Silky Piggyback

Asterophora parasitica

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Appears in
Mushrooms

By Roger Phillips

Published 2006

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Silky Piggyback Asterophora parasitica (Bull.) Singer (illustrated 85% life size) Cap 0.5–1.5cm, convex to bell-shaped at first, then expanded; white with greyish-lilac tinge; silky and very thin. Stem 10–30×1–3mm, often twisted; white, often flushed brownish or lilaceous. Flesh brown; thin. Spores 5–5.5×3–4¼, broadly ovate; white. Chlamydospores formed on gills (rather than the cap as in A. lycoperdoides, above) 15×10¼, ovate, thick-walled, smooth; pale brown. Habitat on old specimens of several species of Russula and certain Lactarius; summer to early winter. Occasional. Not edible too small and rare.