Chlorophyllum dark brown (Chlorophyllum brunneum)
Systematics:- Department: Basidiomycota (Basidiomycetes)
- Subdivision: Agaricomycotina (Agaricomycetes)
- Class: Agaricomycetes (Agaricomycetes)
- Subclass: Agaricomycetidae (Agaricomycetes)
- Order: Agaricales (Agaric or Lamellar)
- Family: Agaricaceae (Champignon)
- Genus: Chlorophyllum (Chlorophyllum)
- Species: Chlorophyllum brunneum (Chlorophyllum dark brown)
Synonyms :
- Chlorophyllum brown
- Umbrella dark brown
- Umbrella brown
- Lepiota brunnea
- Macrolepiota rhacodes var. brunnea
- Macrolepiota brunnea
- Macrolepiota rhacodes var. hortensis
- Macrolepiota rachodes var. brunnea
Chlorophyllum brunneum (Farl. & Burt) Vellinga, Mycotaxon 83: 416 (2002)
Chlorophyllum is dark brown - a large, noticeable fungus, very impressive. It grows mainly in the so-called "cultivated areas": gardens, lawns, pastures, parks. It is very similar to the Blushing Umbrella (Chlorophyllum rhacodes), these species are simply twin brothers. You can distinguish them by the ring, for a dark brown umbrella it is simple, single, for a blushing one - double; in the form of a thickening of the base of the leg; on the basis of microscopy - in the form of spores.
Description
Hat : 7-12-15 cm, up to 20 under good conditions. Fleshy, dense. Cap shape: from almost spherical in youth, convex with growth, widening to broadly convex or almost flat. The skin of the cap is dry, smooth and bald, dull grayish brown in the embryo stage, with growth it becomes scaly with brown or gray-brown scales. The scales are large, located very close to each other in the center, less often to the edges of the cap, forming a semblance of a tiled pattern. The surface under the scales is radially fibrous, whitish.
Plates : Loose, frequent, with plates, whitish, sometimes with brownish edges.
Leg : 8-17 cm long, 1.5-2.5 cm thick. More or less uniformly cylindrical over a sharply swollen base, which often has a bordered upper edge. Dry, finely pubescent, fine-fiber, whitish, dull brownish with age. From touching the hairs are crumpled and brownish marks remain on the stem.
Ring : rather stiff and thick, single. Whitish above and brownish below
Volvo : absent. The base of the leg is strongly and sharply thickened, thickening up to 6 cm in diameter, can be mistaken for a Volvo.
Flesh : Whitish in both the cap and the stem. In case of damage (incision, fracture) it rather quickly turns into shades of red-orange-brown, from reddish-orange to reddish, reddish-brownish to cinnamon-brownish.
Smell and taste : pleasant, soft, unremarkable.
Spore powder : white.
Microscopic characteristics :
Spores 9-12 x 6-8 microns; ellipsoidal with a markedly truncated end; walls with a thickness of 1-2 microns; hyaline in KOH; dextrinoid.
Cheilocystids up to about 50 x 20 μm; abundant; clavate; not bloated; hyaline in KOH; thin-walled.
Pleurocystidia are absent.
Pileipellis - Trichoderma (the center of the cap or scales) or cutis (whitish, fibrillous surface).
Ecology
Saprophyte, grows singly, scattered or in large clusters on fertile, well-manured soil in gardens, wastelands, lawns or in greenhouses and greenhouses; sometimes forms witch's rings;
Season and distribution
The brown umbrella bears fruit in summer and autumn, before the cold weather.
Distributed in the USA in coastal California, on the west coast and in the Denver region; rare in northeastern North America. In European countries, the species was recorded in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary (information from Wikipedia, which, in turn, refers to Wasser (1980)).
Edibility
The data are extremely contradictory. Various sources indicate that Chlorophyllum is dark brown edible, conditionally edible and “suspected to be poisonous”. May cause allergic reactions.
There are mentions that in some early sources even some hallucinogenic properties were described.
We will carefully place Umbrella Brown under the heading "Inedible Species" and await scientific publications on this topic.
Similar species
Blushing Umbrella (Chlorophyllum rhacodes)
Features a double movable ring. The thickening at the base of the peduncle is not as sharp, in less contrast with the rest of the pedicle. Shows a slightly different change in the color of the pulp when cut, but the color change should be observed in dynamics.
Motley umbrella (Macrolepiota procera)
Conditionally different in size - taller, wider cap. The pulp does not turn red on the cut and break. On the leg, there is almost always a characteristic pattern of small hairs-scalesPhoto by Michael Kuo is temporarily used in this article. The site really needs photos of this species, Chlorophyllum brunneum