Psathyrella stellata (Romagn.) Romagn.

Diagnosis fuente: PERSOONIA - Suplement - Vol. 2 - THE DUTCH, FRENCH AND BRITISH SPECIES OF PSATHYRELLA - 1985 E. KITS VAN WAVEREN - Rijksherbarium, Leiden, The Nederlands
     Cap 20-35 mm at first obtusely conical or paraboloid, soon spreading to convex, finally almost plane, often with more or less revolute and typically undulating, lobed, coarsely sulcate margin, sometimes umbonate, fragile, strongly striate-sulcate, dark reddish brown (Mu. 5 YR 3/2, 3/3; 2.5 YR 3/2), soon becoming dark brown (Mu. 5 YR 4/3), in perifery dark greyish brown (Mu. 10 YR 5/2, 5/3), hygrophanous, at centre drying out to rufous, fulvous or ochraceous, for the rest distinctly pale brown or alutaceous, sometimes mixed with pink, micaceous, not rugulose, Veil very fugacious, leaving scattered fibrils and minute fascicles of fibrils up to half way from margin of cap or only a few fibrils near margin. Gills2—6 mm broad, fairly to very broadly adnate, ventricose, in earliest stages pale brown (Mu. 10 YR 5/4), soon greyish brown (Mu. 10 YR 5/2, 6/2) and at base browner (Mu. 10 YR5/4), finally tobacco colour with purplish hue (Mu. 7.5 YR 4/2; 5 YR 4/2), with pruinose white edge underlined with red (examination under binocular lens or microscope often needed). Stem 50—90 x 1.5—3 mm, cylindrical, sometimes flexuous, rooting, whitish, isabelline or even rufous and pallescent, hollow, with pruinose apex. Flesh of cap in centre1.5—2 mm thick, very dark reddish brown (Mu. 5 YR 3/3; 7.5 YR 3/2), in periphery dark sordid brown (Mu. 10 YR 3/3), of stem whitish, isabelline or pale brown, darker towards base. Trama of ‘washed’ gill very distinctly brown throughout entire gill, strongest at base. Spore print purplish black.
      Spores 10-12.5 x 6-7 pm (mean values 10.7—12 x 6.1-6.5 pm: 3 collections) ellipsoid but adaxially flattened in water dark red (Mu. 2.5 YR 3/6), in NH,OH 10% dark brown (Mu. 5 YR 4/3, 3/3), in KOH 5% dark sordid brown (Mu. 7.5 YR 4/2), opaque, with distinct germ pore (+ 1.8-2 ym and small hilar appendix. Basidia 17.5-29 x 10-12.5 um (Romagnesi: 28-35 x 12-13 um), spheropedunculate, 4-spored. Pleurocystidia 45-65 x 9-17.5 um, scattered to moderately numerous, fusoid-pedicellate with more or less long necks, fairly slender to sometimes ventricose, thin-walled, colourless. Marginal cells: pleurocystidioid cheilocystidia 20-50 x 8-15 pm, numerous, intermixed with quite a number of small and unobstrusive spheropedunculate and clavate cells 10—17.5 x S—10 am; all cells colourless and thin-walled. Hymenophoral trama in NH,OH 10% sub micr. distinctly yellowish brown from membranal pigment from base to edge, strongest at base with many yellow hyphal septa and some encrustations near base. Pileipellis a 2—3 cells deep layer of subglobose, colourless cells, 24-32 ym diam.
HABITAT & DISTRIBUTION. - On rotting stems, in ruderal places and road verges, solitary or subgregarious.