to have culinary value.

• Comments

  This tiny Mycena can be distinguished from the numerous other small litter decomposers that inhabit local woodlands by a bright yellow cap and similarly colored, extremely thin, fragile, pruinose stipe. It is most likely to be confused with a close cousin, Mycena acicula, a species with a orange to orange-red cap.

• Other Descriptions and Photos
  • Nathan Wilson: Mycena oregonensis (CP)
  • Boleslaw Kuznik -- Hunting for Mushrooms: Mycena oregonensis (CP)
  • The Mycena Page: Mycena oregonensis (CP)
  • Phillips: p. 83 (D & CP)

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