''Conocybe apala'' is a

basidiomycete Basidiomycota () is one of two large divisions that, together with the Ascomycota, constitute the subkingdom Dikarya (often referred to as the "higher fungi") within the kingdom Fungi. Members are known as basidiomycetes. More specifically, Basi ...

fungus A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the 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, separately from th ...

and a member of the genus ''

Conocybe ''Conocybe'' is a genus of mushrooms with ''Conocybe tenera'' as the type species and at least 243 other species. There are at least 50 different species in North America. Most have a long, thin fragile stipe and are delicate, growing in grassl ...

''. It is a fairly common fungus, both in North America and Europe, found growing among short green

grass Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...

. Until recently, the species was also commonly called ''Conocybe lactea'' or ''Conocybe albipes'' and is

colloquially Colloquialism (), also called colloquial language, everyday language or general parlance, is the style (sociolinguistics), linguistic style used for casual (informal) communication. It is the most common functional style of speech, the idiom norm ...

known as the white dunce cap or the milky conecap. Another common synonym, ''Bolbitius albipes'' G.H. Otth 1871, places the fungus in the genus ''

Bolbitius ''Bolbitius'' is a genus of small mushrooms in the family Bolbitiaceae. Description The genus ''Bolbitius'' is defined as small thin ''Mycena''-like mushrooms, with a hymenoderm pileipellis, a glutinous cap surface, and spores that are brown i ...

''.

Taxonomy

Since this species is very common it has a long taxonomic history having been described independently many times throughout the years. The basionym ''Agaricus apalus'' was described by the Swedish mycologist

Elias Magnus Fries Elias Magnus Fries (15 August 1794 – 8 February 1878) was a Swedish mycologist and botanist. Career Fries was born at Femsjö (Hylte Municipality), Småland, the son of the pastor there. He attended school in Växjö. He acquired ...

in 1818 and reclassified as ''Pluteolus apalus'' by the French mycologist

Lucien Quélet Lucien Quélet in 1869 Lucien Quélet (14 July 1832 – 25 August 1899) was a French naturalist and mycologist. Quélet discovered several species of fungi and was the founder of the Société mycologique de France, a society devoted to mycolo ...

in 1886. This was reclassified as ''Galera hapala'' (or ''Galera apala'') in 1887 by

Pier Andrea Saccardo Pier Andrea Saccardo (23 April 1845 in Treviso, Treviso – 12 February 1920 in Padua) was an Italian botanist and mycologist. Life Saccardo studied at the Lyceum in Venice, and then at the Technical Institute of the University of Padua wher ...

, then as ''Bolbitius apalus'' in 1891 by

Julien Noël Costantin Julien Noël Costantin (16 August 1857 – 17 November 1936) was a French botanist and mycologist who was a native of Paris. He studied at École Normale Supérieure on the Rue d'Ulm. In 1881 he received his license in natural history and two y ...

and

Léon Jean Marie Dufour Léon Jean Marie (or Jean-Marie Léon) Dufour (10 April 1780, Saint-Sever – 18 April 1865) was a French medical doctor and naturalist. Between 1799 and 1806 he studied medicine in Paris then returned to Saint-Sever in the Landes. He participate ...

and finally as ''Derminus apalus'' in 1898 by

Paul Christoph Hennings Paul Christoph Hennings (November 27, 1841 – October 14, 1908) was a German mycologist and herbarium curator. He discovered the study of cryptogams and mushrooms as a volunteer at the botanical garden. Although circumstances initially prevent ...

. It was reclassified as ''Conocybe apala'' in 2003 by Everhardus Johannes Maria Arnolds.

Description

Very easily missed due to their very small size, ''C. apala'' fruit bodies are otherwise quite easy to identify. The

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

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 cap ranges from 1–3 cm in diameter. The

gills A gill () is a respiratory organ that many aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they are ...

may be visible through the thin cap and these are coloured rust or cinnamon brown and quite dense. They are adnexed or free and release brown to reddish-brown elliptical spores producing a

spore print 300px, Making a spore print of the mushroom ''Volvariella volvacea'' shown in composite: (photo lower half) mushroom cap laid on white and dark paper; (photo upper half) cap removed after 24 hours showing pinkish-tan spore print. A 3.5-centimeter ...

of the same colour. The stem is cap-coloured, elongated, thin, hollow and more or less equal along its length with a height up to 11 cm and diameter of 1–3 mm. It can bear minuscule striations or hairs. The flesh of ''C. apala'' has no discernible taste or smell and is extremely fragile to the touch. Its cap can be from 1-2.5 centimeters.

Gallery

File:Conocybe_apala_gill_edge.jpg, ''Conocybe apala'' gill edge 400x File:Conocybe_apala_spores_1000x.jpg, ''Conocybe apala'' spores 1000x

Similar species

Similar species include ''

Pholiotina rugosa ''Pholiotina rugosa'' is a common mushroom which is widely distributed and especially common in the Pacific Northwest. It grows in woodchips, flowerbeds and compost. It has been found in Europe, Asia and North America. It contains the same mycot ...

'' and ''

Conocybe tenera ''Conocybe tenera'' is a widely distributed member of the genus ''Conocybe''. This mushroom is the type species for the genus ''Conocybe''. Description ''Conocybe tenera'' is a small saprotrophic mushroom with a conic to convex cap and is smo ...

''.

Habitat

''Conocybe apala'' is a

saprobe Saprotrophic nutrition or lysotrophic nutrition is a process of chemoheterotrophic extracellular digestion involved in the processing of decayed (dead or waste) organic matter. It occurs in saprotrophs, and is most often associated with fungi (f ...

found in areas with rich soil and short grass such as

pasture Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep, or swine ...

s, playing fields,

lawn A lawn is an area of soil-covered land planted with grasses and other durable plants such as clover which are maintained at a short height with a lawnmower (or sometimes grazing animals) and used for aesthetic and recreational purposes. L ...

meadow A meadow ( ) is an open habitat, or field, vegetated by grasses, herbs, and other non-woody plants. Trees or shrubs may sparsely populate meadows, as long as these areas maintain an open character. Meadows may be naturally occurring or artifi ...

s as well as rotting

manure Manure is organic matter that is used as organic fertilizer in agriculture. Most manure consists of animal feces; other sources include compost and green manure. Manures contribute to the fertility of soil by adding organic matter and nutri ...

straw Straw is an agricultural byproduct consisting of the dry stalks of cereal plants after the grain and chaff have been removed. It makes up about half of the yield of cereal crops such as barley, oats, rice, rye and wheat. It has a number ...

, fruiting single or sparingly few

ephemeral Ephemerality (from the Greek word , meaning 'lasting only one day') is the concept of things being transitory, existing only briefly. Academically, the term ephemeral constitutionally describes a diverse assortment of things and experiences, fr ...

bodies. It is commonly found fruiting during humid, rainy weather with generally overcast skies. It will appear on sunny mornings while there is

dew Dew is water in the form of droplets that appears on thin, exposed objects in the morning or evening due to condensation. As the exposed surface cools by radiating its heat, atmospheric moisture condenses at a rate greater than that at wh ...

but will not persist once it evaporates. In most cases, by midday the delicate fruiting bodies

shrivel Shrivelling is a natural phenomenon where an object, with an attached sub-elastic covering, has its interior volume reduced in some way. The covering, which cannot contract any further, is then obliged to wrinkle and buckle, in order to preserve ...

, dry and bend from sight. ''C.apalas fruiting season begins in spring and ends in autumn. It is distributed across

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

Edibility

Completely unknown, one study found

phallotoxin The phallotoxins consist of at least seven compounds, all of which are bicyclic heptapeptides (seven amino acids), isolated from the death cap mushroom ''(Amanita phalloides)''. They differ from the closely related amatoxins by being one residue sma ...

in the caps.

External links and resources

Mushroom Expert - Conocybe albipes

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1632206 Bolbitiaceae Fungi of Europe Fungi of North America Fungi described in 2003 Fungus species