Conocybe apala
{{Short description|Species of fungus}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Conocybe_apala_Oakland.jpg
| image_caption =
| genus = Conocybe
| species = apala
| authority = (Fr.) Arnolds (2003)
| synonyms = Conocybe lactea
Conocybe lactea var. huijsmanii
Conocybe lateritia
Conocybe albipes
Bolbitius albipes
Bolbitius tener
Agaricus apalus Fr. (1818)
Pluteolus apalus Quél. (1886)
Galera apala Sacc. (1887)
Bolbitius apalus Costantin & L.M.Dufour (1891)
Derminus apalus Henn. (1898)
}}
{{Mycomorphbox
| name = Conocybe apala
| whichGills = adnexed
| whichGills2 = free
| capShape = conical
| hymeniumType = gills
| stipeCharacter = bare
| ecologicalType = saprotrophic
| sporePrintColor = brown
| sporePrintColor2 = reddish-brown
| howEdible = unknown
}}
Conocybe apala is a basidiomycete fungus and a member of the genus Conocybe.
The species has been taxonomically reclassified a number of times. Until recently, it was also commonly called Conocybe lactea or Conocybe albipes and is colloquially known as the white dunce cap[http://www.indexfungorum.org/Names/NamesRecord.asp?RecordID=438179 Index Fungorum – Names Record] or the milky conecap.{{cite web | url=https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/117227-Conocybe-apala | title=Milky Conecap (Conocybe apala) }}
It is a fairly common fungus, both in North America and Europe, found growing among short green grass.
Taxonomy
The basionym Agaricus apalus was described by the Swedish mycologist Elias Magnus Fries in 1818.{{Cite book |last1=Fries |first1=Elias |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/196553#page/158/mode/1up |title=Observationes mycologicae |date=1818 |publisher=sumptibus G. Bonnieri |volume=v.2 (1818) |location=Havniae |publication-date=1818 |pages=142–143}} It was placed in the genus Bolbitius as B. albipes by G.H. Otth (1871),G.H. Otth 1871. then reclassified as Pluteolus apalus by the French mycologist Lucien Quélet in 1886.{{Cite book |last1=Quélet |first1=Lucien |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/101574#page/112/mode/1up |title=Enchiridion fungorum in Europa media et praesertim in Gallia vigentium |last2=Quélet |first2=Lucien |date=1886 |publisher=O. Doin |location=Lutetiae |pages=105}} This was reclassified as Galera hapala (or Galera apala) in 1887 by Pier Andrea Saccardo,{{Cite book |last1=Saccardo |first1=P. A. |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/25509 |title=Sylloge fungorum omnium hucusque cognitorum |last2=Saccardo |first2=P. A. |last3=Traverso |first3=G. B. |last4=Trotter |first4=A. |date=1887 |publisher=sumptibus auctoris |volume=v.5 (1887) |location=Patavii |pages=860}} then as Bolbitius apalus in 1891 by Julien Noël Costantin and Léon Jean Marie Dufour{{Cite book |last1=Costantin |first1=Julien Noël |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/299029#page/162/mode/1up |title=Nouvelle flore des champignons, pour la détermination facile de toutes les espèces de France et de la plupart des espèces européennes, avec 3842 figures |last2=Dufour |first2=Léon Jean Marie |date=1891 |publisher=Librairie classique et administrative |location=Paris |pages=116}} and finally as Derminus apalus in 1898 by Paul Christoph Hennings.{{Cite book |last1=Engler, Adolf |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/23586#page/255/mode/1up |title=Die Natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien nebst ihren Gattungen und wichtigeren Arten, insbesondere den Nutzpflanzen, unter Mitwirkung zahlreicher hervorragender Fachgelehrten begründet |last2=Engler |first2=Adolf |last3=Krause |first3=Kurt |last4=Pilger |first4=R. |last5=Prantl |first5=Karl |date=1900 |publisher=W. Engelmann |volume=Teil 1, Abt.1** |location=Leipzig |pages=241}}
It was reclassified as Conocybe apala in 2003 by Everhardus Johannes Maria Arnolds.{{Cite journal |last=Arnolds |first=EEF |date=2003 |title=Notulae Ad Floram Agaricinam Needlandicam - XL: New Combinations in Conocybe and Pholiotina |url=https://www.mykoweb.com/systematics/journals/Persoonia/Persoonia%20v18n2.pdf |journal=Persoonia |volume=18 |issue=2}}
Description
The cap ranges from {{Convert|1–3.5|cm|frac=4}} in diameter.{{Cite book |last1=Davis |first1=R. Michael |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/797915861 |title=Field Guide to Mushrooms of Western North America |last2=Sommer |first2=Robert |last3=Menge |first3=John A. |publisher=University of California Press |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-520-95360-4 |location=Berkeley |pages=249–250 |oclc=797915861}}{{Cite book |last=Audubon |title=Mushrooms of North America |publisher=Knopf |year=2023 |isbn=978-0-593-31998-7 |pages=629}} It has a pale cream to silvery-white colour and may sometimes have a darker yellow to brown coloration towards the central umbo. Its trademark hood-shaped conical cap expands with age and may flatten out, the surface being marked by minute radiating ridges. The stem is cap-coloured, elongated, thin, hollow and more or less equal along its length with a height up to {{Convert|11|cm|abbr=on|frac=4}} and diameter of 1–3 mm.{{cite web | title=Conocybe albipes at Mushroom Expert | publisher=Mushroom Expert | url=http://www.mushroomexpert.com/conocybe_lactea.html | accessdate=July 16, 2009 }}{{cite book | author = M. Jordan | year = 1995 | title = The Encyclopedia of Fungi of Britain and Europe | page = 249 | publisher = David & Charles | isbn = 0-7153-0129-2}} It may bear dust and/or small hairs.
The gills are close and tan before darkening to brown. They are adnexed or free and produce a rusty-brown spore print. The spores are elliptical and brown to reddish-brown.
Very easily missed due to their very small size, the fruit bodies are otherwise quite easy to identify. The flesh has no discernible taste or smell and is extremely fragile to the touch.
File:Conocybe_apala_gill_edge.jpg|Gill edge 400x
File:Conocybe_apala_spores_1000x.jpg|Spores 1000x
= Similar species =
Similar species include Conocybe tenera, C. deliquescens, Bolbitius lacteus (which has a flatter, slippery cap), Candolleomyces candolleanus (which is sturdier), and Pholiotina rugosa.
Habitat and distribution
Conocybe apala is a saprobe found in areas with rich soil and short grass such as pastures, playing fields, lawns, meadows as well as rotting manured straw, fruiting single or sparingly few ephemeral bodies. It is commonly found fruiting during humid, rainy weather with generally overcast skies. It will appear on sunny mornings while there is dew but will not persist once it evaporates. In most cases, by midday the delicate fruiting bodies shrivel, dry and bend from sight. The fruiting season begins in spring and ends in autumn. It is distributed across Europe and North America.{{cite web | title=Conocybe lactea at Rogers Mushrooms | publisher=Rogers Mushrooms | url=http://www.rogersmushrooms.com/gallery/DisplayBlock~bid~5839.asp | accessdate=July 16, 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081118013716/http://www.rogersmushrooms.com/gallery/DisplayBlock~bid~5839.asp | archive-date=November 18, 2008 | url-status=dead }}
Edibility
The edibility is unknown, with one study finding phallotoxin in the caps.{{cite journal|last1=Hallen|first1=Heather E.|last2=Watling|first2=Roy|last3=Adams|first3=Gerard C.|title=Taxonomy and toxicity of Conocybe lactea and related species|journal=Mycological Research|volume=107|issue=8|year=2003|pages=969–979|issn=0953-7562|doi=10.1017/S0953756203008190|pmid=14531619}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons}}
- [http://www.mushroomexpert.com/conocybe_lactea.html Mushroom Expert - Conocybe albipes]
- [http://www.mykoweb.com/CAF/species/Conocybe_lactea.html MykoWeb California Fungi - Conocybe lactea]
{{Taxonbar|from=Q1632206}}
Category:Fungi of North America