Leucocoprinus minimus
| Leucocoprinus minimus | |
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| Species: | L. minimus
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| Binomial name | |
| Leucocoprinus minimus | |
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Hiatula minima Berk (1852) | |
Leucocoprinus minimus is a species of mushroom producing fungus in the family Agaricaceae.[1][2]
Taxonomy
It was first described in 1852 by the British mycologist Miles Joseph Berkeley who classified it as Hiatula minima.[3]
In 1916 it was reclassified as Leptomyces minimus by the American mycologist William Murrill.[4]
This was reclassified as Lepiota minima in 1952 by the British mycologist Richard William George Dennis[5] and then as Leucocoprinus minimus in 1981 by the British mycologist David Pegler.[6]
Description
Leucocoprinus minimus is a small dapperling mushroom with very thin white flesh that becomes pink and deliquesces with age.[5]
Cap: 2-3cm wide. Hemispherical with a flat umbo. The surface is white and dotted with tiny dark purple-brown scales which are denser at the centre disc. It has striations (plicato-striate) running from the cap margins half way to the centre of the cap. Stem: 2mm thick and equal in width across the length however no length is provided in Dennis' description. It is smooth, hollow and curved with a white surface that becomes purple-brown at the base. Gills: Thin, equal, crowded and remote from the stem. They are about 2mm wide. No colour is provided in the description. Spores: 6-10 x 5-7 μm. Elliptical and hyaline. They have a red amyloid reaction when mounted in Melzer's reagent. Basidia: 4 spored.[5]
Pegler provides more detail on the spores:
Spores: 7-9 x 5.5-6μm. Ovoid to ellipsoid with a truncated, conspicuous apical germ pore. Dextrinoid.[6]
Pegler also notes that the species is fragile and lacks an annulus on the stem when mature but does not otherwise add to the description.[6]
Habitat and distribution
L. minimus is scarcely recorded and little known. The specimens studied by Berkeley were collected in Santo Domingo by M. Augustus Sallé.[3] Murrill stated that the specimens were only known from this location.[4] Dennis made his study based on specimens collected in the Trinidad where they were found growing gregariously on stumps in the forest.[5] Pegler details a specimen collected on Santa Cruz Island in the Galápagos where they were found in the Miconia zone of the island on mossy roots amongst leaf litter.[6]
Etymology
The specific epithet minimus (originally minima) is Latin for 'smallest'.[7]
References
- ^ "Species fungorum - Leucocoprinus minimus (Berk.) Pegler". www.speciesfungorum.org. Retrieved 2022-07-19.
- ^ "Mycobank Database - Leucocoprinus minimus".
- ^ a b Berkeley, M. J. (1852). "Enumeration of some Fungi from St. Domingo". The Annals and Magazine of Natural History; Zoology, Botany, and Geology. 9. London: Taylor and Francis, Ltd: 193.
- ^ a b New York Botanical Garden; Garden, New York Botanical (1907). North American flora. Vol. 9. [New York]: New York Botanical Garden. p. 309.
- ^ a b c d Dennis, R. W. G. (1952). "Lepiota and Allied Genera in Trinidad, British West Indies". Kew Bulletin. 7 (4): 459–499. doi:10.2307/4117800. ISSN 0075-5974. JSTOR 4117800.
- ^ a b c d Reid, D. A.; Pegler, D. N.; Spooner, B. M. (1980). "An Annotated List of the Fungi of the Galapagos Islands". Kew Bulletin. 35 (4): 847. doi:10.2307/4110185. ISSN 0075-5974. JSTOR 4110185.
- ^ Harrison, Lorraine (2012). Latin for Gardeners (PDF). University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-00919-3.