Lepiota cristata

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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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