Gyromitra caroliniana

https://www.mushroomexpert.com/Gyromitra_caroliniana.html

Ecology: Officially saprobic, but potentially also mycorrhizal--or, like the true morels, donning both ecological hats in the course of its life cycle; found under hardwoods--usually near rotting stumps and downed trees; spring; widely distributed in eastern North America from Kansas to the East Coast, but especially common in the south and in the Mississippi and Ohio watersheds (the northern edge of its range appears to be the southern Great Lakes).

Cap: 5-11 cm high; 6-12 cm wide; variable in shape but usually more or less round; not lobed; tightly affixed; tightly wrinkled; bald; reddish brown; undersurface not exposed, whitish to grayish, bald or finely dusted, ingrown with stem.

Flesh: Whitish to grayish; brittle; chambered.

Stem: 4-10 cm long; 2-10 cm wide; white; becoming ribbed with vertical ribs up to 1 cm across; bald or very finely dusted; sometimes discoloring grayish on handling.

Microscopic Features: Spores 22-35 x 10-16 ; with 1 large oil droplet and 2-3 smaller ones; ellipsoid; smooth at first, and often remaining so well into maturity--or, in maturity, developing ornamentation as ridges and projections that can extend 1-2 from the surface of the spore, or 2-5 at the ends of the spore, where projections appear as 1-5 apiculi; the ornamentation eventually sheathing the spore completely. Asci 8-spored. Paraphyses clavate to subcapitate; 5-7 wide; septate several times; orangish to reddish.

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Amanita brunnescens

https://www.mushroomexpert.com/Amanita_brunnescens.html

Ecology: Mycorrhizal with various hardwoods and conifers; growing alone, scattered, or gregariously; summer and fall; widely distributed and common east of the Rocky Mountains.

Cap: 3-11 cm, convex, becoming broadly convex with a shallow central bump, or nearly flat; tacky at first or when wet; varying in color from grayish brown to whitish, often with a darker center; sometimes developing reddish brown stains; often somewhat streaked or mottled in appearance; usually featuring a few scattered, randomly distributed white to grayish or tan warts; the margin often becoming faintly lined for a few mm.

Gills: Free from the stem; white; close or crowded; not discoloring, or sometimes discoloring brownish.

Stem: 6-12 cm long; 0.5-1.5 cm thick above the bulb; tapering to apex; bald or silky; with a relatively persistent, skirtlike, white ring that sometimes develops a reddish brown edge and often collapses against the stem; usually ending in an abrupt, rimmed basal bulb that is "chiseled" or split vertically in one or more places; discoloring and bruising reddish brown, especially near the base; volval remnants usually absent but occasionally present as a few patches along the upper rim of the bulb.

Flesh: White throughout; firm; not discoloring, or sometimes discoloring or bruising reddish brown, especially around worm channels.

Odor: Not distinctive.

Chemical Reactions: KOH on cap surface negative; on flesh in stem base slowly slightly yellowish.

Spore Print: White.

Microscopic Features: Spores 6.5-10 ; smooth; globose or subglobose; amyloid. Basidia without basal clamps; 4-spored. Pileipellis a cutis or ixocutis of hyphae 2-6 wide. Lamellar trama bilateral; subhymenium ramose or with inflated cells.

REFERENCES: Atkinson, 1918. (Smith, 1949; Smith, Smith & Weber, 1979; Arora, 1986; Jenkins, 1986; Phillips, 1991/2005; Lincoff, 1992; Metzler & Metzler, 1992; Barron, 1999; Roody, 2003; McNeil, 2006; Miller & Miller, 2006; Binion et al., 2008; Tulloss, cont. upd.) Herb. Kuo 06229501, 07200203, 07200204, 07200205, 06120301, 07160703, 07100802, 10170904, 06221010.

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Lepiota cristata

https://www.mushroomexpert.com/Lepiota_cristata.html

Ecology: Saprobic; growing scattered or gregariously, often in disturbed ground areas like paths, ditches, lawns, and so on, but also on the forest floor under hardwoods or conifers; summer and fall; apparently widely distributed in North America. The illustrated and described collections are from Illinois.

Cap: 2-4 cm; convex or obtusely conic at first, becoming broadly bell-shaped or nearly flat in age; dry; bald at first but soon becoming scaly with pinkish brown to reddish brown or brown scales that are usually concentrically arranged; the center typically remaining bald and darker; whitish underneath the scales and toward the margin; the margin sometimes becoming finely lined.

Gills: Free from the stem; close; short-gills frequent; white to buff.

Stem: 3-7 cm long; 2-3 mm thick; more or less equal; bald; fragile; whitish but often becoming pinkish to brownish towards the base; with a fragile, white ring (which may easily disappear) on the upper portion; basal mycelium white.

Flesh: Whitish; not changing when sliced; thin.

Odor and Taste: Taste not distinctive; odor sharply fragrant.

Chemical Reactions: KOH negative on white areas of cap; negative or yellowish on brown areas.

Spore Print: White.

Microscopic Features: Spores 5-8 x 2.5-4 ; mostly shaped like a wedge or bullet, with a flattened bottom (occasionally more or less ellipsoid, or subfusiform); smooth; hyaline in KOH; strongly to weakly dextrinoid; tending to cohere in groups of two or three. Cheilocystidia 25-50 x 7.5-12.5 ; subclavate to clavate; hyaline in KOH; thin-walled. Pleurocystidia absent. Pileipellis (over the disc) a hymeniform layer of clavate to pyriform elements about 15-40 x 7.5-12.5 ; golden to golden brown in KOH. Clamp connections present.

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Austroboletus subflavidus

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Ecology: Mycorrhizal with oaks; usually appearing in pine-oak woods; growing alone, scattered, or gregariously; summer and fall; distributed from New Jersey to Florida and Texas; also known from the Caribbean and Central America. The illustrated and described collection is from Georgia.

Cap: 6 cm across; convex; tacky; finely velvety; whitish.

Pore Surface: Whitish; not bruising; with 1-2 angular pores per mm; tubes to 1 cm deep.

Stem: 9 cm long; 1.5 cm thick; more or less equal; whitish, stained pale yellow in places; curved at the base; coarsely pocketed-reticulate; basal mycelium white.

Flesh: Whitish overall, but yellow in the stem base; unchanging when sliced.

Odor and Taste: Odor not distinctive; taste reported as bitter.

Microscopic Features: Spores 15-18 x 6.5-8 ; boletoid-fusiform; finely pimply-verrucose; dull golden in KOH. Hymenial cystidia scattered and inconspicuous, scarcely projecting; to 35 x 7.5 m; fusiform; thin-walled; smooth; hyaline in KOH. Pileipellis a collapsing trichoderm of hyaline, smooth elements 5-7.5 wide; terminal cells cylindric, with to subclavate rounded apices.

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Russula densifolia

https://www.mushroomexpert.com/Russula_densifolia.html

Ecology: Mycorrhizal with hardwoods or conifers; growing alone, scattered, gregariously, or in dense troops; summer and fall (also over winter in warmer climates); widely distributed in North America.

Cap: 4-15 cm; broadly convex when young, later flat with a central depression, or shallowly vase-shaped; sticky at first or when wet; more or less smooth, or finely felty to the touch; initially white but soon discoloring to brownish, ashy gray, brown, or blackish; bruising slowly reddish, then blackish; the margin initially somewhat inrolled, not lined or lined faintly and widely; the cap skin peeling easily about halfway to the center.

Gills: Attached or running very slightly down the stem; narrow; close or crowded (sometimes nearly distant); white to cream, eventually yellowish; bruising slowly reddish, then blackish.

Stem: 1.5-9 cm long; 1-3.5 cm thick; white but soon darkening like the cap; bruising reddish, then blackish over the course of as much as half an hour; smooth or finely felty.

Flesh: White; hard; bruising promptly or slowly reddish on exposure, then blackish over the course of as much as half an hour.

Odor and Taste: Odor not distinctive; taste mild or slowly slightly to very acrid.

Chemical Reactions: KOH on cap surface negative. Iron salts on stem surface negative.

Spore Print: White.

Microscopic Features: Spores 7-11 x 6-8.5 ; elliptical to subglobose; with warts to .7 high; connectors usually forming partial or complete reticula. Pileipellis up to 500 thick; occasionally disposed as a single, cutis-like layer but more commonly two layered, with the lower level densely interwoven and cutis-like and the upper level composed of fairly erect elements embedded in a gelatinous matrix; pileocystidia absent.

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Amanita bisporigera

https://www.mushroomexpert.com/Amanita_bisporigera.html

Ecology: Mycorrhizal with oaks, and possibly with other hardwoods; summer and fall; widely distributed and common in eastern North America from Texas to the north woods and the maritime provinces.

Cap: 2.5-10 cm; almost oval, becoming convex, then broadly convex to somewhat bell-shaped or nearly flat in age; bald (very rarely with a volval patch); dry or a little sticky; stark white to ivory, sometimes discoloring towards the center in age--or rarely a little yellowish or pinkish with maturity; the margin not lined.

Gills: Free, or nearly free, from the stem; close or crowded; with frequent short-gills; white.

Stem: 5.5-14 cm long; 0.5-2 cm thick; usually tapering somewhat to apex and flaring to an enlarged base; somewhat shaggy or nearly bald; white; with a persistent, thin, high, skirtlike ring; with a white, sacklike volva encasing the base, which may be underground or broken up.

Flesh: White throughout.

Odor: Not distinctive in young specimens, but often becoming foul and unpleasant (sickly sweet, or reminiscent of rotting meat) with old age.

Spore Print: White.

Chemical Reactions: KOH bright yellow on cap surface.

Microscopic Features: Spores 7-10 x 6-9 ; smooth; globose to subglobose or very broadly ellipsoid; amyloid. Basidia without clamps; 2-spored--or, according to Rod Tulloss (http://www.amanitaceae.org/?Phalloideae+of+North+and+Central+America" TARGET="new possibly 2-spored early in the season and 4-spored as the season progresses. Pileipellis a cutis or ixocutis of hyphae 2-6 wide. Lamellar trama bilateral; subhymenium ramose.

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Tyromyces fumidiceps

https://www.mushroomexpert.com/Tyromyces_fumidiceps.html

Ecology: Saprobic on the deadwood of hardwoods; causing a white rot; annual; growing alone or gregariously; often found along riverbottoms, creeks, and low-lying areas subject to floods; summer and fall; fairly widely distributed east of the Great Plains.

Cap: Usually present and well developed but occasionally present merely as a folded-over edge above a spreading pore surface; up to 6 cm across and 4 cm deep; convex; semicircular to kidney-shaped; velvety to slightly hairy at first, becoming bald; off-white, grayish, smoky gray, brownish, or grayish brown; soft.

Pore Surface: Whitish, becoming yellowish or pale olive in old age or when dried out; not bruising appreciably; with 4-7 angular pores per mm; tubes to 1 cm deep; tube mouths often becoming covered with crystals.

Stem: Absent.

Flesh: White; soft and watery when fresh.

Odor and Taste: Odor fragrant when fresh; taste not distinctive.

Chemical Reactions: KOH negative to yellowish on cap surface and flesh.

Spore Print: White.

Microscopic Features: Spores 2.5-4 x 2-3 ; smooth; ellipsoid to subglobose; hyaline in KOH; inamyloid. Cystidia absent, but occasional fusoid cystidioles present. Hyphal system monomitic, with conspicuous clamp connections; contextual hyphae with frequent short side branches.

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Hydnellum concrescens

https://www.mushroomexpert.com/Hydnellum_concrescens.html

Ecology: Mycorrhizal with hardwoods (especially oaks); growing alone or gregariously; summer and fall; widely distributed in eastern North America (but see the note below about western collections).

Cap: Often fused with other caps; 2-10 cm wide; planoconvex, becoming flat or shallowly depressed; finely velvety or nearly bald; not infrequently developing pits, radially arranged ridges, or elaborate outgrowths; brownish pink to pinkish brown, sometimes fading to nearly whitish; with concentric zones of texture and/or color; the fresh margin bruising dark brown to black.

Undersurface: Running down the stem; covered with crowded spines that are 1-3 mm long; whitish at first, becoming brownish to brown.

Stem: 2-4 cm long; .5-2 cm thick at apex; often swollen and velvety or spongy, especially towards the base.

Flesh: Pinkish to brownish, often with zones of these shades; tough but pliant.

Odor and Taste: Odor not distinctive, or mealy; taste mild or mealy.

Chemical Reactions: KOH on flesh blue-green to olive, then slowly gray to black--or promptly black.

Spore Print: Brown.

Microscopic Features: Spores 4-7 ; subglobose to irregular; prominently nodulose. Clamp connections absent.

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Conocybe deliquescens

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Ecology: Saprobic; growing alone or scattered in grassy areas; summer and fall; probably widely distributed east of the Great Plains, but more common in the Great Lakes region. The illustrated and described collections are from Illinois.

Cap: 1-3 cm; collapsed-conical; slimy; bald; orangish brown to reddish brown; grooved; dissolving quickly.

Gills: Usually well formed (before turning into mush), but sometimes fusing together or only rudimentary; rusty brown; fragile; soon dissolving.

Stem: 5-8 cm long; 1-3 mm thick; soon tilting over with the weight of the cap; equal; white; bald; hollow.

Flesh: Insubstantial.

Odor and Taste: Not distinctive.

Chemical Reactions: KOH black on cap surface.

Microscopic Features: Spores 11-16 x 7-10 m; ellipsoid to subamygdaliform, with a large pore; smooth; walls 1 m thick; orangish brown in KOH; brownish orange in Melzer's. Basidia 4-sterigmate. Brachybasidioles present. Pleurocystidia not found. Cheilocystidia not found.

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