Agaricales » Hygrophoraceae » Cantharocybe

Cantharocybe virosa

Cantharocybe virosa (Manim. & K.B. Vrinda) T.K.A. Kumar

MycoBank number: MB800480

Basidiomata medium-sized, fleshy, clitocyboid. Pileus 45–100 mm broad, convex, becoming broadly convex; surface light brown (6D5), brown (6E4), grayish brown (7E3), or dark gray (7F8), slightly darker at the center, pruinose to somewhat granular to the naked eye, with fine appressed scales under a lens, dry; margin inrolled when very young, becoming incurved and finally becoming straight, initially entire, becoming fissile with age. Lamellae adnate to decurrent, moderately crowded, with lamellulae in four to eight tiers, up to 9 mm deep, whitish to yellowish white (1A2); edges smooth to finely fimbriate under a lens. Stipe 20–75 × 5–23 mm, central or at times slightly excentric, terete to slightly compressed, almost equal with a dilated apex, solid, with white basal mycelium; surface dull white with fine, light brown (6D5), grayish brown (7E3), or dark gray granular squamules concentrated towards the base and disappearing easily when handled. Context ≤20 mm thick, white. Odour strong and unpleasant. Spore print white. Basidiospores 6.5–11(–12) × 5–7 μm, subglobose to ellipsoid, thinwalled, smooth, with refractive guttules, inamyloid. Basidia 23–56 × 7.5–11 μm, cylindrico-clavate to clavate, thin-walled, hyaline, with granular contents, 4-spored; sterigmata ≤5 μm long. Cheilocystidia abundant, 20–63 × 5.5–9 μm, clavate, cylindrico-clavate, or ventricose, majority with a small capitellum on a slender neck up to 35 μm long, often septate, thin-walled, hyaline to pale yellowish, apex sometimes covered with glutinous exudates; edges of lamellae sterile. Pleurocystidia absent. Lamellar trama regular to subregular, hyphae 3–15 μm wide, hyaline to pale yellowish, thin-walled, inamyloid. Pileal trama interwoven; hyphae 2–20 μm wide, slightly inflated, hyaline to pale yellowish, thin-walled. Pileipellis mostly a cutis of highly interwoven agglutinated hyphae, occasionally disrupted with trichodermal patches, hyphae 3–10 μm wide, thin- to slightly thick-walled, often with a grayish brown plasmatic pigment; terminal elements cystidioid, 23–85 × 3–10 μm, similar to cheilocystidia in all aspects, often with a greyish brown plasmatic pigment. Stipitipellis a highly disrupted and irregular cutis with agglutinated trichodermal patches of ascending to erect hyphal elements, hyphae 2–21 μm wide, thin- to slightly thick-walled, with gray to dark grayish plasmatic and membrane pigment; terminal elements cystidioid, similar to cheilocystidia in all aspects. Clamps frequent on all hyphae. (Kumar and Manimohan 2013)