Rootlet Brittlestem

Psathyrella microrhiza

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Mushrooms

By Roger Phillips

Published 2006

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Rootlet Brittlestem Psathyrella microrhiza (Lasch) Konrad & Maubl. (illustrated 50% life size) Cap 1–3cm across, bell-shaped; ochraceous to reddish-brown when moist, drying pale greyish. Stem 40–100×2–3mm, with rooting base; white; fragile, covered in whitish hairs. Flesh whitish; very thin; taste and smell not distinctive. Gills adnate; pallid, soon darkening to brownish-black with pinkish edge. Spores 10–14×6–7¼, broadly elliptical, with germ-pore. Spore print dark brown. Cheilo- and pleurocystidia obtusely fusiform, thin-walled, hyaline. Habitat on bare soil in gardens, hedgerows, or woodland; autumn. Occasional. Unknown edibility.