Fungus Fact Friday

Tagged: entolomataceae

mushrooms in the agaric family Entolomataceae

Entoloma abortivum with aborted fruitbody and honey mushrooms 0

Fungus Fact

#199: Entoloma abortivum, The Aborting Entoloma

Entoloma abortivum is a fascinating mushroom. The mushroom produces two forms of fruitbody: an agaric form that is an umbrella-like gilled mushroom and a “carpophoroid” (mycology-speak for “aborted”) form that looks like an oddly-shaped puffball. Both of these forms are usually found near honey mushrooms (Armillaria spp.) or in places honey mushrooms are known to grow. It turns out that E. abortivum is parasitic or partially parasitic on honey mushrooms; the aborted forms are actually the mycelium of E. abortivum attacking Armillaria mushrooms. Both the agaric and aborted forms are edible, although you need to be cautious when collecting Entoloma species.

Mycena leaiana 4

Fungus Fact

#027: Gilled Mushrooms (Agarics)

The gilled mushrooms, informally referred to as ‘agarics,’ are the type of mushroom with which we are most familiar. The most common edible mushrooms (white/button/portabella mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, and shiitake mushrooms), Amanita muscaria – the most recognizable mushroom in the world and the inspiration for almost all mushroom art – and the ‘magic mushrooms’ are all gilled mushrooms. All these mushrooms share one feature: vertical plates of spore-producing tissue stacked under a sterile cap.

Entoloma vernum 3

Fungus Fact

#183: The Family Entolomataceae

The Entolomataceae are agarics with pink spore prints, attached gills, and spores with sharp corners or bumps. This family is very diverse and morphology varies widely from one species to the next. The mushrooms range in size from small to large, though most are on the small side. A majority of the Entolomataceae are just boring mushrooms, so they are not collected very often. This is probably just as well, since identifying these mushrooms down to species is a herculean task.