British Mycena species — 1

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BRITISH MYCENA SPECIES - 1 ERNEST E EMMETT Alasdair, Farnham Lane, Haslemere, Surrey GU27 IHD The author undertook to study the genus after discussions at the 1987 BMS Taxonomy meeting, with a view to producing new keys. The first task of deciding which species to include in any new key, involves updating the 'New Check List ofBritish Agarics and Boleti' (Dennis et al, 1960) and selecting additional species which may be collected but go unrecorded, because they do not fit existing keys. The recent work on Mycena s.str. in the Northern Hemisphere by Maas Geesteranus (1980-1991), provides an opportunity for a fresh look at the status of the genus in the British Isles. Before formally revising the Check List, there is work to be completed on examination of the collections in the herbaria of The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew and Edinburgh, which do not appear on the Check List and may be new to Britain. The author is also examining collections that may contain species newly described by Maas Geesteranus. This has already revealed one additional species at Kew. There may be collections held by other institutions or individuals, as vouchers for published lists. If these contain species new to Britain, the author

would be grateful to know about them so that they may be researched for this project. In this first article, information is provided to enable readers who possess a 1960 Check List to annotate it with the current status ofthe species listed there. It is not an updated Check List, some of the species here may not appear in that and others will certainly be added. This is followed by notes on selected species. Future articles will include similar notes, together with comments on methods for identification and preliminary keys. Maas Geesteranus adopted the generic nomenclature of Singer (1986) for the most part and this approach is followed here for the time being. Hemimycena (Singer) Singer, Hydropus (Kuhner) Singer and Mycenella (Lange) Singer are recognized as genera. Mycena rorida (Fr.:Fr.) Quel. poses a particular problem since Maas Geesteranus rejects it as a Mycena (Maas G. (k)) because of the epithelial structure of the pileipellis, but so far nobody has proposed a generic name for it and its congeners, which are mainly tropical. Most authors retain it as a Mycena for the present.

Current Status of Species listed in the 1960 Check List 1960 Check List

Current Name sensu Maas G. for Mycena and Singer for other genera.

acicula adonis aetites alba alcalina amicta angustispora atrocyanea atromarginata aurantiomarginata belliae bryophila bulbosa

acicula adonis aetites alba stipata Maas G. & Schwebel (1987) (see Note I). amicta Hemimycena angustispora (Joss. ex Orton) Singer. rejected as a Mycena (Maas G. (1)); (see Note II). purpureofusca {Maas G. (e)) aurantiomarginata belliae Mycenella bryophila (Vogl.) Singer. bulbosa

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Hemimycena candida (Bres.) Singer. capillaripes capillaris Marasmiellus rosellus (J. Lange) Kuyper & Noordel. (Kuyper & Noordel. 1979) chlorantha chlorantha cinerella cinerella citrinomarginata citrinomarginata clavicularis clavicularis clavularis clavularis coccinea adonis (Bull.: Fr.) S. F. Gray (Maas G. (q)) corticola meliigena (Berk. & Cooke) Sacco (Maas G. (f)); (see Note III). crispula Hemimycena crispula [Quel.) Singer. crocata crocata cyphelloides Hemimycena cyphelloides (P. D. Orton) Maas G. (Maas G. (g)). delectabilis Hemimycena delectabilis (Peck) Singer. epipterygia epipterygia epipterygioides epipterygia var. epipterygioides (Pearson) Kuhner. (Maas G. (p)). erubescens erubescens fagetorum fagetorum fibula Rickenella fibula (Bull.) Raithel. filopes filopes flavescens flavescens flavo-alba flavoalba floccipes Hydropus floccipes [Fr.] Singer. floridula adonis (Bull.: Fr.) S. F. Gray (Maas G. (q)) galericulata galericulata galopus galopus galopus var. candida galopus var. candida gracilis Hemimycena pithya (Fr.) H. Dorfelt [Dorfelt 1984). graminea name rejected by Maas Geesteranus. (Maas G. [hj]. gypsea Hemimycena cucullata (Pers.: Fr.) Singer. (Maas G. (a)). haematopus haematopus hiemalis hiemalis inclinata inclinata integrella Delicatula integrella (Fr.) Pat. lactea Hemimycena lactea (Pers.: Fr.) Singer. (Maas G. (c)). lactella Hemimycena lactea forma lactella (P. D. Orton) R. Courtecuisse (Courtecuisse 1986). leptocephala leptocephala leucogala galopus var. nigra Rea (see Note IV). lineata nom. dub. (Maas G. (j)); (see Note V). longiseta longiseta mackinawensis mackinawensis maculata maculata mairei Hemimycena mairei (E. J. Gilbert) Singer. margaritispora Mycenella margaritispora (J. E. Lange) Singer. (Maas G. (j)). mauretanica Hemimycena mauretanica (Maire) Singer. metata metata mirata mirata

candida capillaripes capillaris carnicolor

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Fig. 1. Mycena abramsii (Murr.) Murr., known in the "1960 check list" as M.praecox Vel. occurs from spring to late autumn usually on debris of various deciduous trees. Photo T. Laessee: collection TL-1300 25 May 1986, Boserup, Denmark (C). It could be confused in the field with M.stipata Maas G & Schwebel, or M.silvae-nigrae Maas G & Schwebel since they all smell of nitric acid and grow on wood. However, the latter two species have a caespitose habit and are associated with conifers, whereas M.abramsii is often solitary or in troops as in the illustration and typically grows on hardwood.

mucor olida olivaceomarginata oortiana pearsoniana pelianthina pe11iculosa polyadelpha polygramma praecox pseudocorticola pseudocrispula pterigena pudica pullata pura radicatella renati rickenii rorida rosella rubromarginata salicina sanguinolenta scabripes sepia

mucor olida olivaceomarginata arcangeliana Bres. (Maas G. (f)). pearsoniana pelianthina epipterygia var. pelliculosa (Fr.) Maas G. (p). polyadelpha polygramma abramsii (Murr.) Murr. (Maas G. (a)). pseudocorticola Hemimycena pseudocrispula (Kiihner) Sing. pterigena Resinomycena saccharifera (Berk. & Br.] Kiihner (Kiihner 1985). galopus (Maas G. (i)). pura galericulata 'perhaps var. alba' (Maas G. (n)). renati Hemimycena rickenii (A. H. Smith) Singer. rorida (see note above). rosella rubromarginata Mycenella salicina (Vel.) Singer. sanguinolenta Hydropus scabripes (Murr.) Singer. fllopes (Bull.: Fr.] Kummer (see Note VI).

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Fig. 2. Mycena arcangeliana Bres. is associated with deciduous trees. It is a pale species often with a fasciculate habit and a stipe with violaceous hues but not viscid. It may develop a smell of iodoform as it dries. In the "1961 checkIist" it was known as M.oortiana Hora. Photo T. Laessee; collection TL-Vors~806, 9 September 1982, Vorse, Denmark [C).

seynii smithiana speirea stylobates subalpina swartzii tenerrima tortuosa tintinnabulum uracea viscosa vitilis vulgaris zephirus

seynii smithiana speirea stylobates Hydropus subalpina [Hohnel] Singer. Rickenella swartzii (Fr.) Kuyper. adscendens (Lasch) Maas G. (Maas G. (d)). Hemimycena tortuosa (Orton) Redhead (Redhead 1980). tintinnabulum megaspora Kauff. (Maas G. (d)). epipterygia var. viscosa (Maire) Rieken (Maas G. (p)). vitilis vulgaris zephirus

I. Mycena alcalina is the name many field

'on Pine logs', in May 1962. The rest of the collections accorded with M.stipata.

Mycologists allocate to collections which are found in a caespitose group on coniferous substrates and characterised by dark colours and a smell of nitric acid or dilute household bleach. In the paper rejecting this name (Maas G. & Schwebel 1987), Mycena stipata and Mycena silvae-nigrae are described as new species, which occur with a similar habit and smell and on similar substrates. It is only possible to separate them microscopically. The key differences are that the latter species has two spored basidia, pleurocystidia, and different cheilocystidia. Examination of the collections at Kew with the epithet 'alcalina' revealed one collection attributable to M.silvae-nigrae, it was collected at Tarn Hows

II. Maas Geesteranus finds that the fungus named Agaricus atrocyaneus by Batsch is not referable to Mycena but possibly to Entoloma. Identification of a dark form of M.galopus with no latex using Pearson's key (Pearson 1955), would lead to M.atrocyanea. The only collection at Kew with this name is microscopically the same as M.galopus. It may be added here that in his most recent paper (Ref. r), Maas Geesteranus has synonymised M.fusconigra P. D. Orton with M.leucogala. Orton (1988)has described this as a pew species, to take the place of M.atrocyanea of the 1960 Check List, referring to M.atrocyanea as a misapplied name.

NOTES:

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III. In Maas Geesteranus (1987), Persoon's A.corticolus = M.corticola [Pers.: Fr.] S. F. Gray, is shown to be a nom. ambig. The fungus of this name as understood by Kuhner (1938), is renamed Mycena meliigena. Pearson (1955)does not separate this species from M.pseudocorticola, so some herbaria may contain both species as 'M.corticola'. IV. Maas Geesteranus (Ref. 0) accepted M.leucogala as a true species and listed three differences to distinguish it from M.galopus. These are, (a)the dark colour of the top of the stipe in M.1eucogala, (h) the presence of readily found caulocystidia with well developed excresences in M.1eucogala, and (c) these cystidia are often branched with diverticulate lateral heads. Caulocystidia in M.galopus are said to be fewer and simpler. Collections the author has examined do not bear out these observations. Using serological techniques Chard et al (1983), clearly demonstrated that these two varieties are conspecific. V. In rejectingA.lineatus as a nom. dub. Maas Geesteranus (Ref. j) suggests that M.1ineata sensu Lange is identical with M.fi1opes (Bull. ex Fr.] and goes on to suggest that M.f.pumila is an epiphytic form of the same species. Moser (1978) had regarded M.1ineata sensu Lange as identical with M.oortiana which has now been renamed M.arcangeliana. For this reason, collections may be filed under the latter name and should be checked to confirm their identity. VI. Mycena sepia sensu Lange has been the focus of some confusion. It proved to be too imprecisely defined to be unambiguously assigned by Maas Geesteranus (Ref. b). The final decision to synonymise it with M.filopes (Bull.: Fr.) Kummer seems to be satisfactorily born out by this author's examination of the collections at Kew, most of which matched Maas Geesteranus' description of M.fi1opes. Those which did not were easily assigned to other species in the section Filipedes. In the same paper, Maas Geesteranus referred to a collection from Sweden described by Lundell as matching Lange's plate and description of M.sepia. He examined the exsiccatum and found it to be different to M.filopes. Later he described this as a new species under the name of Mycena septentrionalis (Ref. m) choosing a neotype from Danish material. The check of 'sepia' at Kew did not reveal a collection of this species but that at Edinburgh has not yet been examined. I would like to express my gratitude to the Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew

for the provision of working facilities, and to D Pegler and T Laessee for advice and discussion. I would also like to thank R AMaas Geesteranus of Leiden for his help and encouragement. REFERENCES GRAY, T R G & FRANKLAND, J C (1983. Antigenicity of Mycena galopus. Transactions of the British Mycological Society 81, 503-511. COURTECUISSE. R (1986). Macromycetes Interessants, Rare ou Nouveaux IV. Documents Mycologique 16 (No. 62) 26. DENNIS, R W G, ORTON, P D & HORA. F B (1960). New check list of agarics and boleti. Transactions of the British Mycological Society 43, Supple: 114-123. DORFELT, H (1984). Uber einige Pilznamen. Boletus Schr. Reihe 2: 61. KOHNER. R (1938). Le Genre Mycena. Encycl. Mycol. 10. KOHNER, R (1985). Transfert de Mycena saccharifera dans le genre Resinomycena. Documents Mycologique 15 (No. 59) 11. MAAs GEESTERANUS. R A (1979). Three Mycenas Revised. Persoonia 10, 277-282. MAAs GEESTERANUS. R A in Proceedings of the Koninklijke Nederlanse Akademie van Wetenschappen. (Ser. C): (a) 83, 167-174, (1980) Studies in Mycenas 1-4; (h) 83, 175-186, (1980 Studies in Mycenas 5-8; (c) 83, 403-416 (1980), Studies in Mycenas 9-14; (d) 84, 211-220 (1981), Studies in Mycenas 16-25; (e) 84, 221-231 (1981), Studies in Mycenas 26; (t) 84, 419-430 (1981), Studies in Mycenas 27; (g) 84, 431-438 (1981), Studies in Mycenas 28-34; (h) 85, 261-267 (1982), Studies in Mycenas 35-38; (i) 85, 273-285 (1982), Studies in Mycenas 59; (j) 85, 381-392 (1982), Studies in Mycenas 60-71; (k) 86, 401-421 (1983), Conspectus of the Mycenas of the Northern Hemisphere - 1; (I) 86, 499-516 (1983), Studies in Mycenas 93-121; (m) 87, 413-447 (1984), Conspectus of the Mycenas of the Northern Hemisphere - 3; (n) 88, 209-217 (1985), Studies in Mycenas 168-176; (0) 91, 377-403 (1988), Conspectus of the Mycenas of the Northern Hemisphere - 10; (p) 92,89-108 (1989), Conspectus of the Mycenas of the Northern Hemisphere - 11; (q) 93, 162-186 (1990), Conspectus of the Mycenas of the Northern Hemisphere - 14. (r) 94, 377-403 (1991), Studies in Mycenas, Additions and Corrections Part 1. MAAs GEESTERANUS, R A & SCHWOBEL. H (1987). Ober CHARD.

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York. ORTON. P D (1988). British Agarics IX, Transactions of the British Mycological Society 91, 563. PEARSON, A A (1955). Mycena. Naturalist: 41-63. SINGER. R (1986). The Agaricales in Modern Taxonomy. 4th ed. Koenigstein.