Mycena adonis
Encyclopedia
Mycena adonis, commonly known as the scarlet bonnet, is a species of fungus
in the Mycenaceae
family. Found in Asia, Europe, and North America, it produces small orangish to reddish inedible mushroom
s with caps
up to 1.2 cm (0.47244094488189 in) in diameter, held by thin pinkish-white stems
reaching 4 cm (1.6 in) long. The fungus prefers to grow in conifer woods and peat bogs, suggesting a preference for acidic environments. The appearance of several atypical fruitings of Mycena adonis on deciduous
wood in the Netherlands in the late 1970s was attributed to increases in atmospheric pollution that raised the acidity of the wood substrate
. Mushrooms resembling M. adonis include M. acicula
, M. aurantiidisca, and M. rosella
.
, and placed in Mycena
by Samuel Frederick Gray
in 1821. Rolf Singer
successively moved it to Hemimycena
(1943), then Marasmiellus
(1951). Singer later changed his mind about these placements, and his 1986 Agaricales in Modern Taxonomy, he considered the species a Mycena; the binomials
resulting from the prior generic transfers are synonyms
.
The mushroom is commonly
known as the "scarlet bonnet". Samuel Frederick Gray
called it the "Adonis high-stool" in his 1821 Natural Arrangement of British Plants, while Mordecai Cubitt Cooke
named it the "delicate Mycena".
initially has a sharply conic shape, but expands to a narrow bell-shape or a broad cone in maturity, typically reaching 0.5 to 1.2 cm (0.196850393700787 to 0.47244094488189 in) in diameter. The cap margin, which is initially pressed against the stem, is opaque or nearly so at first. It is scarlet red when fresh and moist, becoming orange or yellowish orange before losing moisture. The mushroom is hygrophanous
, and fades to an orange buff color when dry. The flesh
is thin, the same color as the cap, fragile, and without any distinctive taste or odor. The gills are ascending-adnate (the gills attach at much less than a right angle, appearing to curve upward toward stem) or attached by a tooth, subdistant to close, with 14–16 gills reaching the stem. Additionally, there are two or three tiers of lamellulae—short gills that do not extend fully from the cap edge to the stem. The gills are narrow, and yellowish or with a reddish tinge at first; the margins are paler and the same color as the faces. The stem
is 2 – long and 1 – thick, and roughly equal in width throughout. It is tubular, fragile, initially pruinose (covered with a fine powder), polished and smooth with age, pale yellow, becoming whitish, with the base often dirty yellow or brownish. Mycena adonis mushrooms are inedible.
s are narrowly ellipsoid, nonamyloid
, and measure 6–7 by 3–3.5 µm
. The basidia (spore-bearing cells) are four-spored and measure 20–22 by 6–7 µm. The cheilocystidia and pleurocystidia (cystidia
found on the edges and faces, respectively, of the gills) are abundant and similar in shape and markings, 40–58 by 10–15 µm, tapering somewhat on either end and usually with a long needle-shaped neck (which is branched in some). The cystidia are generally smooth, but when dried material is mounted in potassium hydroxide
for observation under light microscopy, an amorphous substance apparently holds spores and debris around the neck or apex, making them appear encrusted. The flesh of the gill is very faintly vinaceous-brown when stained in iodine
. The cap flesh has a thin, poorly differentiated pellicle with a region of slightly enlarged cells beneath it; the remainder is filamentous, and the filamentous portion stains vinaceous-brown in iodine.
, wider spores, a less intensely-colored and less conical cap, and grows on the decaying wood of elm, ash, and alder.
and hemlock
in the wet coastal conifer forests, or in the higher mountains, where it is not uncommon in the spring and autumn months. In one instance, fruit bodies were found growing on the deciduous trees Spanish Maple (Acer granatense) and willow (Salix alba) near Amsterdam
, Holland. It was hypothesized that the bark of these trees had become more acid in recent years because of increasing atmospheric pollution (specifically, increases in the levels of sulfuric
and nitric acid
from industrial smoke), providing a more suitable substrate
for the fungus.
The fungus is found in western North America, and in 2007, it was reported from the valley of the Ussuri River
in the northeast of China. It is also found in Europe (Britain, Germany, Holland Scotland) and the Canary Islands
. Mycena specialist Alexander H. Smith
has found the species in Washington, Oregon
, and California
.
Fungus
A fungus is a member of a large group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds , as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, Fungi, which is separate from plants, animals, and bacteria...
in the Mycenaceae
Mycenaceae
The Mycenaceae are a family of fungi in the order Agaricales. According to the Dictionary of the Fungi , the family contains 10 genera and 705 species. This is one of several families that were separated from the Tricholomataceae as a result of phylogenetic analyses...
family. Found in Asia, Europe, and North America, it produces small orangish to reddish inedible mushroom
Mushroom
A mushroom is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or on its food source. The standard for the name "mushroom" is the cultivated white button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus; hence the word "mushroom" is most often applied to those fungi that...
s with caps
Pileus (mycology)
The pileus is the technical name for the cap, or cap-like part, of a basidiocarp or ascocarp that supports a spore-bearing surface, the hymenium. The hymenium may consist of lamellae, tubes, or teeth, on the underside of the pileus...
up to 1.2 cm (0.47244094488189 in) in diameter, held by thin pinkish-white stems
Stipe (mycology)
thumb|150px|right|Diagram of a [[basidiomycete]] stipe with an [[annulus |annulus]] and [[volva |volva]]In mycology a stipe refers to the stem or stalk-like feature supporting the cap of a mushroom. Like all tissues of the mushroom other than the hymenium, the stipe is composed of sterile hyphal...
reaching 4 cm (1.6 in) long. The fungus prefers to grow in conifer woods and peat bogs, suggesting a preference for acidic environments. The appearance of several atypical fruitings of Mycena adonis on deciduous
Deciduous
Deciduous means "falling off at maturity" or "tending to fall off", and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally, and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe...
wood in the Netherlands in the late 1970s was attributed to increases in atmospheric pollution that raised the acidity of the wood substrate
Substrate (biology)
In biology a substrate is the surface a plant or animal lives upon and grows on. A substrate can include biotic or abiotic materials and animals. For example, encrusting algae that lives on a rock can be substrate for another animal that lives on top of the algae. See also substrate .-External...
. Mushrooms resembling M. adonis include M. acicula
Mycena acicula
Mycena acicula, commonly known as the orange bonnet, or the coral spring Mycena, is a species of fungus in the Mycenaceae family. It is found in Asia, the Caribbean, North America and Europe. The fruit bodies, or mushrooms, of the fungus grow on dead twigs and other woody debris of forest floors,...
, M. aurantiidisca, and M. rosella
Mycena rosella
Mycena rosella, commonly known as the pink bonnet, is a species of mushroom in the Mycenaceae family. First called Agaricus roseus by Swedish mycologist Elias Magnus Fries in 1794, it was assigned its current name in 1871 by German scientist Paul Kummer.Microscopic characteristicsThe spores are...
.
Taxonomy
The species was first named Agaricus adonis in 1792 by Jean Baptiste François Pierre BulliardJean Baptiste François Pierre Bulliard
Jean Baptiste François Pierre Bulliard was a French physician and botanist....
, and placed in Mycena
Mycena
Mycena is a large genus of small saprotrophic mushrooms that are rarely more than a few centimeters in width. They are characterized by a white spore print, a small conical or bell-shaped cap, and a thin fragile stem. Most are gray or brown, but a few species have brighter colors. Most have a...
by Samuel Frederick Gray
Samuel Frederick Gray
Samuel Frederick Gray was a British botanist, mycologist, and pharmacologist. He was the father of the zoologists John Edward Gray and George Robert Gray.-Background:...
in 1821. Rolf Singer
Rolf Singer
Rolf Singer was a German-born mycologist and one of the most important taxonomists of gilled mushrooms in the 20th century....
successively moved it to Hemimycena
Hemimycena
Hemimycena is a genus of fungi in the family Mycenaceae. The genus has a widespread distribution, and contains about 50 species.-Species:*H. angustispora*H. candida*H. cephalotricha*H. conidiogena*H. crispata*H. cucullata...
(1943), then Marasmiellus
Marasmiellus
Marasmiellus is a genus of fungus in the Marasmiaceae family of mushrooms. The widespread genus, circumscribed by American mycologist William Murrill in 1915, contains about 250 species.The name comes from the Greek marasmus meaning wasting....
(1951). Singer later changed his mind about these placements, and his 1986 Agaricales in Modern Taxonomy, he considered the species a Mycena; the binomials
Binomial nomenclature
Binomial nomenclature is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, although they can be based on words from other languages...
resulting from the prior generic transfers are synonyms
Synonym (taxonomy)
In scientific nomenclature, a synonym is a scientific name that is or was used for a taxon of organisms that also goes by a different scientific name. For example, Linnaeus was the first to give a scientific name to the Norway spruce, which he called Pinus abies...
.
The mushroom is commonly
Common name
A common name of a taxon or organism is a name in general use within a community; it is often contrasted with the scientific name for the same organism...
known as the "scarlet bonnet". Samuel Frederick Gray
Samuel Frederick Gray
Samuel Frederick Gray was a British botanist, mycologist, and pharmacologist. He was the father of the zoologists John Edward Gray and George Robert Gray.-Background:...
called it the "Adonis high-stool" in his 1821 Natural Arrangement of British Plants, while Mordecai Cubitt Cooke
Mordecai Cubitt Cooke
Mordecai Cubitt Cooke was an English botanist and mycologist.Cooke came from a mercantile family in Horning, Norfolk, and worked as an apprentice to a fabric merchant before becoming a clerk in a law firm, but his chief interest was in botany. He founded the Society of Amateur Botanists in 1862...
named it the "delicate Mycena".
Description
The capPileus (mycology)
The pileus is the technical name for the cap, or cap-like part, of a basidiocarp or ascocarp that supports a spore-bearing surface, the hymenium. The hymenium may consist of lamellae, tubes, or teeth, on the underside of the pileus...
initially has a sharply conic shape, but expands to a narrow bell-shape or a broad cone in maturity, typically reaching 0.5 to 1.2 cm (0.196850393700787 to 0.47244094488189 in) in diameter. The cap margin, which is initially pressed against the stem, is opaque or nearly so at first. It is scarlet red when fresh and moist, becoming orange or yellowish orange before losing moisture. The mushroom is hygrophanous
Hygrophanous
The adjective hygrophanous refers to the color change of mushroom tissue as it loses or absorbs water, which causes the pileipellis to become more transparent when wet and opaque when dry....
, and fades to an orange buff color when dry. The flesh
Trama (mycology)
In mycology trama is a term for the inner, fleshy portion of a mushroom's basidiocarp, or fruit body. It is distinct from the outer layer of tissue, known as the pileipellis or cuticle, and from the spore-bearing tissue layer known as the hymenium....
is thin, the same color as the cap, fragile, and without any distinctive taste or odor. The gills are ascending-adnate (the gills attach at much less than a right angle, appearing to curve upward toward stem) or attached by a tooth, subdistant to close, with 14–16 gills reaching the stem. Additionally, there are two or three tiers of lamellulae—short gills that do not extend fully from the cap edge to the stem. The gills are narrow, and yellowish or with a reddish tinge at first; the margins are paler and the same color as the faces. The stem
Stipe (mycology)
thumb|150px|right|Diagram of a [[basidiomycete]] stipe with an [[annulus |annulus]] and [[volva |volva]]In mycology a stipe refers to the stem or stalk-like feature supporting the cap of a mushroom. Like all tissues of the mushroom other than the hymenium, the stipe is composed of sterile hyphal...
is 2 – long and 1 – thick, and roughly equal in width throughout. It is tubular, fragile, initially pruinose (covered with a fine powder), polished and smooth with age, pale yellow, becoming whitish, with the base often dirty yellow or brownish. Mycena adonis mushrooms are inedible.
Microscopic characteristics
The sporeSpore
In biology, a spore is a reproductive structure that is adapted for dispersal and surviving for extended periods of time in unfavorable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many bacteria, plants, algae, fungi and some protozoa. According to scientist Dr...
s are narrowly ellipsoid, nonamyloid
Amyloid (mycology)
In mycology the term amyloid refers to a crude chemical test using iodine in either Melzer's reagent or Lugol's solution, to produce a black to blue-black positive reaction. It is called amyloid because starch gives a similar reaction, and that reaction for starch is also called an amyloid reaction...
, and measure 6–7 by 3–3.5 µm
Micrometre
A micrometer , is by definition 1×10-6 of a meter .In plain English, it means one-millionth of a meter . Its unit symbol in the International System of Units is μm...
. The basidia (spore-bearing cells) are four-spored and measure 20–22 by 6–7 µm. The cheilocystidia and pleurocystidia (cystidia
Cystidium
A cystidium is a relatively large cell found on the hymenium of a basidiomycete , often between clusters of basidia. Since cystidia have highly varied and distinct shapes that are often unique to a particular species or genus, they are a useful micromorphological characteristic in the...
found on the edges and faces, respectively, of the gills) are abundant and similar in shape and markings, 40–58 by 10–15 µm, tapering somewhat on either end and usually with a long needle-shaped neck (which is branched in some). The cystidia are generally smooth, but when dried material is mounted in potassium hydroxide
Potassium hydroxide
Potassium hydroxide is an inorganic compound with the formula KOH, commonly called caustic potash.Along with sodium hydroxide , this colorless solid is a prototypical strong base. It has many industrial and niche applications. Most applications exploit its reactivity toward acids and its corrosive...
for observation under light microscopy, an amorphous substance apparently holds spores and debris around the neck or apex, making them appear encrusted. The flesh of the gill is very faintly vinaceous-brown when stained in iodine
Iodine
Iodine is a chemical element with the symbol I and atomic number 53. The name is pronounced , , or . The name is from the , meaning violet or purple, due to the color of elemental iodine vapor....
. The cap flesh has a thin, poorly differentiated pellicle with a region of slightly enlarged cells beneath it; the remainder is filamentous, and the filamentous portion stains vinaceous-brown in iodine.
Similar species
There are several other mycenas with which Mycena adonis could be confused. is typically a smaller mushroom with a deep orange-red cap rather than the typical bright salmon-pink color of M. adonis. Since the colors and sizes of M. acicula and M. adonis are similar, a microscope is needed to reliably distinguish between them, with spore size and shape being different. can be distinguished from M. adonis by its orange cap and amyloid spores. can be distinguished from M. adonis by it lack of scarlet to pinkish tones in the cap and lack of gelatinized cortical hyphae. Mycena oregonensis is differentiated from M. adonis by its orange to yellow cap and lack of scarlet to pinkish tones. M. roseipallens has a smaller fruit bodySporocarp (fungi)
In fungi, the sporocarp is a multicellular structure on which spore-producing structures, such as basidia or asci, are borne...
, wider spores, a less intensely-colored and less conical cap, and grows on the decaying wood of elm, ash, and alder.
Ecology, habitat and distribution
The fruit bodies of Mycena adonis grow solitarily or in groups in conifer forests, and appear in the spring and autumn. The fruit bodies grow in groups or scattered on needle beds under spruceSpruce
A spruce is a tree of the genus Picea , a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the Family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal regions of the earth. Spruces are large trees, from tall when mature, and can be distinguished by their whorled branches and conical...
and hemlock
Tsuga
Tsuga is a genus of conifers in the family Pinaceae. The common name hemlock is derived from a perceived similarity in the smell of its crushed foliage to that of the unrelated plant poison hemlock....
in the wet coastal conifer forests, or in the higher mountains, where it is not uncommon in the spring and autumn months. In one instance, fruit bodies were found growing on the deciduous trees Spanish Maple (Acer granatense) and willow (Salix alba) near Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, Holland. It was hypothesized that the bark of these trees had become more acid in recent years because of increasing atmospheric pollution (specifically, increases in the levels of sulfuric
Sulfuric acid
Sulfuric acid is a strong mineral acid with the molecular formula . Its historical name is oil of vitriol. Pure sulfuric acid is a highly corrosive, colorless, viscous liquid. The salts of sulfuric acid are called sulfates...
and nitric acid
Nitric acid
Nitric acid , also known as aqua fortis and spirit of nitre, is a highly corrosive and toxic strong acid.Colorless when pure, older samples tend to acquire a yellow cast due to the accumulation of oxides of nitrogen. If the solution contains more than 86% nitric acid, it is referred to as fuming...
from industrial smoke), providing a more suitable substrate
Substrate (biology)
In biology a substrate is the surface a plant or animal lives upon and grows on. A substrate can include biotic or abiotic materials and animals. For example, encrusting algae that lives on a rock can be substrate for another animal that lives on top of the algae. See also substrate .-External...
for the fungus.
The fungus is found in western North America, and in 2007, it was reported from the valley of the Ussuri River
Ussuri River
The Usuri ula is a river in the south of the Outer Manchuria and east of Inner Manchuria . It rises in the Sikhote-Alin range, flowing north, forming part of the Sino-Russian border based on the Sino-Russian Convention of Peking in 1860, until it joins the Amur River at Khabarovsk . It is...
in the northeast of China. It is also found in Europe (Britain, Germany, Holland Scotland) and the Canary Islands
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...
. Mycena specialist Alexander H. Smith
Alexander H. Smith
Alexander Hanchett Smith was an American mycologist known for his extensive contributions to the taxonomy and phylogeny of the higher fungi, especially the agarics.-Early life:...
has found the species in Washington, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
, and California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.