Volvopluteus gloiocephalus

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Ecology: Saprobic; growing terrestrially, alone or gregariously in urban settings and disturbed ground (landscaping, ditches, beaches, lawns, gardens, and so on)—and, east of the Rocky Mountains, sometimes in forests; found year-round, depending on the climate; widely distributed in North America, though some records of it from east of the Rocky Mountains may represent other similar species, including the smaller-spored Volvopluteus michiganensis. The illustrated and described collections are from California and Illinois.

Cap: 5-10 cm across; convex becoming broadly convex, broadly bell-shaped, or nearly flat; sticky when fresh and young but often soon dry; bald; color variable (see discussion above), white to grayish or gray, discoloring brownish to yellowish with age; when gray, with a radially streaked, appressed-fibrillose appearance; the margin sometimes finely lined.

Gills: Free from the stem; close or nearly crowded; short-gills frequent; white at first, becoming brownish pink with maturity.

Stem: 6-13 cm long; 1-2 cm thick; tapered to apex; base slightly swollen; dry; bald or finely silky; white, discoloring brownish; without a ring; the base encased in a white, cup-like volva; basal mycelium white.

Flesh: White; not changing when sliced.

Odor and Taste: Not distinctive, or a little foul.

Chemical Reactions: KOH negative on cap surface.

Spore Print: Brownish pink.

Microscopic Features: Spores 13-19 x 7-10 m; ellipsoid; thick-walled; smooth; hyaline to yellowish in KOH. Basidia 4-sterigmate. Cheilocystidia and pleurocystidia 50-80 x 20-40 m; widely lageniform, widely cylindric with a rounded apex, subsaccate, or sphaeropedunculate; sometimes mucronate or rostrate (see discussion above); smooth; hyaline in KOH. Pileipellis a cutis of elements 5-12.5 m wide, smooth, hyaline in KOH, under a very thin gelatinous matrix. Clamp connections not found.

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